Yamaha YZ bLU cRU 85cc-125cc Cup:
Salvini and Tsankov victorious in France
The French crowd was treated to two more superb YZ bLU cRU FIM Europe Cup SuperFinale races on Sunday at Saint Jean D’Angély, which saw Italy’s Nicola Salvini and Bulgarian youngster Dani Tsankov storm to victory in the YZ125 and YZ85 races.
Sunday marked the end of the hugely successful 2022 YZ bLU cRU FIM Europe Cup SuperFinale, which saw more than 100 riders battle it out for a spot at the unique bLU cRU Masterclass event at the end of this year.
Salvini was given first gate pick after qualifying just 0.055s ahead of fellow Italian Maurizio Scollo, who showed promise in last year’s YZ125 SuperFinale at Mantova, where he finished fifth.
The Italian duo proved to be the class of the field at the MXGP Charente Maritime event, with Salvini just edging ahead in the early stages. Scollo set a blistering pace behind though, but while running less than a second adrift of his rival the #329 rider fell on Lap 6, dropping 10 seconds behind the leader.
Scollo picked himself up and quickly began reeling in Salvini, setting the fastest lap in the process. On the final lap, he was back to within a second of the lead but fell again, seeing Salvini claim the YZ125 SuperFinale victory.
After a mammoth effort, Scollo was still able to salvage second overall, with Denmark’s Nicolai Skovbjerg completing the podium having overtaken Spain’s Salvador Perez earlier in the contest.
Perez eventually came home in fourth, ahead of Norwegian youngster Adrian Bolviken, both showing strong progress compared to last year’s event. Amalie Møller Gertsen won the award for Top Female Rider, with youngest rider Emile De Baere enjoying a stellar outing to finish inside the top 20 overall.
In the YZ85 race, Luis Raoul Santeusanio was given first gate pick after dominating yesterday’s Time Practice. The Swiss rider took the early lead ahead of French youngster Tim Langue and Tsankov, who was sidelined on Saturday after a technical problem.
Despite this, the Bulgarian was quickly on the pace and moved up to second on Lap 2, before putting pressure on race leader Santeusanio. Tsankov then moved into the lead after his rival fell and dropped to P2, losing 16 seconds.
This allowed Tsankov to cruise to victory, going one better than he did in the YZ65 class last year, while Santeusanio consolidated a second-place finish to mark an impressive YZ85 SuperFinale debut.
Langue rounded off the podium places in third, beating Spain’s Iker Diez and Israeli youngster Ori Stark, who had been running in the podium positions before a fall early on.
Swedish rider Tuva Nelson came home in 11th overall, seeing her pick up the Top Female Rider trophy, while the youngest rider, Kay Zijlstra of The Netherlands, put in a stunning performance to go eighth overall.
In each of the YZ bLU cRU FIM Europe Cup SuperFinale categories, the top-three finishers and two wild cards will receive an invite to the bLU cRU Masterclass that will take place in November in Spain. There, one YZ125 rider will win a place in a Yamaha-supported EMX125 team for 2023, while the top performing YZ65 and YZ85 youngsters will earn added support from Yamaha Motor Europe for the next season.
EMX in Finland
