EMX250: Who impressed in Germany?
The EMX250 championship headed to Germany for the fifth round of the series in what has been a closely contested championship with four riders all still having a chance to win it. Germany had some surprises and gatedrop will take a look at the riders that impressed during the course of the weekend.
Even though Steven Clarke won the championship in 2014 he remarkably had never won an overall! He changed that this weekend though as he finished second and first. In the first moto Damon was too fast for him but ‘scuba’ was able to scrub his way past Brian Hsu to win the second moto – a good day for the Brit! Steven had an awful lot of bad luck at the start of the season including getting his race bikes stole at Valkenswaard. It hasn’t been an easy start to the season but things have took a turn for the better in Germany, there is no doubt he can keep building and get better before the end of the season.
Rookie of the weekend was Brian Hsu as he got his first overall podium in the EMX250 class. He had a bad start in the first moto and had problems with his googles which meant he didn’t have clear vision – he salvaged a ninth place finish. He took a much better start in the second moto and was able to lead the race after Sterry ran into trouble. Brian finished second which meant he got an overall podium in front of his home fans and showed some good speed. It will be interesting to see what Suzuki decide to do with Brian next year, keep him in EMX250 or move him up to MX2 so he can learn the speed? The kid clearly has talent!
In terms of speed it wasn’t the best weekend for Maxime Desprey but he got himself back in the championship hunt! Maxime lead the first moto but actually finished fifth which is surprising considering he was so fast at the start of the season. The second race was better for him as he started fifth and got up to third, he was catching the leaders. The reason why he it was a good weekend for Maxime was because Sterry and Graulus had bad second moto’s. Maxime is now only nine points of the red plate in what is a very close championship! It was also a good weekend for Nick Kouwenberg because of this and he now has the red plate, there are some sand races which will suit him perfectly so it will be interesting to see if he can keep the red plate!
It was a brilliant weekend for privateer, Andy Baumgartner who hasn’t done any rounds so far this season. The Swiss man showed good speed and seemed to love the track. He finished fourteenth and fourth which meant he finished an impressive seventh overall. He is certainly putting himself in the shop window for a good ride next year, it would be cool to see him do more rounds before the end of the season to confirm his speed.
Silver Action rider Simone Furlotti had a great weekend, earlier in the season he was struggling just to qualify. He must be putting in a lot of hard work to improve. A twelfth and tenth finish is the best he has managed all season which I am sure he will be pumped about! It will be interesting to see if he can build on this performance and get even better results. This just shows that if you are struggling that you should still put the hard work in and you can get good results!
A shout out to Nicholas Adams who just moved teams as he is now with the Pfeil Kawasaki team. The South African didn’t have a good first moto but he had a great ride in the second moto to finish an excellent fifth position. The change of teams looks like it has already helped him which is good to see.
Article: Andy McKinstry
Pic: MXGP
