In a beautiful area in the surroundings of the lovely city of Maribor, the EMX65, 85 and Open SW zone was held in Orehova Vas (Slovenia), under a clear sky and 30 degrees for the whole weekend, on a technical track, very well prepared by special equipment (pistenbully).
EMX65
The qualifying race of the EMX65 started with a holeshot of French rider Florian Miot followed by the Spanish Adria Monne and Raul Sanchez, who is second in championship. No changes for 2 laps but before the end Miot’s bike stopped. On the finish line it was Monne who was leading before Sanchez and French Quentin Marc Prugniers.
On Sunday, the Spanish rider Monne did the holeshot in the first race, followed by his compratiot Canet. Both maintained their positions until the end, followed by Cazal who 2 laps before the end passed the French rider Prugniers. The championship leader Miot finished 7th. In the second heat another holeshot for Monne, now with championship leader Miot at his back. It was close fighting for the whole race. After 3 laps Miot passed Monne. Miot won in front of Monne, with Russi 3th before Prugniers and Cazal.
The Overall day winner was the Spanish Monne before the two French riders Miot and Prugniers. In the championship standings Miot maintains the leadership, more than 40 points ahead of the Spanish Canet.
Tom Guyon, in the EMX85
EMX85
This technical track seems to be made for Kevin Cristino. The Italian rider did the holeshot and won the Qualifying race, in which he was always leading. After him the positions switched a lot and in the end it was Slovenian Maks Mausser who closed before the Italian Alessandro Facca and the two French riders Guyon and Benistant.
On Sunday, in the first heat it was close racing from start to finish. These youngsters gave all what they had in tropical circumstances. Holeshot for the Italian Cristino, but in the 2nd lap he made a mistake and dropped down to 5th. His compatriot, Bassi, took over and stayed in front until 4’ before finish, when he was passed by Facca, from Italy, too, who won before Bassi and French Guyon, who made the biggest return. The hometown rider Maks Mausser’s bike stopped in lap 2.
In the second heat holeshot for Bassi before Facca, Palanca, Guyon and local rider Mausser. What they presented during the race was amazing: close racing all the time, positions switched continuously. At the finish the French Guyon was leading the pack before Mausser and Stauffer, who came from behind and passed Facca and Bassi. In the overall day the French Guyon was first before the Italians Facca and Bassi. In the championship standings, 6 riders are in 20 points. The French Moreau is still in the lead, 3 points ahead of Facca.
EMX OPEN
The local hero Tim Gajser was the man to beat. In Qualifying, after his first career MX2 win in Italy, he took the holeshot and maintained the first position until the finish line. Not so far away Michek closed in second position and Michalec in third before two other local heros: Kragelj and Molnar, followed by championship leader Bartos.
On Sunday, in the first heat, after 30’ and 2 laps only 5 riders were not overlapped and the local hero Tim Gajser was the winner. Yesterday’s second Michek finished before championship leader Bartos, who passed the other local hero Kragelj. Karas was the last rider not to be overlapped. Rukstela, Molnar and yesterday’s third Michalec were fighting for positions in the last 5 laps.
In the second heat, from the start to finish the leader was Tim Gajser. Michek did again a good job and finished second before Bartos who came from behind. This is also the overall day result.
In the championship standing, Bartos is leading 20 points ahead of Michek. Tyletski, who had an off-day is still in 3th position followed by Michalec who is very close.
Full results on FIM Europe website:
http://www.fim-europe.eu/events/59 for EMX 65 and EMX85
http://www.fim-europe.eu/events/70 for EMX Open
All photos by Andreja Prel
