Emil Weckman, defending champion, took the moto one victory at the all-new track of Frauenfeld in Switzerland today.
The young Finn was initially beaten to the holeshot by Rasmus Moen, before making the overtake on the second corner. Weckman was then able to lead the race from start to finish aboard his CRF150R.
The fight for second, third and fourth raged throughout the moto between Henry Vesilind, Yago Martinez and Hakon Fredriksen. The three young riders battled through the muddy conditions with Martinez and Fredriksen looking strong during the second half of the race.
Despite closing the gap to second placed Vesilind, neither Martinez nor Fredriksen could close the gap enough to gain position. At the chequered flag Vesilind had done enough for second, while Martinez and Fredriksen finished third and fourth respectively.
A good battle was also seen between Leopold Ambjornson, Lenaic Pilorget and Rasmus Moen (who unfortunately lost a few places after initially taking the holeshot). Ambjornson was able to finish ahead in fifth, with Moen sixth and Pilorget seventh. The top ten was rounded out by Luis Outeiro (eighth), Maxim Kasatkin (ninth) and Anton Nordstrom Graaf (tenth).
The gates will drop for race two at 8.50 tomorrow morning before the CRF150R riders head to Assen for the final round of the 2016 season.
Davy Dousselaere, Honda Europe Off-Road Manager – “Here in Switzerland we see completely different conditions to last week in Lommel. I am amazed at how well the riders have adapted to the muddy conditions and supercross style jumps. There are a lot of jumps and with the rain yesterday it has been challenging. The track was completely different for the race than in qualifying this morning so for all the riders to manage as well as they did is great. Emil has been very strong here but Rasmus Moen had a great start taking the holeshot and there were some really strong rides throughout the field”.
Emil Weckman – “It feels great: I had a good start and passed Moen on the second corner. On the first lap I over-jumped the tabletop before the finish jump and then I led the race to the end so was good. The track was much better than this morning. I over-jumped the tabletop because the ground was harder than this morning but I like this track because it is so different to the other ones. I am confident for tomorrow but the start is important here because, at the moment, there is only one line so would be hard to pass”.
