Nederlands
Hutten Metaal Yamaha Official EMX250’s Thibault Benistant made a welcomed return to the podium at the eighth round of the EMX250 Championship in Madrid, Spain. The ‘198’ posted a pair of thirds for second overall and has maintained an 18-point lead in the championship. Teammate, Gianluca Facchetti finished fourth in both races for fifth overall.
The European Motocross Championship returned to Spain for the first time since 2018, and this time to a brand-new venue in the country’s capital, Madrid. Facchetti was quick right off the bat as the second fastest rider in Qualifying. Benistant took his time to familiarize himself with the tight and jumpy clay track and eventually finished up the session in sixth position.
Starts were Benistant’s nemesis today. Despite being the fastest man on track, the ‘198’ found it difficult to make up for lost time with the newly built track shaping up tight and rutty. He ended up third at the flag in both races after two valiant rides through the pack from ninth.
In contrast to his teammate, Facchetti launched out of the gate and powered his GYTR kitted YZ250F to two impressive holeshots. The young Italian led the first two laps in the opening race before making a couple of small mistakes and dropping back to fifth but managed to reclaim fourth from Tim Edberg on the penultimate lap. In the final race, the ‘22’ put in a sensational ride in second position for the majority of the race. He lost one position to Lorenzo Locurcio with three-laps to go and then fell from third position on the final lap. Fortunately, he made a quick remount and eventually finished fourth to finish fifth overall.
Benistant leads the championship by 18-points over Mattia Guadagnini, while Facchetti has moved up into 10th.
The penultimate round of the EMX250 Championship will take place next weekend, on Saturday 17th October, in Lommel, Belgium followed by the final round three days later, on Tuesday 20th at the same venue.
Overall EMX250 Spain:
1 Mattia Guadagnini 50 Pnt
2 Thibault Benistant 40 Pnt
3 Kay de Wolf 38 Pnt
4 Lorenzo Lucorcio 37 Pnt
5 Gianluca Facchetti 36 Pnt
EMX250 Championship Standings:
1 Thibault Benistant 326 Pnt
2 Mattia Guadagnini 308 Pnt
3 Kay de Wolf 236 Pnt
4 Hakon Fredriksen 215 Pnt
5 Tim Edberg 201 Pnt
10 Gianluca Facchetti 134 Pnt