MJC Yamaha Official EMX125’s Ivano van Erp claimed his first race and round win of the season at the fourth round of the EMX125 Championship in Madrid, Spain. Teammate Karlis Reisulis was a tough challenger but narrowly missed out on a third consecutive podium finish by a single point. In WMX, Ceres 71 Yamaha’s Nancy van de Ven endured stifling hot heat at the fourth and penultimate round of the Women’s Motocross World Championship to finish on the third step of the podium with a 2-4 scorecard. As a result, the Dutch sensation has extended her lead in the WMX World Championship to 25-points over JK Yamaha Racing’s Lynn Valk.
Mediocre starts robbed MJC Yamaha’s Ivano van Erp and Karlis Reisulis of a top-three finish in the opening race at the fourth round of the EMX125 Championship. The young guns ran the pace but ultimately had to settle for fifth and sixth after starting outside the top-15.
Back with a vengeance in the second and final race of the weekend, both van Erp and Reisulis rocketed out of the gate. Van Erp took the holeshot and led every lap for his first EMX125 race and round win of the season. Reisulis challenged his teammate but was ultimately denied victory and a place on the podium. The young Latvian was 1-point shy of the second step on the podium, and with second, third and fourth tying on 38-points, he was classified fifth overall.
Ferruccio Zanchi crashed out of sixth place on lap-3 in the opening race and did not rejoin. In Race 2, the young Italian fought back from a first turn crash to finish 18th. As a result, he was classified 23rd overall.
Reisulis has moved within 3-points of second position in the championship chase. He is currently third, while Van Erp remains fifth, only 1-point shy of the rider in fourth. Zanchi rounds out the top-10.
The MJC Yamaha Official EMX125 squad now heads to Ernee, France, for the fifth round of the EMX125 series and the team’s home Grand Prix. The event will take place on Saturday 3rd and Sunday 4th June.
In the opening WMX race, van de Ven was back to her fast-starting ways. The ‘85’ powered her YZ250F to an incredible holeshot and led the first seven laps before Courtney Duncan made a pass with four laps remaining. Knowing she had an impressive 12-point advantage over her closest rival in the championship, Valk, the Dutch star remained calm and settled and finished strong in second position. On the other hand, Valk put in a stellar ride from outside of the top-20 to finish eighth.
In contrast to Race 1, van de Ven’s start was not optimal in the final race of the weekend. Nevertheless, she made a few great passes to finish third, which was enough to maintain her 100% podium success rate in 2022. As a result, the Dutch star is right on track for her first-ever WMX World Title. She now has a 25-point advantage over Valk with one round remaining.
The fifth and final round of the WMX World Championship will take place in Afyonkarahisa, Turkey on the weekend of September 4th.
