EMX250 European Championship:
Valk gets first win of his career
That was a great weekend and strong fourth round for the EMX250 European Championship in Intu Xanadu Arroyonolinos, Spain, with many battles throughout the weekend.
At the end of the weekend, it was Fantic Factory Team Maddii’s Cas Valk who clinched his first win of the season in front of Championship leader Hutten Metaal Yamaha Racing Team’s Andrea Bonacorsi and BT Racing Team’s Kay Karssemakers once again on the podium.
In race 1, Fantic Factory Team Maddii’s Alexis Fueri was the quickest out of the gate but the Red Plate Andrea Bonacorsi overtook him after few turns to take the lead. We thought that Bonacorsi would go on to win without trouble but Team VRT KTM Factory Juniors’ Marc-Antoine Rossi had a magnificent pace tried to disrupt that. Rossi went from 6th on Lap 1 to 2nd on lap 3 and inched his way closer to Bonacorsi until he was able to make a great move to overtake him for the lead on lap 13. However, Rossi made a mistake with 1 lap to go handing the win to Bonacorsi. Rossi settled for a good 2nd place but could have gone all the way considering his pace.
Cas Valk showed great pace too as after an average start, 7th at the turn of lap 1, he went on to pass Hutten Metaal Yamaha Racing Team’s Karlis Reisulis, VRT KTM Factory Juniors’ Ferruccio Zanchi and Fueri over three laps to find himself 4th on lap 4. He was behind Husqvarna BT Racing Team’s Maxime Grau until he found his way passed him on lap 8 to finish at a very great 3rd place. Grau had difficulties to keep the same pace and went down to 7th place in the end.
Zanchi had to settle for 4th in the end and Fueri managed to get to 6th while Reisulis could not do better than 9th unfortunately having started really well in 4th on lap 1. Kay Karssemakers made another good race on the back of Portugal and shows a lot of consistency. Following an average start and being 8th on lap 1, the young Dutchman managed to finish the race in 5th place.
Finding themselves on lap 1 in 9th and 10th, Nico Greutmann and TM moto SteelsDrJack’s Meico Vettikended up at the 8th place for Vettik and 10th for Greutmann. Hutten Metaal Yamaha Racing Team’s Ivano Van Erp did not find his rhythm and finished 18th.
In race 2, Van Erp was the quickest out of the gates but it was all about Valk who overtook him after few turns to take the lead. His blistering pace made him increase his lead up to 20 seconds and won comfortably and in style to clinch his first overall of the year. Van Erp redeemed himself after his missed first race and finished at a good 4th place for a 9th overall.
Reisulis did also better in race as he was 2nd the way through although he got overtaken by the excellent Karssemakers with two laps to go. Karssemakers finished 2nd for 3rd overall and a back-to-back podium. Reisulis got the 3rd spot.
Bud Racing Kawasaki’s Quentin Prugnieres who retired in the first race on the first lap, bounced back after a good start in race 2 of the EMX250 European Championship. He went 5th on lap 1 to move down to 7th on lap 3 but made two good overtakes on Bonacorsi first, as Bonacorsi went down on a turn, and on his countryman Grau to get back to 5th until the end. Grau ended up in 8th in the end.
After an uncharacteristically average start, Bonacorsi found himself in 9th on lap 1 but fought back to 6th on lap 3. As mentioned above, Bonacorsi while he was on the charge up, went down on the turn before the pitlane straight costing him a couple of positions. The Red Plate came back strong to finish 6th in the end, synonymous of a really good 2nd overall considering his fall.
Similarly for Rossi, a poor start hindered his chance to win the overall as he could not go higher than 7th in then end. With a 2-8, the Frenchman finished outside the podium in 4th overall. Zanchi was a bit quieter in race 2 and settled for 9th for 6th overall. Getting a good top 10 SM ACTION RACING TEAM YUASA Battery’s Federico Tuani ended 10th riding inside the top 10 the whole race for a 13th overall.
In the end Cas Valk won the overall with an incredible showing to win race 2 and being solid throughout the whole round of EMX250 European Championship in Spain. Andrea Bonacorsi managed to get an important overall second place for the Championship and Kay Karssemakers makes another podium in third.
EMX250 – Overall Top 10 Classification: 1. Cas Valk (NED, FAN), 45 points; 2. Andrea Bonacorsi (ITA, YAM), 40 p.; 3. Kay Karssemakers (NED, HUS), 38 p.; 4. Marc-Antoine Rossi (FRA, KTM), 36 p.; 5. Karlis Alberts Reisulis (LAT, YAM), 32 p.; 6. Ferruccio Zanchi (ITA, KTM), 30 p.; 7. Maxime Grau (FRA, HUS), 27 p.; 8. Meico Vettik (EST, TM), 23 p.; 9. Ivano Van Erp (NED, YAM), 21 p.; 10. Alexis Fueri (FRA, FAN), 21 p.
EMX250 – Championship Top 10 Classification: 1. Andrea Bonacorsi (ITA, YAM), 182 points; 2. Kay Karssemakers (NED, HUS), 145 p.; 3. Cas Valk (NED, FAN), 138 p.; 4. Marc-Antoine Rossi (FRA, KTM), 126 p.; 5. Ferruccio Zanchi (ITA, KTM), 120 p.; 6. Karlis Alberts Reisulis (LAT, YAM), 109 p.; 7. Valerio Lata (ITA, KTM), 97 p.; 8. Quentin Marc Prugnieres (FRA, KAW), 95 p.; 9. Ivano Van Erp (NED, YAM), 93 p.; 10. Alexis Fueri (FRA, FAN), 82 p.
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