Nederlands
The Hutten Metaal Yamaha Official EMX250 Team celebrated its most successful event of the season with a near podium sweep at the fifth round of the EMX250 Championship in Kegums, Latvia. The round was won by Ivano Van Erp who powered his GYTR kitted YZ250F to a solid 1-2 finish for his first ever EMX250 overall victory. He was joined on the podium by teammate Andrea Bonacorsi, who collected his fifth consecutive piece of podium silverware on the third step. At the same time, the home-crowd hero Karlis Reisulis narrowly missed the box by 2-points, finishing his home round fourth.
Proving the strength of the GYTR kitted YZ250F, all three Hutten Metaal Yamaha riders started inside the top five in EMX250 Race One. Van Erp and Reisulis went bar-to-bar over the holeshot line with Van Erp taking the initial advantage, while Bonacorsi made up the top five.
As Van Erp shone at the front of the field, Bonacorsi charged to third while Reisulis was shuffled back to fifth. The trio continued to battle it out, with each rider fighting hard to maintain their positions. Throughout the race, all three were passed by Marc Antoine Rossi, who crossed the finish line in first position, but was later penalized for a yellow flag offence, awarding Van Erp the victory, Bonacorsi second and Reisulis fourth.
In Race Two, Van Erp’s dominant performance at the front of the field was a testament to his talent. The young Dutchman pulled another holeshot and led 11 of the 14 laps raced before crossing the line in second position, which was enough to secure his first ever overall victory. In contrast to Van Erp’s ‘blue hot’ start, Bonacorsi put in a heroic ride back from outside of the points to finish fifth behind his teammate Reisulis who put in another brilliant ride for fourth.
After a successful weekend in the sand of Latvia, Bonacorsi maintains a 30-point lead in the EMX250 Championship, while Reisulis has moved up into sixth, and has a 5-point buffer on teammate Van Erp in seventh.
The next round of the European Championship will take place next week, June 10th and 11th, in Teutschenthal, Germany.