Race report: Osterhagen, Barbieri and Katona clinch Junior World Championships
The 2021 FIM Junior World Champions and World Cup Winner have been crowned in Megalopolis, Greece after some impressive races that saw Fantic Factory Team Maddii’s Haakon Osterhagen become this year’s 125cc Junior World Champion, while Mattia Barbieri was crowned the 85cc Junior World Champion and Aaron Katona the 65cc World Cup Winner. Meanwhile in the Nations standings, it was Team Italy who were victorious once again, finishing ahead of Team Hungary and Team Netherlands.
In the first 125cc race it was Bence Pergol who took the Fox Holeshot, though it was Osterhagen who took the lead in the first lap and then led the rest of the race until the chequered flag. Raul Sanchez made contact with a lapped rider in front of pitlane, while Gorgios Vagenas almost crashed but managed to stay in the game, though it cost him second position. Last year’s 85cc World Champion Valerio Lata of MRT Racing Team KTM finished the race second after making the most of the opportunity handed to him thanks to the mistake of Sanchez, who finished the race third.
In the second race it was Osterhagen who took the second Fox Holeshot, got his head down and controlled the rest of the race to go 1-1 and become this year’s 125cc Junior World Champion. While Osterhagen led, there was a nice battle between Kay Karssemakers and Lata for second, with the pair wheel-to-wheel for the entire race. Eventually though it was Lata who finished second with Karssemakers third.
The perfect race score handed Osterhagen the overall victory, while two solid second place finishes put Lata second with Karssemakers placing third with a 7-3 result.
125cc Junior World Champion, Haakon Osterhagen: “I won basically everything except one holeshot in the first race. After the first race, where I ran out of energy due to the heat, I decided to be ready for what would come and I did my best. This is very great success for me and for my country. I would like to thank my family, my sponsors and everybody who supported me.”
125cc Junior World Championship Top 5 Classifications: 1. Haakon Osterhagen 50 pts, 2. Valerio Lata 44 pts, 3. Kay Karssemakers 34 pts, 4. Andrea Viano 29 pts, 5. Karlis Alberts Reisulis 29 pts.
In the 85cc category, Martins Janis Reisulis took the first Fox Holeshot of the day, as a couple of riders were involved in a crash out of the start. Reisulis led the whole race while coming under immense pressure from last year’s 65cc World Cup Winner, Marek Vitezslav who was pushing from behind. Unfortunately, on the very last lap Reisulis ran out of fuel which allowed Vitezslav to take the win. Noel Zanocz finished the race second ahead of Mattia Barbieri.
The second race saw Vitezslav take the Fox Holeshot and lead the race while coming under pressure from Barbieri. The Czech rider pushed hard until the last lap when he was passed by the Italian who made a risky move which ultimately paid off.
With a 3-1 result, Barbieri was declared the 85cc World Champion as he tied on points with Vitezslav who had a 1-3 result. Third was Zanocz who finished 2-5 in the races.
85cc Junior World Champion, Mattia Barbieri: “I’m happy to be here on the podium. It was a very good battle with Czech rider. I want to express my thanks to the whole Italian team, my sponsors, my family”.
85cc Junior World Championship Top 5 Classifications: 1. Mattia Barbieri 45 pts, 2. Vitezslav Marek 45 pts, 3. Noel Zanocz 38 pts, 4. Markuss Ozolins 34 pts, 5. Simone Mancini 33 pts.
The opening 65cc race saw Andrea Uccellini take the Fox Holeshot as he led the race and was looking comfortable in the lead, though with just two laps to go, the Italian was passed by Aaron Katona who was the race winner, Uccellini was second and Sleny Goyer was third.
In the second race Uccellini took the Fox Holeshot once again, though the second race unfolded much like the first as it was Katona who took the win, with Goyer second and Uccellini dropping to third.
With two race wins, Katona got the perfect score to that 65cc title, while Goyer finished second and Uccellini third.
65cc Junior World Cup Winner, Aaron Katona: “I feel just proud about my standings today”.
65cc Junior World Cup Top 5 Overall Classifications: 1. Aaron Katona 50 pts, 2. Sleny Goyer 42 pts, 3. Andrea Uccellini 42 pts, 4. Leo Diss-Fenard 32 pts, 5. Dex Van De Broek 30 pts.
Nations Classifications
In the nations’ classifications, it was Team Italy who was victorious with eight points thanks to the great results by their riders Valerio Lata, Mattia Barbieri and Andrea Uccellini, while placing second with 10 points was Team Hungary with strong results from Bence Pergel, Noel Zanocz and Aaron Katona. Finishing third were Team Netherlands on 20 points with Kay Karssemakers, Lotte Van Drunen and Dex Van Den Broek.
Meanwhile Team Estonia were declared the winners of the Ride Green Cup for showing their dedication to caring for their environment.
2021 Junior World Championship Nations Top 5 Classifications: 1. Italy 6 pts, 2. Hungary 10 pts, 3. Netherlands 20 pts, 4. France 24 pts, 5. Spain 26 pts.
Words and pic: Infront Moto Racing
