RIOLA SARDO (Sardinia) 27 March 2023 – The first round of the EMX250 Championship of the season took place in Sardegna and has concluded with Andrea Bonacorsi winning for the second year in a row with some strong racing throughout the weekend. 

The first race of the EMX250 class saw a great start with three riders detaching themselves with Ivano Van Erp and Andrea Bonacorsi from Hutten Metaal Yamaha Racing Team and Fantic Factory Team Maddii’s Cas Valk taking the lead with Van Erp taking the better of the others over few turns until Valk made a move on the inside to be 1st on lap 1. 

It was the turn of Bonacorsi on lap 2 to make a charge on Van Erp who could not resist the attack. Bonacorsi would go on to put pressure on Valk who made a mistake on a turn leaving the path open for Bonacorsi to take the lead on lap 4 and never give it up, increasing even the gap along the way. Bonacorsi won the race while Valk would settle for 2nd in the end.

Another heroic riding was the one from Bud Racing Kawasaki’s Quentin Prugnieres who started in the mid-pack being 9th after lap 1 but methodically showing his speed as he started his charge to the top on lap 3. He would find himself 6th on lap 5 behind BT Racing Team’s Kay Karssemakers. It was a great battle between the two riders during over a lap until Prugnieres finally found the solution and passed Karssemakers for 4th. Prugnieres kept going and passed Van Erp too to get close to Valk in 2nd at the end but settled for 3rd. Van Erp was able to keep his 4th position until the finish line. 

Karssemakers who was 5th on lap 1 finished at the same position in the end. Valerio Lata also showed good control during the race as he began 8th on lap 1 to move his way up to 6th in the end. 

VRT KTM Factory Juniors’ Ferruccio Zanchi and Fantic Factory Team Maddii’s Alexis Fueri had their paths crossed in different direction. While Fueri made a good start making 6th on lap 1, Zanchi found himself 13th after lap 1. But the riders did cross pass on lap 5 in 9th and 10th position. Zanchi took 2 laps to finally overtake Fueri as the riders follow each other to keep that order until the end, in 7th and 8th. 

Then completing the top 10 were SM Action Racing Team Yuasa Battery’s Federico Tuani along with Andrea Rossi in 9th and 10th respectively. Both of them moved up the rank after throughout the race. There was a deception for Hutten Metaal Yamaha Racing Team’s Karlis Reisulis in race 1 as he found himself 4th after lap 1 to go down the order as he could not maintain his speed ending just outside the top 10 in 11th place.

On Race 2, Prugnieres led the way on lap 1 in front of Van Erp and Bonacorsi. But Van Erp made a move on the Frenchman to take his turn at the top. A battle between the three riders would go on until lap 4 when Bonacorsi took the reins of the race to never give it up as he increased its lead throughout to win comfortably. 

Van Erp would get back to 2^nd between lap 5 and 7 but could not hold Karssemakers attacks on lap 8. Karssemakers coming from 4^th on lap 1 showed great speed as he overtook Van Erp. Karssemakers would keep the 2^nd place until the end. 

The 3^rd place was disputed between Van Erp and Prugnieres from lap 8 until the end. Van Erp 3^rd at the time was not able to keep up with Prugnieres’s pace and had to give up his advantage on lap 12. Prugnieres would end up 3^rd while Van Erp 4^th. 

Valk is one rider that made his way up from 7^th on lap 1 to move to 5^th on lap 4 and keep this place until the end. Rossi experienced the same kind of race as he found himself 8^th on lap 1 to make a move during lap 4 on Reisulis and Team VHR’s Saad Soulimani 14^th and 19^th in the end respectively. Rossi got to 6^th when he overtook Fueri on lap 5 to get keep this position until the end. 

Yamah De Baets’s Bradley Mesters showed a great determination as after an average start, finding himself 14^th on lap 1, he made a charge to the top 10 and gradually went up the rank to get to a good 7^th place. Similarly, Beddini Racing KTM’s Valerio Lata reversed a poor start when he got to 22^nd on lap 1 to deliver a very strong performance to 8^th making a lot of overtakes along the way. 

Fueri on his part went down the order from 5^th during the third three laps to go down to 9^th in the end as he could not find his rhythm on this second race to push back up. Finally, behind him Meico Vettik made it up to the top 10 after he made some great moves mid-race on lap 7 and 8 as he was 13^th to overtake Tuani, Soulimani and Reisulis to move up to 10^th until the end. 

In the end, Bonacorsi went 1-1 to get a precious win to kick-start his season while Prugnieres clinched the second place on the podium and Karssemakers third overall. 

Andrea Bonacorsi: “Saturday and race 1 went very well and today too. It is always good to start the season like this. I felt good during the two races. Of course, it’s just the first round so let’s see how the other ones go. I’m in good shape and I feel great so this is positive”

Main Photo: Andrea Bonacorsi

Bottom photos: 1.EMX250 Start; 2. EMX250 Podium

MXGP OF SARDEGNA QUICK FACTS:

Circuit length: 1750m

Type of ground: Sand

Temperature: 19°

Weather conditions: sunny

Weekend Crowd Attendance: 14500