Honda Motor Europe and Honda Jtech Team are very pleased to announce the three riders who will compete in the European EMX250 class with the Honda CRF250R in 2016: South African Nicholas Adams (18), Italian Filippo Zonta (17), and the current champion Nick Kouwenberg (24).
Davy Dousselaere, Honda Motor Europe Off-Road Manager
“We’re very happy to reveal, next to the already announced strong MX2 line-up, a very promising EMX250 team for 2016! EMX250 is again an important class for Honda Motor Europe in the 2016 season; we have seen a growing popularity in the championship this year with around 100 entries for the first round in Arco and also with more races on the calendar.
“This year we have chosen two young, talented riders, with Nick Adams and Filippo Zonta. Nick Adams is maybe not so well known yet, but he could be a surprise for next year. He was immediately very fast on the Honda Jtech CRF250R at the first test and he has really impressed us. Filippo Zonta has already won some motocross and supercross championships in Italy, so he knows what it takes to win. His first year in the 250 class will be a learning and development year, but we expect him to progress steadily throughout the year. We are also proud to have the European Champion Nick Kouwenberg defending his title with us and we are very thankful that ‘Kouwy’ brought the European title back to Honda, after Gautier Paulin won it in 2007. This year I don’t think we have seen his full potential and we are confident that he will be winning races next year.”
Gabriele Rinaldi, Team Manager
“We are very satisfied to have signed two talented young riders, Nicholas Adams and Filippo Zonta. We believe they have great potential and we will be working with them to further their skills and hopefully achieve some good results.
“I am also pleased to have Nick Kouwenberg back with us to defend his title. He is a very strong and technically impressive rider, I think we still have more to come from him and I am looking forward to seeing what he can do next year.”
Iller Aldini, Technical Director
“I’m happy with the choice made for 2016. We confirmed Nick Kouwenberg with the hope that he can repeat the results of the last season. We have also decided to focus on two young talents, Nick Adams and Filippo Zonta, because I think that they can get good results and have a good future ahead of them given the young age.”
The South African Adams earned himself 16th overall in the EMX125 championship at only 15-years-old, the year after he also had some strong results in the championship. In 2014 Nicholas was injured at the beginning of the season and could only ride in the final round of the EMX125, where he achieved a seventh place finish. In 2015 he rode his first year of EMX250, with his best race result at the German round where he placed fifth; he finished 19th in the overall standings.
The young Italian Zonta rode his first small bike at the age of three. In 2010, he won his first National title and he scored a second place with the Italian team at the Junior World Championship. In the following years Filippo has also competed in many Supercross races and, from 2012, has won the title of the Internazionali d’Italia Supercross three years in a row.
We have already known Kouwenberg from this year when he brought Honda Europe and us to the highest step of the podium, winning the European EMX250 title. Next year he wants to defend his title and show just how talented and fast he can be.