Another strong performance saw Emil Weckman take a fast-paced race two victory in round two of the Honda 150 European Championship at Matterley Basin (UK), and with it the red plate.
Although Weckman missed out on the holeshot again, this time to Rasmus Moen, and was fifth at the start of the first lap it didn’t take long for the reigning champion to move up into second behind James Scott. The pair battled hard for the opening laps before Weckman managed to pass Scott and start to open up a lead.
Towards the end of the race Scott joined Weckman in lapping in the 2:16’s on their CRF150Rs and started to pull back the gap to the #1 plated rider. Unfortunately with only two laps to go it was too much for the New Zealander to do, who was forced to settle for second.
Hakon Fredriksen, who needed a good result to close the gap on Weckman, found himself out of the top five in the first lap but was soon able to make his way up to third, and stay there until the chequered flag. The top five was rounded out by Jorgen-Matthias Talviku (fourth) and Yago Martinez whose fifth place finish was enough to join Weckman and Fredriksen on the podium.
“It feels pretty good to win today. Last year I had a pretty good weekend here so it is good to have another great weekend here this year. I like this track and I get to take the red plate to Lommel so that’s great. I like the Lommel track as well and I’m pretty good in sand, but I haven’t seen how Hakon rides in the sand but I think we’ll have a good race there”, said Emil Weckman.
“Today we had a very fast paced race and we had a very good battle between Emil Weckman and James Scott at the beginning”, commented Davy Dousselaere, Honda Europe Off-Road Manager. “ We also saw a very good ride from Jorgen-Matthias Talviku who had a great start and finished fourth. I have been very impressed with how our CRF150R riders have tackled this track with the big jumps. Now we head to Lommel where they will get to experience the deep sand, which should make for some very interesting racing”.
Emil Weckman will now head to the next round in Lommel, Belgium (30-31 July) with the red plate and a 12 point lead ahead of Hakon Fredriksen.
