It was a diverse weekend for round five of the EMX125 and round three of the EMX300 European Championships with the two day event hosting one race on a dry, hard and slick surface and the second in some of the worst mud the championship has ever seen.
Yesterday, the sun baked circuit of Maggiora was dominated by KTM Factory Juniors Josiah Natzke who claimed his fourth consecutive EMX125 race win, while Swiss rider Killian Auberson took his first ever win in the EMX300.
With the weather taking a turn for the worst today, the EMX300 race was cut short due to torrential rain flooding the circuit. Italian fans remained happy with one of their locals, Manuel Beconcini, claiming the race win and another Italian, Marco Maddii, stealing the overall. Meanwhile in the EMX125 it was Kemea Yamaha Yamalube’s Maxime Renaux who took his second race win for his third overall victory of the season.
EMX300
Italian fans were instantly bought to life this morning as one of their home soil heroes Manuel Beconcini cleaned up the EMX300 race two. In conditions, which were in complete contrast to those of yesterday, Beconcini grabbed the holeshot and never looked back as he led every single lap unchallenged for his first ever EMX300 race win. Meanwhile behind him, fellow Italian Marco Maddii did a similar thing for second.
Because of the torrential rain, vision was an issue and errors were hard to avoid. The race ended up being a battle of survival before being red flagged with nearly nine minutes plus two laps still on the clock. With the race cut short, the red plate holder Wilvo Nestaan Husqvarna’s Yentel Martens finished up in third ahead of Spains Txomin Arana and Swiss rider Nicolas Bender.
With the combination of results from both races, Italian Marco Maddii was able to stand on the top step of the podium at his home round while Yentel Martens and Manuel Beconcini rounded out the top three respectively.
EMX300 Race 1 Top Ten: 1. Killian Auberson (SUI, KTM), 29:21.610; 2. Yentel Martens (BEL, Husqvarna), +0:13.427; 3. Marco Maddii (ITA, KTM), +0:18.896; 4. Damon Strydom (GBR, KTM), +0:32.357; 5. Manuel Beconcini (ITA, KTM), +0:32.997; 6. Dušan Drdaj (CZE, Yamaha), +0:37.181; 7. Dietger Damiaens (BEL, KTM), +0:39.491; 8. Micol Pacini (ITA, TM), +0:41.646; 9. Nicolas Bender (SUI, Yamaha), +0:42.025; 10. Txomin Arana (ESP, Yamaha), +1:04.429.
EMX300 Race 2 Top Ten: 1. Manuel Beconcini (ITA, KTM), 12:06.679; 2. Marco Maddii (ITA, KTM), +0:09.993; 3. Yentel Martens (BEL, Husqvarna), +0:12.567; 4. Txomin Arana (ESP, Yamaha), +0:35.591; 5. Nicolas Bender (SUI, Yamaha), +0:40.819; 6. Matthew Moffat (GBR, Husqvarna), +0:51.065; 7. Killian Auberson (SUI, KTM), +0:52.987; 8. Ronny van Hove (BEL, KTM), +1:06.544; 9. Patrick Vos (NED, KTM), +1:19.086; 10. Marcello Disetti (ITA, TM), +1:21.184.
EMX300 Overall Top Ten: 1. Marco Maddii (ITA, KTM), 42 points; 2. Yentel Martens (BEL, HUS), 42 p.; 3. Manuel Beconcini (ITA, KTM), 41 p.; 4. Killian Auberson (SUI, KTM), 39 p.; 5. Txomin Arana (ESP, YAM), 29 p.; 6. Nicolas Bender (SUI, YAM), 28 p.; 7. Damon Strydom (GBR, KTM), 28 p.; 8. Matthew Moffat (GBR, HUS), 25 p.; 9. Dietger Damiaens (BEL, KTM), 22 p.; 10. Dušan Drdaj (CZE, YAM), 19 p.
EMX300 Championship Top Ten: 1. Yentel Martens (BEL, HUS), 142 points; 2. Marco Maddii (ITA, KTM), 109 p.; 3. Matthew Moffat (GBR, HUS), 92 p.; 4. Lewis Gregory (GBR, YAM), 86 p.; 5. Damon Strydom (GBR, KTM), 85 p.; 6. Dietger Damiaens (BEL, KTM), 82 p.; 7. Joey Smet (BEL, KTM), 55 p.; 8. Patrick Vos (NED, KTM), 49 p.; 9. Nicolas Bender (SUI, YAM), 47 p.; 10. Mike Kras (NED, YAM), 42 p.
EMX300 Manufacturers: 1. Husqvarna, 142 points; 2. KTM, 122 p.; 3. Yamaha, 121 p.; 4. TM, 40 p.; 5. Kawasaki, 37 p.; 6. Aprilia, 24 p.; 7. Honda, 12 p.; 8. Suzuki, 12 p.
EMX125
After the gnarly storm in the morning, the second moto for the EMX125 was pushed back six hours which meant the youngsters had to race on a seriously chopped up grand prix circuit. It was the ultimate learning experience for every rider in contention with track demanding a vast amount of skill and technique.
Mastering the choppiness out here today was Kemea Yamaha Yamalube’s Maxime Renaux who got off to a great start and made an early charge for the lead. The holeshotter, Italian Davide Cislaghi managed to get the crowd involved when he led the opening laps of the race.
Ten minutes in and Renaux dropped the hammer on Cislaghi, which was soon duplicated by Sahkar KTM Racing’s Jago Geerts and the race one winner Josiah Natzke. As Cislaghi dropped back to fourth, Geerts wasted no time in chasing Renaux to put in a challenge for the lead.
Geerts did manage to reel Renaux in and did take the position briefly but Renaux was quick to counter act and pull another gap. At that point, the youngsters who battling a mixture of bottomless ruts, icy areas, and square edged bumps opted to cool it and settle in their positions.
As for the red plate holder, KTM Factory Juniors Jorge Prado, the fourteen-year-old Spaniard had an extremely tough day in the office, planting it multiple times. After finishing second in race one yesterday, he only managed to get seventeenth today which was detrimental to his championship.
The red plate now belongs to Maxime Renaux who won race two ahead of Jago Geerts and Josiah Natzke. The hot starter, Davide Cislaghi managed to hold on for fourth ahead of Ruben Fernandez Garcia.
At the end of the weekend it was Maxime Renaux who topped the box ahead of Josiah Natzke as Davide Cislaghi rounded out the top three.
EMX125 Race 1 Top Ten: 1. Josiah Natzke (NZL, KTM), 29:23.678; 2. Jorge Prado Garcia (ESP, KTM), +0:04.970; 3. Maxime Renaux (FRA, Yamaha), +0:09.869; 4. Gianluca Facchetti (ITA, KTM), +0:22.121; 5. Stephen Rubini (FRA, KTM), +0:28.082; 6. Davide Cislaghi (ITA, TM), +0:36.434; 7. Mathys Boisrame (FRA, Yamaha), +0:38.661; 8. Richard Sikyna (SVK, KTM), +0:39.236; 9. Ruben Fernandez Garcia (ESP, KTM), +0:48.209; 10. Jan Pancar (SLO, Yamaha), +0:53.890.
EMX125 Race 2 Top Ten: 1. Maxime Renaux (FRA, Yamaha), 30:25.169; 2. Jago Geerts (BEL, KTM), +0:03.519; 3. Josiah Natzke (NZL, KTM), +0:11.521; 4. Davide Cislaghi (ITA, TM), +0:23.220; 5. Ruben Fernandez Garcia (ESP, KTM), +0:27.792; 6. Stephen Rubini (FRA, KTM), +0:29.052; 7. Conrad Mewse (GBR, KTM), +0:34.470; 8. Jan Pancar (SLO, Yamaha), +0:48.462; 9. Andrea Zanotti (SMR, Yamaha), +0:49.745; 10. Mathys Boisrame (FRA, Yamaha), +0:53.509
EMX125 Overall Top Ten: 1. Maxime Renaux (FRA, YAM), 45 points; 2. Josiah Natzke (NZL, KTM), 45 p.; 3. Davide Cislaghi (ITA, TM), 33 p.; 4. Jago Geerts (BEL, KTM), 32 p.; 5. Stephen Rubini (FRA, KTM), 31 p.; 6. Ruben Fernandez Garcia (ESP, KTM), 28 p.; 7. Jorge Prado Garcia (ESP, KTM), 26 p.; 8. Mathys Boisrame (FRA, YAM), 25 p.; 9. Jan Pancar (SLO, YAM), 24 p.; 10. Gianluca Facchetti (ITA, KTM), 24 p.
EMX125 Championship Top Ten: 1. Maxime Renaux (FRA, YAM), 245 points; 2. Josiah Natzke (NZL, KTM), 235 p.; 3. Jorge Prado Garcia (ESP, KTM), 231 p.; 4. Miro Sihvonen (FIN, KTM), 144 p.; 5. Conrad Mewse (GBR, KTM), 144 p.; 6. Davide Cislaghi (ITA, TM), 144 p.; 7. Stephen Rubini (FRA, KTM), 140 p.; 8. Mathys Boisrame (FRA, YAM), 124 p.; 9. Filippo Zonta (ITA, HUS), 110 p.; 10. Glen Meier (DEN, KTM), 109 p
EMX125 Manufacturers: 1. KTM, 294 points; 2. Yamaha, 245 p.; 3. TM, 166 p.; 4. Husqvarna, 139 p.
Click here to obtain the complete results.
MXGP ITALY – QUICK FACTS
Circuit length: 1650m
Type of ground: Hard Pack
Temperature: 17°C
Weather conditions: cloudy with showers
Crowd Attendance: 36,000