French teenager Nicolas Dercourt has enjoyed a decent couple of weeks with his YZ125 and has been able to thoroughly demonstrate the effectiveness and competitiveness of Yamaha’s two-stroke motocross technology. The 17 year old captured a strong third place finish yesterday at Jinin for the annual FIM Junior World Championship and won the fifth round of eight in the European EMX125 series the previous weekend at Loket.
The recently crowned national French Champion was one of over 200 riders from 41 nations to gather at Jinin in the Czech Republic for the FIM event. In the two motos he collected 2nd and 9th positions to take the final step of the overall podium and was a protagonist in both sprints, forming part of the leading pack until a small problem with his knee in the second outing.
“I am quite happy because my race wasn’t too bad overall,” he said. “In the first moto I fought all the way through and was close to the victory at one point. In the second I again had a good start and with just two laps to go I tweaked my knee and felt something click with the ligament. Luckily it did not hurt too much and I could finish the race. I gained enough points to be able to make the podium. Now I need to wait a little bit and hope my knee will be OK to race at the Belgian Grand Prix and the rest of EMX125 this year. I would like to say a big thanks to my sponsors and family for all their support.”
Dercourt lies third in the high-profile EMX125 contest that is run as part of the FIM Motocross World Championship support programme. Three rounds remain with Grands Prix at Bastogne, Matterley Basin (UK) and Lierop (Holland). The l’Equipe de France Motocross Espoir rider is just three points from second place. Thanks to Jarek Balkovic (6th) and Lorenco Locurcio (7th) Yamaha had a total of three YZ125 runners in the top ten at Jinin.