VRT Yamaha Official EMX250 team’s Gavin Towers has placed fifth overall at the 11th and final round of the 2024 EMX250 campaign in Cozar, Spain. After finishing fifth behind his teammate, Ivano van Erp, in Race One, it was deemed the American gained an advantage in the race when he was pushed off the track by a rival and was demoted to 12th. Towers then made amends in Race Two with a fine third place. Van Erp, meanwhile, ended the weekend 14th overall.
The MXGP of Castilla la Mancha hosted the season finale for this year’s EMX250 Championship. With van Erp already securing fourth in the Championship Standings at the previous round in Turkey, and unable to catch third because of the points deficit, all eyes were on Towers to see if he could progress up the leaderboard from 15th.
Qualifying seventh was a strong start to the weekend for Towers, although he didn’t quite execute the best of starts in Race One. Then, in turn two, when attempting to make a pass, he was pushed off the track. From there, Towers continued to move forward and crossed the line in fifth, before his unfortunate seven-position penalty relegated him to 12th.
Eager to make amends in Race Two, Towers got the start he needed to run up front and held third from lap one to the finish. While giving chase to the leading riders, Towers, aboard his GYTR-kitted YZ250F, began to break free from the rest of the pack and built up an almost 30-second margin over fourth. Following his impressive ride to end the season, Towers, who only joined the team at round five, secured fifth overall on the day to move up to 14th in the final Championship Standings.
For van Erp, it was a mixed weekend of racing in Spain. With fourth in the championship already secured by the Dutchman, he charged to a strong fourth in Race One before crashing out of Race Two while running in ninth. Van Erp ultimately finished 14th overall.
Janis Reisulis, who secured a fine fourth overall at the opening round before picking up a season-ending injury, ranked 29th in the final Championship Standings.
The MJC Yamaha Official EMX125 team was also in action in Spain for their final round of 2024. Dani Heitink arrived in sixth in the Championship Standings with a mathematical chance of fourth. However, with mid-pack starts in both races and a circuit that proved difficult to make passes on, Heitink placed 21st overall, retaining sixth in what was his first year of EMX125 competition. The young Dutchman’s season was undoubtedly highlighted by his race wins in France and Sweden, along with placing fourth overall on two occasions.
Jarne Bervoets returned to racing in Spain after missing the previous round in Switzerland due to the thumb injury he sustained in Sweden. Struggling to get to grips with the challenging hardpack race track, Bervoets placed 23rd overall and finished his debut EMX125 season in 14th.
The team’s third rider, Frenchman Mano Faure, ended the season ninth despite missing four of the 11 rounds due to injury.
