(VILLARS SOUS ECOT), Pays de Montbéliard, France, 17 September 2017 – The last round of the EMX250 Championship paired up with that of MXGP, MX2, and WMX this weekend on the challenging hillside of Villars sous Ecot.

Taking the overall win was GL12 Racing’s James Dunn on his 2-stroke machine. While Dunn was the Winner of the weekend, the season’s 2017 EMX250 Champion was crowned and it was Monster Energy Kawasaki Racing Team’s Morgan Lesiardo.

In this weekend’s EMX250 racing consistency was the key. In race 1 BUD Racing Monster Energy’s Tristan Charboneau had the key and led nearly every lap of the 14. Charboneau was passed only by Honda Redmoto’s Mathys Boisrame who only held the lead for one lap before giving it back to Charboneau.

Running second and third was GL12 Racing’s James Dunn and F&H Racing Team’s Ruben Fernandez. Dunn originally started in 2nd but dropped to 5th before climbing back to second while Fernandez held the 3rd spot the entire race. Josh Spinks and Yamaha SM Action’s Simone Zecchina took 4th and 5th while Morgan Lesiardo finished 13th and could clinched the 2017 title.

In race 2 Charboneau struggled on the start around 14th and dropped even further to 19th on lap 2. At the front was the newly crowned champion, Lesiardo followed by Zecchina and the French rider, Anthony Bourdon.

Meanwhile James Dunn had an issue on the start and was coming back from 17th on the first lap but by lap 5 was up to 5th. With only a few laps to go Bourdon took second from Zecchina and then inherited the lead from Lesiardo as he had a bike issue.

At the finish line Bourdon won the race ahead of Zecchina and Dunn. Dunn took the overall win with the consistent 2-3 finish as Zecchina took second and Bourdon took third.

2017 Champion Morgan Lesiardo decided to race the season opener at Trentino in a spur of the moment decision and continued on to first take the points lead and then was offered a ride with Monster Energy Kawasaki. Lesiardo’s ability to adapt to a completely new bike and find a way back into the championship after losing the red plate is in its own quite impressive, not to mention becoming the FIM Europe Champion! Congrats Morgan on an awesome season and a well deserved title!

After this ultimate racing weekend the FIM Europe President Dr. Wolfgang Srb stated: “The successful EMX250 class will continue for the years to come to be open for 2 stroke as well as 4 stroke engines. This “Parity Concept” gives riders and teams the chance to select their favourite bike. It is our throng desire to keep the sport as affordable as possible and to give the manufacturers an equal chance to present their machines in the best 250cc Continental Motocross Championship in the world. EMX250 is also the perfect stepping stone into the FIM MX2 World Championship.”

MXGP of Pays de Montbéliard – QUICK FACTS

Circuit length: 1550m

Type of ground: hard pack

Temperature: 16°C

Weather conditions: cloudy with showers

Weekend Crowd Attendance: 39,500