Published on 29 May 2017

Who impressed: EMX125 & EMX250 in France!

EMX125

It was a superb weekend for CreyMert KTM rider, Kevin Horgmo as he won his first ever EMX125 overall. The Norwegian rider got out of the gate good all weekend with two holeshots. He was leading in the first moto but then crashed out of the lead which demoted him down to fourth position. He sat there until the half way mark before making his way past Zanotti for third. It looked like that’s as far as he would get but after mistakes from other riders he suddenly found himself in first and grabbed his first EMX125 race victory. In the second moto after leading on the first lap he made another mistake which dropped him to fifth. He could get back to a strong second.

Horgmo was finally able to turn his consistency into an overall win which will surely give him confidence, he will want to get that winning feeling again soon. He’s now only ten points off the championship lead, it’s all to play for with five rounds remaining.

It hadn’t been a great start to the season for young Italian, Gianluca Facchetti as he was expected to battle for the championship prior the start of the season. He missed the podium during the first two rounds but didn’t disappoint this weekend.

He crossed the first moto in third but had the best lap time of the race to show he had the speed for better. The second moto was just that as he could win and by a comfortable six seconds too.  Facchetti ended up second overall on the day and third in the championship. After getting back on the podium he will want to grab a victory soon.

Making his first EMX125 appearance of the season was the talented Tom Guyon in front of his home crowd. He didn’t disappoint them either as he showed good speed all day on his TM. He ended up seventh and sixth in the moto’s giving him fourth overall on his EMX125 debut.

Considering he was competing against a lot of these riders for the first time on the 125 machine that is impressive. Hopefully he decides to compete at more rounds before the end of the season so he can showcase his talent.

It hasn’t been a great start to the season for Andrea Zanotti on his Celestini KTM. After running nearly half the first moto in second he would eventually cross the line in sixth for his best moto result of the year so far. The second moto didn’t go quite as well but tenth was still a decent result and it was good enough for fifth overall. He will be hoping to build on this and get himself at least on the box before the end of the season.

WZ KTM rider, Jeremy Sydow has been showing good speed this season but has picked up two DNF’s along the way. He could post two solid results in France with a tenth and a seventh for a sixth overall, he will be hoping for more of the same in the future. Scotty Verhaeghe raised his game in front of his home crowd to end up tenth overall but he unfortunately picked up a DNF in the second moto. He was superb in the first moto to cross the line in second spot and will hope for more moto’s like that.

EMX250

Assomotor Honda rider, Mathys Boisrame was making his return to the series this weekend after he was forced to miss the first three rounds due to injury. He didn’t disappoint the French crowd as he showed great speed in the first moto to grab the win. He backed that up with a strong second in moto two to win the overall and his first win in the class.

Boisrame has nothing to lose in the championship so has no pressure on him, it looks like he will be a front runner for the rest of the season.

In terms of the championship race it was a great weekend for Jago Geerts as he clawed back some points on Lesiardo who has the red plate. The Belgian was complaining about arm pump but you wouldn’t have thought it by looking at his riding.

Geerts ended up second and third for second overall. He gained fourteen points in the championship chase and has it down to thirty-four points. Don’t rule Geerts out just yet as there’s still plenty of racing to be done.

It wasn’t a great start to the day for Alberto Forato as he only finished twelfth in the first moto. A different Forato turned up in the second moto though! He didn’t get a particularly great start as he crossed the first lap in eighth. At around the half way mark the Italian put on a charge and was making moves all around the track.

The Italian was third with just a lap to go and suddenly the two leaders were right in front of him. He made it happen and passed his team mate, Boisrame on the last lap to take the moto win.  Forato ended up on the third step of the podium in what was a great day for the Assomotor Honda team with both riders on the podium!

The French fans had plenty to cheer on this weekend and Pierre Goupillon was another one that put in a good performance. He ended up a great third in the first moto which is by far his best moto so far this season as he adapts to the 250. He was sitting in seventh in the second moto and with a chance of the podium but unfortunately crashed.  He had to be happy with fourth overall but that is still a very positive weekend.

It was a good weekend for Castrol Suzuki rider Mike Stender as he ended up an impressive sixth overall which is his best round to date in 2017. Brit, Todd Kellett again showed good speed for seventh overall and sits as the best placed Brit of the series in tenth. Some teams should be sniffing around Kellett for 2018 as he has a lot of potential.

Pics: Youthstream