EMX125 and EMX250 European Championship:
perfect win and red plate for Valin on home soil in EMX250,
while Mancini set two in a row in EMX125
The fourth round of the EMX250 and fifth of EMX125 Presented by FMF Racing went to St Jean D’Angely during the Monster Energy MXGP of France. As we are now used to witness, the French fans show so much passion and enthusiasm for motocross and came in numbers, braving the changing weather conditions over the weekend which made this round another exceptional event.
The French round went perfectly for Bud Racing Kawasaki’s Mathis Valin in EMX250 with a 1-1 and grabing the Red Plate for the first time this season, giving the the home fans a lot to cheer on in the incredible atmosphere. In EMX125 Presented by FMF Racing a back to back overall win for Fantic Factory Racing EMX125’s Simone Mancini showed how he placed himself as a serious contender for the championship.
EMX250
In Race 1, several riders got involved in a crash on the first corner, including JM Honda Racing’s Maximilian Werner and VRT Yamaha Racing’s Ivano Van Erp. They eventually fought back up to 20th and 15th respectively. However, the one that came out on top after the first turn was Luca Ruffini from MAXBARTMOTOSPORT. On the opening lap, Beddini GASGAS Factory Juniors’s Mads Fredsoe followed in 2nd but not for long as he made a mistake with his feet slipping off the peg and allowed home rider Bud Racing Kawasaki’s Mathis Valin to pass him for 2nd.
Meanwhile, two of the strongest challengers in the title, Gabriel SS24 KTM’s Cas Valk and Beddini GASGAS Factory Juniors’s Valerio Lata both had a terrible start. Valk managed an exceptional comeback from 25th on the opening lap to 7th while Lata had issues and could only finished 24th.
Young Frenchie Valin, surely pushed by the home fans, rode to the occasion and kept charging to take the inside of Ruffini on lap 4 and take the lead. Ruffini had another local rider going after him on the same lap with WZ Racing Team’s Maxime Grau who perfectly executed his move outside-inside to go 2nd.
Saad Soulimani from Ghidinelli Racing was another great performer as he took a good start and moved up to 4th by the lap 8. Soulimani kept attacking and passed Ruffini for 3rd on lap 13 of 15 to get a good option for the final podium with Ruffini settling or 4th in the end.
Still on lap 8, Alexis Fueri from Fantic Factory Racing MX2 who had a good start and was 6th crashed and finished 13th. Notably, local rider Toni Giorgessi rode very strongly to finish 6th!
In the end it was a French 1-2 with Valin comfortably winning in front of Grau giving the him passionate fans something to hope for in the second race.
In Race 2, Ruffini made the holeshot once again, and Valin passed him for the lead once again but this time in the opening lap. Valk was also on it from the start and moved up to 2nd.
A multi-rider crash in the first turn included Grau who made a herculean effort to move up to 9th on lap 4. Meanwhile VRT Yamaha Racing’s Karlis Reisulis made his way up to 3rd showing some good speed and the fastest lap on lap 2.
Behind the top 3, Fredsoe and Van Erp managed to pass Ruffini who faded in the race. The outstanding Grau found himself in 6th place on lap 6 which showed the hunger of the local rider to perform in front of his fans, putting him also on the second stop of the podium at that time. Grau started to push behind Van Erp for 5th. While a battle for position happened behind, the immaculate leader, Valin pulled away at the lead increasing the gap with Valk to 5.2 seconds.
Fredsoe moved down to 6th on lap 9 as Van Erp and Grau made clever passes with better lines while the 2n place was under threat, as Valk made a couple of nervous mistakes with an aggressive Reisulis closing on him with 5min + 2 to go.
On lap 11, a fiery Reisulis committed on his line with a better drive to pass Valk for 2nd and the clocking the fastest lap in the same time. Reisulis kept going and began the close the gap with Valin but it was time for the French rider to pick up the pace and keep a comfortable cushion showing that he was very much in control over the weekend.
It wasn’t the red plate’s day as Lata had trouble at the start again which made it difficult to get good results. He managed to finish in 13th position but lost the red plate to Valin and got passed in the standings by Valk too.
It was the perfect home weekend for Valin who grabbed the maximum point to win his first overall of the season and the red plate at the same time, and what better than on home soil to do it! Grau was the other incredible rider in France after coming back from the last positin in race 2 to finish 4th and 2nd overall! Valk closed the podium with 7-3 that leaves him in the 2nd place of the Championship, 23 points behind Valin.
EMX250 Overall – Top 10 Classification: 1. Mathis Valin (FRA, KAW), 50 points; 2. Maxime Grau (FRA, KTM), 40 p.; 3. Cas Valk (NED, KTM), 34 p.; 4. Saad Soulimani (MAR, YAM), 33 p.; 5. Karlis Alberts Reisulis (LAT, YAM), 31 p.; 6. Mads Fredsoe (DEN, GAS), 31 p.; 7. Luca Ruffini (ITA, HUS), 24 p.; 8. William Askew (GBR, KAW), 23 p.; 9. Ivano Van Erp (NED, YAM), 22 p.; 10. Nico Greutmann (SUI, HUS), 20 p
EMX250 Championship – Top 10 Classification: 1. Mathis Valin (FRA, KAW), 171 points; 2. Cas Valk (NED, KTM), 148 p.; 3. Valerio Lata (ITA, GAS), 147 p.; 4. Ivano Van Erp (NED, YAM), 114 p.; 5. Saad Soulimani (MAR, YAM), 107 p.; 6. Francisco Garcia (ESP, GAS), 100 p.; 7. Maxime Grau (FRA, KTM), 97 p.; 8. Nico Greutmann (SUI, HUS), 78 p.; 9. Karlis Alberts Reisulis (LAT, YAM), 71 p.; 10. Magnus Smith (DEN, YAM), 60 p.
EMX125
In Race 1 of the EMX125 Presented by FMF Racing, Filippo Mantovani took the holeshot with blistering start but it was a clever move in the inside from Simone Mancini in the second turn that put him in the lead with Yamaha Europe EMX125 MJC’s Mano Faure following closely behind. Mantovani in 3rd with RFME GASGAS MXJunior Team’s Salvador Perez 4th after few turns.
Then with the ruts deepening few riders started to encounter some difficulties such as Mantovani who nearly fell down with Jarne Bervoets from Yamaha Europe EMX125 MJC clipping his front wheel on the Italian’s bike while trying to take him on the outside on lap 3. After that, Mantovani lost his way and made some mistakes to finish 12th while Bervoets managed a good 5th place in the end.
Meanwhile as Fantic Factory Racing EMX125’s Noel Zanocz went on the charge after an average start and quickly move his way up taking on Mantovani on lap 3 to move 4th and then 3rd on lap 6 when Perez completely went out of track after losing control. Perez came back straight back to it in 4th where he would stay until the end.
While Mancini was cruising at the top of the race, Faure crashed out of 2nd with Zanocz again benefitting from it and going 2nd. However, the young French was feeling the track and came back to overtake the Hungarian red plate and take the 2nd place back on lap 9 until the end. Zanocz secured his 3rd spot until the end.
It was an up and down race for another contender for the Championship, Gyan Doensen from Racestore KTM Factory Rookies Team who, despite starting well had to settle for 8th in the end after never really finding his rhythm.
In the end it was a comfortable race win for the Italian star Mancini who took a good option for the final overall win.
In race 2, Zanocz this time took the strongest start, with his teammate Mancini just behind and Faure 3rd. Maenwhile, a handful of riders went down after a couple of turns with Perez and Bervoets involved.
Doensen managed to stay in the mix in 4th. The top 4 riders kept the same order for a while with not many attacks. Following his misshape, Perez climbed his way up pretty quickly after coming from the back going just outside the top 20 on lap 3. Markuss Ozolins got to 5th early on and kept his rank but started to get threatened by Cole McCullough from Maddii Fantic by Milwaukee who whittled the gap down as the race went on. On lap 9, while beginning to shape an attack McCullough crashed and let Ozolins off the hook.
Francesco Bellei from Dreams Racing made an excellent come back to mov from 11th to 5th in the end for 5th overall. The top 4 settled in their position until two laps to go when Faure went down which gifted a couple of point for Doensen although the podium was still on for the Frenchman as he ended third overall for an important podium at his home round. Solid winner Zanocz missed out on the overall win but finished second in the podium and kept the red plate.
It was a strong 1-2 for Mancini that put him on the top step of the podium for the 3rd time this year and a good double for Fantic Factory Racing. Mancini is also asserting himself as one to watch for the Championship and his teammate and red plate Zanocz wh finished 2nd overall.
EMX125 Overall – Top 10 Classification: 1. Simone Mancini (ITA, FAN), 47 points; 2. Noel Zanocz (HUN, FAN), 45 p.; 3. Mano Faure (FRA, YAM), 40 p.; 4. Gyan Doensen (NED, KTM), 33 p.; 5. Francesco Bellei (ITA, KTM), 24 p.; 6. Douwe Van Mechgelen (BEL, FAN), 23 p.; 7. Filippo Mantovani (ITA, KTM), 21 p.; 8. Salvador Perez (ESP, GAS), 21 p.; 9. Brando Rispoli (ITA, TM), 17 p.; 10. Alessandro Gaspari (ITA, KTM), 17 p
EMX125 Championship – Top 10 Classification: 1. Noel Zanocz (HUN, FAN), 190 points; 2. Gyan Doensen (NED, KTM), 173 p.; 3. Simone Mancini (ITA, FAN), 166 p.; 4. Mano Faure (FRA, YAM), 159 p.; 5. Salvador Perez (ESP, GAS), 150 p.; 6. Francesco Bellei (ITA, KTM), 147 p.; 7. Dani Heitink (NED, YAM), 104 p.; 8. Áron Katona (HUN, KTM), 103 p.; 9. Markuss Ozolins (LAT, GAS), 100 p.; 10. Jarne Bervoets (BEL, YAM), 86 p
