An EMX250 age rule in affect for 2019

It looks like the EMX250 Championship will have an age rule in place for the 2019 season and beyond.

Speaking to MxLarge, Giuseppe Luongo did confirm that an age rule would be put in place in the future. “we see in the European 250 Championship there are more and more older riders who are not competitive in the MXGP class and they return to the EMX250 class, this on a long term will compromise the growth of the youth in this class, therefore we are thinking about putting an age limit in this class and creating a new European 2 stroke class (250cc, instead of 300cc) like this all these older riders who are still good riders but maybe not good enough for MXGP have a good Championship to go to, this will allow the talented youth to prove themselves in the EMX2 European Championship before moving up into the MX2 class”.

With deals already put in place for 2019, it was thought that the age rule would perhaps come into play for the 2020 season but it looks like it’ll happen in 2019 after all.

British Championship rider, Gavin Stevenson received the following email from the Youthstream Sportoffice which he posted on social media:

Riders such as Mel Pocock, Marshal Weltin and Simone Furlotti have contracts to race the EMX250 series next year but once the age rule is official they will need other plans. It’s not ideal as they don’t have much time to sort themselves out.

Also, it’s interesting the EMX250 age rule will be the same as the MX2 World Championship – both U23. Whilst the age rule clearly helps the youth riders which is good to see, perhaps the MX2 World Championship age rule should have been changed to U25? At least then Weltin and Furlotti would have had the option of racing the World Championship.

Pic: Nigel McKinstry