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James Scott on his breakthrough performance!

James Scott on his breakthrough performance!

Young Kiwi James Scott gave his fans back home something to cheer about after a difficult start to his EMX125 campaign. Posting two fifth places resulted in a career best fourth overall position at Saint Jean d’Angély, round five of the series. Mario Lucas finished ninth in the second moto and remains the best placed F4E Racing rider in provisional standings.

The traditional Saint Jean d’Angély venue returned to the calendar this year after a year of absence. Ever popular with the fans the hard hillside course showed two faces last weekend. On Saturday the clay-based circuit was dry and fast, overnight rain turned the track into a rutted, rough and muddy affair. With four riders under the awning due to the return of Kjell Verbruggen the team had their work cut on the opening day. The pressure rose when the complete F4E Racing lineup was relegated to the Last Chance Qualifier in an unprecedented turn of events.

While James Scott only musterd 22nd in his time practice group the protégé of Ben Townley turned things around in the LCQ.  James good off to a flhying start and never looked back claiming a dominant win with a 22-second lead over second placed Riccardo Nicoli. Despite a mediocre start and a front brake issue Mario kept his cool and bounced back to an 8th place finish. Wannes Van de Voorde and Kjell Verbruggen placed respectively 15th and 30th.

Scott rode his KTM SX125 to an excellent start in the opening moto. Initially second James made a pass for the lead but was demoted to second by home rider Thibault Benistant before the end of the first lap.  Hanging on to second for most of the race the former 85cc New Zealand champion eventually came home fifth. On a much rougher race track Scott showed on Sunday that his first moto result hadn’t been a fluke. After a terrible start he gradually remounted to earn fifth across the line.

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Promising young Spanish ace Mario Lucas was not assisted by the best of starts in France. Lucas broke into the top-15 after a bad getaway but was forced to retire after another rider jumped on him. In super challenging conditions the Spanish 125 championship leader came all the way from dead last to ninth on Sunday. The #771 F4E Racing rider has been unlucky since his Valkenswaard podium in the opening round but Mario moved up one position to 11th in the EMX125 series.

James Scott: “The weekend started off difficult but I felt like I finally rode like I’m able to in both motos. I dropped back to fifth in the first moto after a small mistake, however the speed was good. I’m particularly happy about the second race. I had to come from way back to finish fifth.

Mario Lucas: “It was a pretty eventful weekend with lots of small problems. The results didn’t reflect my riding at all because I had the speed to do more than I was able to show, but that’s racing. In the first moto I was fighting for 12th place when I got hit hard by another rider and I hurt my leg  and hand. Sunday was so hard because of the mud. I had to come in (to pitlane)  with a goggle problem in the first lap and went down. So ninth was actually pretty good after all I had to go through! “

Wannes Van de Voorde: “Definitely not the weekend I wanted! There was a lot going on and I had to switch bikes in time practice. In the LCQ I made a mistake at the gate, managed to get away okay but then I lost so much time getting stuck behind a pile-up. That set me up for a comeback race. I gained a lot of ground but it was not enough to qualify.”

Kjell Verbruggen: “After my knee injury it’s obvious I lack race rhythm so I always knew it would be tough to make the cut here, especially because Saint Jean d’Angély is such a typical track! The idea was to come here, gain some experience and continue to build for the next races. My focus in the EMX125 is now on the Belgian GP in August. The gap in the calendar this gives me some time to prepare properly.“

Words: Tom Jacobs

Pic: Loïc Lassence