Hutten Metaal Yamaha Official EMX250’s duo of front runners, Rick Elzinga and Andrea Bonacorsi, tied on 40-points for second overall at the seventh round of the EMX250 Championship in Lommel, Belgium. As a result, Elzinga has extended his lead in the championship. At the same time, MJC Yamaha Official EMX125’s Karlis Reisulis finished third overall in the lighter capacity series and has moved up to second position in the EMX125 Championship Standings.
The EMX250 round of Flanders got off to the perfect start for Hutten Metaal Yamaha’s trio of Elzinga, Bonacorsi and Dave Kooiker. All three riders powered their GYTR kitted YZ250Fs to the top of the timesheets, with Elzinga setting the pace in Group 1, fractionally quicker than Bonacorsi, while Kooiker posted the fastest time in Group 2.
In one of the most competitive races of the season, teammates Bonacorsi and Elzinga finished second and third after an epic three-way battle with the eventual race winner Lucas Coenen. Elzinga led the most laps, but due to some health issues, he could only finish third after experiencing a lack of energy in the latter stages. At the same time, Bonacorsi made a small mistake when he hit neutral, which allowed Coenen to make a pass – he ultimately finished second.
In Race Two, Elzinga got off to another decent start and dueled with the front runners for as long as his strength would allow. He held on for another third, which was enough for second overall. Meanwhile, Bonacorsi put in a show-stopping performance after colliding with some other riders at turn one and later falling on his own. The young Italian put in a fantastic ride through the pack from outside the top-20 to eventually finish fourth, for third overall.
Dave Kooiker put in a strong ride in both races where he challenged the top-five and certainly had the pace, but faded to eighth in race one and did not finish race two after falling from seventh with three laps remaining.
From the seven EMX250 rounds raced, Elzinga has been on the podium six times and now leads the championship by 30-points over Cornelius Toendel. Bonacorsi is fourth, only 2-points shy of Coenen in third, while Kooiker is 15th.
In EMX125, Yamaha’s youngest Official team had to put the GYTR kitted YZ125 through its paces around Lommel’s historically tough sand circuit. In hot and stuffy conditions, the MJC Yamaha trio started strong. Reisulis posted the fastest lap in Timed Practice and was joined inside the top five by teammates Ivano Van Erp who was third and Ferruccio Zanchi, fifth.
Reisulis had two consistent races in which he powered his YZ125 to a fourth and a third for third overall. Consequently, he moves up to second overall in the EMX125 Championship Standings.
Van Erp proved his sand riding prowess in the opening race with a solid charge to third, even after a fall on lap 9. But he would only finish 11th in the round overall after crashing out of 15th in Race Two on lap 7.
Zanchi had a challenging weekend spoiled by mistakes. He was unable to score points in both races and was ultimately classified 38th.
After a challenging round, Van Erp remains fifth in the EMX125 Championship Standings, while Zanchi has dropped to eighth, just ahead of last year’s YZ125 bLU cRU FIM Europe Cup Winner Adrien Petit, who has moved up to ninth after celebrating his first-ever top-10 with an 11-9 scorecard for ninth overall.
The next round of the EMX250 and EMX125 Championships will take place in Uddevalla, Sweden, on the 6th and 7th of August.
