The European Motocross Championship races thrilled fans at the Latvian GP at Kegums as Kevin Horgmo took an overall victory in EMX250 to edge closer to the series leader Nicholas Lapucci.
Meanwhile, Gert Krestinov made a perfect wildcard appearance in the EMX Open class to go 1-1 and take the overall win.
In the first EMX250 race it was Maxime Grau, of Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing, who was the leading rider as he headed into the first and second corner.
There were a few riders caught up in some crashes during the first two laps, this included Tom Guyon, of Team VHR KTM Racing, and Hutten Metaal Yamaha Racing’s Andrea Bonacorsi.
Grau’s time in the lead didn’t last long as Belgium’s Liam Everts, of Liamski KTMm jumped into the lead, as Kevin Horgmo, of SM Action Racing Team YUASA Battery, battled with Federico Tuani, of Fantic Factory Team Maddii, for second place.
Yago Martinez, the rider of Team VRT Nordpesca Holland, got a good start in the race and was running fourth ahead of Rick Elzinga (pictured above), of TBS Conversions Racing Team, and Filip Olsson, of SIXTYTWO Motorsport Husqvarna Team.
Everts then dropped from the lead down to seventh after crashing, which meant that Horgmo was the new race leader ahead of Elzinga and Lapucci who made their way up the order.
Elzinga looked like he was going to challenge Horgmo for the race win, though after a few laps the Norwegian was able to edge out to secure his first EMX250 victory, with Elzinga securing second position and Lapucci finishing what was a lonely race in third.
In race two, it was Martinez who led Lapucci, Horgmo and Mike Gwerder, of WZ Racing Team. While once again a couple of riders came together and it looked like Bonacorsi was involved once again.
Lapucci though took the lead on lap four as Elzinga was making his way through the field after starting the race in around 10th and was up in 5th at that moment. It also didn’t take long for him to get around Gwerder who was trying his best to keep the Dutchman behind him.
Horgmo then also passed Martinez to move into second as Everts was having a tough race after starting down the order and then crashing to drop outside of the points after working hard to get inside the top 20. He eventually finished the race in 28th.
Lapucci then stretched his lead to 3.407 seconds over Horgmo as Martinez lost third place to Elzinga who was keen on picking up some important points for the title chase.
Lapucci then checked out of the race and won with a 9.583 as Horgmo brought it home in second and Elzinga crossing the line in third.
With a race win and a second place today in the races, Horgmo secured his first ever EMX250 overall victory as he took to the top step of the podium, while Lapucci continued his 100% podium record with second overall and Elzinga making his third consecutive podium appearance to finished on the third step.
Lapucci continues to lead the championship with a 27-point advantage over Horgmo and Elzinga who is further behind in third.
Kevin Horgmo said: “Actually, it’s one of the first races where I didn’t get too stressed; in both races I did quite good I had really good flow even in the rough sections of the track.
“I was pushing really hard in the second race because I wanted to get the maximum points for the championship; when I started thinking about the overall I made some mistakes, I got stressed and I saw that Nicholas was riding really good so I tried to calm down and be focused on the overall.
“The last lap was really hard because I was feeling the pressure. To win the overall has always been my dream and is always nice, I had already other chances in the past but I threw them away because of mistakes so I’m really proud of this result.”
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RESULTS & STANDINGS:
EMX250 – Race 1 – Top 10 Classification:
- Kevin Horgmo (NOR, GASGAS), 29:37.117; 2. Rick Elzinga (NED, KTM), +0:10.177; 3. Nicholas Lapucci (ITA, Fantic), +0:15.405; 4. Yago Martinez (ESP, KTM), +0:37.008; 5. Liam Everts (BEL, KTM), +0:39.047; 6. Federico Tuani (ITA, Fantic), +0:53.355; 7. Dave Kooiker (NED, Yamaha), +0:55.276; 8. David Braceras (ESP, KTM), +0:56.290; 9. Mike Gwerder (SUI, KTM), +0:58.810; 10. Tim Edberg (SWE, KTM), +1:09.056.
EMX250 – Race 2 – Top 10 Classification:
- Nicholas Lapucci (ITA, Fantic), 29:50.954; 2. Kevin Horgmo (NOR, GASGAS), +0:09.583; 3. Rick Elzinga (NED, KTM), +0:19.229; 4. Yago Martinez (ESP, KTM), +0:34.560; 5. Cornelius Toendel (NOR, Yamaha), +0:36.540; 6. Mike Gwerder (SUI, KTM), +0:39.729; 7. Maximilian Spies (GER, Fantic), +0:45.599; 8. Maxime Grau (FRA, Husqvarna), +1:01.545; 9. Filip Olsson (SWE, Husqvarna), +1:04.727; 10. Dave Kooiker (NED, Yamaha), +1:06.430.
EMX250 – Overall Top 10 Classification:
- Kevin Horgmo (NOR, GAS), 47 points; 2. Nicholas Lapucci (ITA, FAN), 45 p.; 3. Rick Elzinga (NED, KTM), 42 p.; 4. Yago Martinez (ESP, KTM), 36 p.; 5. Mike Gwerder (SUI, KTM), 27 p.; 6. Dave Kooiker (NED, YAM), 25 p.; 7. Federico Tuani (ITA, FAN), 24 p.; 8. Tim Edberg (SWE, KTM), 21 p.; 9. David Braceras (ESP, KTM), 20 p.; 10. Cornelius Toendel (NOR, YAM), 16 p.
EMX250 – Championship Top 10 Classification:
- Nicholas Lapucci (ITA, FAN), 187 points; 2. Kevin Horgmo (NOR, GAS), 163 p.; 3. Rick Elzinga (NED, KTM), 144 p.; 4. Liam Everts (BEL, KTM), 108 p.; 5. Yago Martinez (ESP, KTM), 91 p.; 6. Cornelius Toendel (NOR, YAM), 88 p.; 7. Dave Kooiker (NED, YAM), 77 p.; 8. Andrea Bonacorsi (ITA, YAM), 74 p.; 9. Mike Gwerder (SUI, KTM), 74 p.; 10. Jorgen-Matthias Talviku (EST, HUS), 57 p.
EMXOpen – Race 1 – Top 10 Classification:
- Gert Krestinov (EST, Honda), 29:36.366; 2. Jere Haavisto (FIN, Kawasaki), +0:15.177; 3. Davide De Bortoli (ITA, Honda), +0:19.450; 4. Micha-Boy De Waal (NED, Husqvarna), +0:26.201; 5. Emil Silander (FIN, GASGAS), +0:27.112; 6. Nicolas Dercourt (FRA, Honda), +0:29.100; 7. Emil Berggren (SWE, Husqvarna), +0:39.878; 8. Tim Koch (GER, Husqvarna), +0:40.363; 9. Simone Croci (ITA, Husqvarna), +0:42.736; 10. Andero Lusbo (EST, Husqvarna), +0:45.113.
EMXOpen – Race 2 – Top 10 Classification:
- Gert Krestinov (EST, Honda), 30:03.612; 2. Micha-Boy De Waal (NED, Husqvarna), +0:06.397; 3. Nicolas Dercourt (FRA, Honda), +0:10.714; 4. Davide De Bortoli (ITA, Honda), +0:22.094; 5. Emil Silander (FIN, GASGAS), +0:34.677; 6. Dovydas Karka (LTU, Yamaha), +0:39.157; 7. Andero Lusbo (EST, Husqvarna), +0:49.983; 8. Tomasz Wysocki (POL, KTM), +0:55.601; 9. Simone Croci (ITA, Husqvarna), +1:00.814; 10. Emil Berggren (SWE, Husqvarna), +1:02.673.
EMXOpen – Overall Top 10 Classification:
- Gert Krestinov (EST, HON), 50 points; 2. Micha-Boy De Waal (NED, HUS), 40 p.; 3. Davide De Bortoli (ITA, HON), 38 p.; 4. Nicolas Dercourt (FRA, HON), 35 p.; 5. Emil Silander (FIN, GAS), 32 p.; 6. Andero Lusbo (EST, HUS), 25 p.; 7. Emil Berggren (SWE, HUS), 25 p.; 8. Dovydas Karka (LTU, YAM), 24 p.; 9. Simone Croci (ITA, HUS), 24 p.; 10. Tomasz Wysocki (POL, KTM), 23 p.
EMXOpen – Championship Top 10 Classification:
- Davide De Bortoli (ITA, HON), 154 points; 2. Nicolas Dercourt (FRA, HON), 147 p.; 3. Micha-Boy De Waal (NED, HUS), 125 p.; 4. Simone Croci (ITA, HUS), 121 p.; 5. Filippo Zonta (ITA, HON), 88 p.; 6. Andero Lusbo (EST, HUS), 80 p.; 7. Simeo Ubach (ESP, HUS), 78 p.; 8. Jeff Oxelmark (SWE, HON), 52 p.; 9. Gert Krestinov (EST, HON), 50 p.; 10. Tim Koch (GER, HUS), 49 p.