Nederlands
Hutten Metaal Yamaha Official EMX250’s Rick Elzinga got his 2022 EMX250 title campaign off to a perfect start. The 20-year-old Dutchman celebrated his third-ever race win and mounted the top step of the podium at the opening round of the EMX250 Championship in Mantova, Italy, to take the first red plate of the new season.
Entering the opening round of the hotly contested EMX250 Championship with high hopes in 2022, last years’ bronze medalist, Elzinga, was quick right off the bat. The Yamaha star topped the timesheets in practice to take the first pole position of the new season. At the same time, teammates Andrea Bonacorsi and Dave Kooiker qualified in fifth and 12th in their respective groups.
After starting inside the top-five in the first race of the weekend, the pacesetter Elzinga was quick to put the hammer down. The ‘44’ made a series of incredible passes and eventually stole the lead from David Braceras on lap 7. From there, the tall Dutchman raced his GYTR kitted YZ250F to a stunning race win, the third of his bright 250cc career.
Kooiker finished 18th, while Bonacorsi could not finish the race after he was cleaned out of fifth position by an overly aggressive rider.
In the final race of the weekend, Elzinga had to fight for every point scored. After starting outside of the top-15, the Race 1 winner worked hard to find new lines, which allowed him to fight back to fourth position.
Like Elzinga, Bonacorsi had to brawl his way through the field outside the top-20. The 18-year-old Italian put in an astonishing charge to finish sixth position, which bumped the ‘35’ up into 12th overall after a DNF yesterday. Kooiker finished 12th in Race 2 for 14th overall.
Rick Elzinga: ‘’“I can’t be happier to have the red plate! To take a win at the first round was one of the goals. We worked all winter for it. I am really happy to have the red plate, and really happy to be back on blue. Thanks to Yamaha and my team, I look forward to the next rounds!”
Overall EMX250 Mantova:
1 Rick Elzinga 43 Pnt
2 Cornelius Toendel 39 Pnt
3 Haakon Osterhagen 38 Pst
4 Meico Vettik 33 Pnt
5 Oriol Oliver 32 Pnt
12 Andrea Bonacorsi 15 Pnt
14 Dave Kooiker 12 Pnt