EMX65 / EMX85 and EMX 2T European Championship:
the MXGP in Locket hosted the Final
The MXGP of Czech Republic was the stage for the thrilling finals of the EMX65, EMX85, and the exclusive round of the EMX2T series. Over two intense days, Europe’s fastest riders competed for gold, silver, and bronze medals.
Spectators were treated to spectacular races across all categories. Marcel Stauffer of Osicka MX Team clinched the Gold Medal in EMX2T, Sleny Goyer triumphed in EMX85 and Roko Ivandic dominated the EMX65. The incredible battles made for an unforgettable event, showcasing the exceptional talent and competitive spirit of Europe’s best motocross riders.
EMX85
In the opening race of EMX85 it was the Italian David Cracco who took the advantage right from the start with by holding a nice tight line on the inside but it was then a drag race on the long first straight that saw another Italian Edoardo Riganti taking the lead in front of Neo Nindelt and Cracco. However, it only took a couple of turns for the Frenchman Sleny Goyer to place himself in 3rd position behind Nindelt.
Goyer quickly attacked Nindelt and moved up to 2nd in the opening lap with Cracco coming in his wake to go 3rd while Nindelt made some mistake and moved down the rank. It became soon too hard to contain the riders behind for leader Riganti with Goyer making a decisive move on the inside on lap 2 to take the lead.
There was nothing stopping Goyer who had the best pace of the race as he pulled away quickjly with the lead. Cracco then found his way past his countryman Riganti on lap 4 of 12 to go 2nd.
The top 3 after that will not move until the end with the riders
Behind them, it was the Austrian Ricardo Bauer who following an average start made a solid comeback from 13th on lap 1 to 4th in the end after making impressive successive passes on every lap between lap 6 and 10, such as the Estonian Lucas Leok to get the 4th place. Leok finished 7th. Léo Dis-Ferdinand settled for 5th with some good moves, especially on Jorge Salvador who finished 8th after battling for the 4th position mid-way through the race.
In Race 2, Patrick Cirulis got the best start but got overtaken quickly by Riganti with Salvator up to 2nd. However, Jordi Alba rushed down to moved them past and take the lead early on. However, Salvador who was really much in the mix fell and lost many positions to find himself at the end of the pack. Goyeard on his side crashed in the opening lap and had a mountain to climb but managed to climb up to 16th at the turn of the first lap.
With all this, Riganti in 2nd position on lap 3 was the virtual EMX85 champion. The battles al throughout the rank were tough and Leok could find himself benefitting from mistakes of Aston Alias and Dis-Fenard in front of him to move up to 6th in one move on lap 4.
Meanwhile Jekabs Hudolejs passed Riganti for 2nd with Alba still leading the race and showing good pace. The fastest on the track at that time was Leok who moved up to 5th and being the only rider in the 2:02s. Meanwhile Goyer was riding superbly and with great determination as the Frenchman went up to 9th on lap 4.
On lap 5, the Latvian Hudolejs started top push for the lead and put pressure on Alba for the race win but the young Spanish showed up and stay very resistant to the attack from the Latvian.
With two laps to go Goyer was up to 7th and near the overall. He then passed a direct contender for the win, Riganti as well as an excellent Pau Caudet Ruiz to go to 5th and clinch the EMX85 Championship title.
Alba made a great run after a missed first race on his part and finished at an encouraging 2nd place with another rider who had a solid race, Andrea Uccellini who finished 3rd for 5th overall. It was tough one for Leok who rode superbly to finish 4th for 4th overall not far of the podium.
Meanwhile, Hudolejs was up for anything in this race and showed a fantastic pace to win the race and go 11-1 for a surprising but deserved 2nd overall. For Riganti, the second race didn’t go as planned with a 7th finish but the Italian still managed to get on the podium and his bronze medal in the end.
EMX85 – Championship Top 10 Classification: 1. Sleny Goyer (FRA, GAS), 41 points; 2. Jekabs Hudolejs (LAT, GAS), 35 p.; 3. Edoardo Riganti (ITA, HUS), 34 p.; 4. Lucas Leok (EST, HUS), 32 p.; 5. Andrea Uccellini (ITA, HUS), 31 p.; 6. David Cracco (ITA, KTM), 30 p.; 7. Léo Diss-Fenard (FRA, KTM), 29 p.; 8. Ricardo Bauer (AUT, KTM), 29 p.; 9. Aston Allas (EST, KTM), 24 p.; 10. Jordi Alba (ESP, KTM), 22 p
EMX65
In race 1, a multi-rider collision happen in the first turn but it was the Croatian Roko Ivandic who was the fastest of the pack to get the holeshot and the lead with authority with Luca Nierychlo and Theo Kolts who quickly placed themselves in good position in 2nd and 3rd respectively.
Ivandic and Nierychlo pulled away from the pack and began a thrilling fight for the lead. The German Nierychlo showed his wheel a couple of times and Ivandic had to respond to stay on top. Ivandic managed to defend superbly these attacks and flew to victory although he nearly lost control of his bike on the last lap but this was all forgotten when he passed the checkered flag first.
The Estonian Kolts settled his pace comfortably and rode smart to keep the 3rd place throughout the whole race and have a shot at the mighty victory in race 2. He finished in front of his compatriot Erki Raudnagel in 4th. The performance of the race was for the FIM 65cc World Cup Winner Kash Van Hammond who found himself 23rd on the turn of lap 1 of 8 to finish impressively in 5th place and keeping his chance for an overall podium.
Just as in Race 1, the number 243 of Ivandic got the holeshot and took the lead with confidence. Behind him were Elia Eder, Kolts and Timoteï Cez all well placed to fight for the top places. Unfortunately for Cez he fell down and lost hope of a better finish.
Cez who was riding smart and was well place but crashed out of 4th place on lap 2 and finished 11th in the end. Meanwhile, Kolts began to find his pace and pressure Eder for 2nd. It was a done deal for the Estonian on lap 4 of 8. Kolts moved up 2nd and kept his position until the end to get a great 2-2 for 2nd overall. Behind him Elder stayed strong until the end to finish 3rd for 6th overall.
Following his good first race, Nierychlo made an impressive comeback after a poor start in 19th on lap 1. The German powered through the rank in style to move up to 4th in the end. This prowess propelled him on the podium.
Ivandic in the end dominate the race from start to finish to win it in style with a perfect 1-1 and the gold medal, synonymous of the EMX65 European Title!
EMX65 – Championship Top 10 Classification: 1. Roko Ivandic (CRO, KTM), 50 points; 2. Theo Kolts (EST, GAS), 42 p.; 3. Luca Nierychlo (GER, HUS), 40 p.; 4. Kash Van Hamond (NED, GAS), 31 p.; 5. Erki Raudnagel (EST, KTM), 31 p.; 6. Elias Eder (AUT, KTM), 27 p.; 7. Liam Morette (FRA, HUS), 27 p.; 8. Svit Vizintin (SLO, KTM), 23 p.; 9. Timoteï Cez (FRA, GAS), 22 p.; 10. Willads Gordon (DEN, YAM), 22 p
EMX 2T
The first race saw Bence Pergel taking the holeshot with some riders going down in the first corner. By the time of turn 2 it was Adam Fridlund who took the early lead in front of Pergel and Florian Hellrigl. Pergel went through Fridlund on lap 2 of 15 to take the lead.
Said Soulimani from Ghidinelli Racing Team was quick on the charge and impressive as he tripled jump on first sector to get an edge and powered himself through to go 2nd on lap 2 passing Frindlund to go behind race leader Pergel.
Then came the stunning charge from Austrian Marcel Stauffer from Osicka MX Team who didn’t start very well going 6th on the opening lap and slower to get going but once he found his rhythm, he was simply the fastest on track. He made several passes early on to find himself 3rd on lap 4 passing a shading down Fridlund.
Stauffer then kept his pace up and brought down the gap with Soulimani to make a decisive move on lap 9 to go 2nd, clocking the fastest lap in the meantime on lap 7. Stauffer kept going and a couple of laps later took the lead off Pergel and then control the race until the end.
The top 3 would stay in that order until the end while Hellrigl managed the 4th place in front of Latvian Karlis Sabulis, 5th and the local rider Vaclav Kovar 6th who made a great come back coming from 17th place on lap 1 showing the potential he had if he would have started better.
First race winner, Stauffer could come into the second race with confidence as well as Pergel to compete for the title.
In Race 2, Pergel once again made a great start and took the lead once again in front of TM moto SteelsDrJack’s Brando Rispolli briefly who got overtaken by Stauffer for 2nd. The top 2 riders of race 1 leading the race in reversing order.
The battle for the raged-on right from the start with the front two riders pulling away from Rispoli. Pergel was riding defensively with Stauffer breathing down his neck and putting pressure and Pergel who held on well.
Behind them Soulimani was 4th and pushed behind Rispoli. The Moroccan finally managed to pass Rispoli on lap 3 to move 3rd. Meanwhile Stauffer got a scare on a landing in front of the Pitlane but managed to stay up and got back on the charge.
There was heartbreak for Soulimani whose bike just came to complete stop ending his dream of a podium with Rispoli moving up to 3rd. While it was all over for Soulimani, Stauffer took the command on lap 6 with a great pass and better drive than Pergel to get his hope of gold medal very much real.
Rispoli came under pressure by Jan Wagenknecht but showed a good strength to hold his 3rd rank for a while but then faded with the German passing him on lap 10. Once again Kovar sowed an impressive determination after another average start going 10th on lap 1. The Czech managed to pass many riders to get to 5th already on lap 4. At that time was on the virtual podium in 3rd overall, but despite this he kept charging in front to cement his podium even more. Following several laps bringing down the gap with first Wagenknecht and then Rispoli, he finally passed the Italian on lap 11 of 15 for 4th and to get cherry on the cake passed the solid Wagenknecht for 3rd.
Second on the podium with an amazing 2-2 and showing great qualities was the Hungarian Bence Pergel who the second best this weekend in front of Vaclav Kovac with the bronze medal.
In the end though, it was all Marcel Stauffer’s moment. Following the serious back injury he sustained in 2023, and not knowing if he could ever be back at 100%, it was an emotional day for the Austrian as he showed tremendous pace and control in both races and showed incredible mental and physical strength to get the gold.
EMX2T – Overall and Championship Top 10 Classification: 1. Marcel Stauffer (AUT, KTM), 50 points; 2. Bence Pergel (HUN, KTM), 44 p.; 3. Vaclav Kovar (CZE, KTM), 35 p.; 4. Florian Hellrigl (AUT, KTM), 32 p.; 5. Karlis Sabulis (LAT, HUS), 31 p.; 6. Jan Wagenknecht (CZE, —), 28 p.; 7. Adam Fridlund (SWE, HUS), 26 p.; 8. Brando Rispoli (ITA, TM), 25 p.; 9. Andrea Rossi (ITA, KTM), 25 p.; 10. Saad Soulimani (MAR, YAM), 20 p
Links
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