AFYON (Turkiye) 3 September 2023 – The penultimate round of the EMX250 in Afyon, Turkiye witnessed greatness in the making with many battles and good racing happening over the weekend. 

In the end, Hutten Metaal Yamaha Racing Team’s Andrea Bonacorsi managed to clinch the overall and the EMX250 Championship Title with one round to spare and a 100% podiums which shows the dominance of the Italian this season. Bonacorsi cannot be caught up by Husqvarna BT Racing Team’s Kay Karssemakers in the last round in Great Britain and can enjoy to be a double European Champion following his title in EMX125.

The round of Turkiye then saw Andrea Bonacorsi win the overall with an impressive second race win in front of Fantic Racing MX’s Cas Valk in second who is confirming week after week his talent and Kay Karssemakers, third, who has been consistently riding for the top spot throughout the season.

In Race 1, it was Husqvarna BT Racing Team’s Maxime Grau who took the best start and took the command of the race in front of Cas Valk and KTM Beddini Racing Team’s Valerio Lata. Grau was doing very well until lap 3 of 15 when he crashed down to pick himself up in 11th place. Valk didn’t need more to take the lead but Lata stated to threaten the Dutch rider and launched himself on the inside of Valk to take the lead on lap 5. However, a couple of corners later, Lata went down and was out of the lead which left Valk off the hook. Valk pulled away and flew to victory continuing on his recent form. Grau managed to get to 10th in the end. 

Lata had to settle for the 3rd place in the end. Fantic Racing MX’s Alexis Fueri who was 3rd when Lata fell, moved up to 2nd place. However, an impressive VRT KTM Factory Juniors’ Ferruccio Zanchi came from the 7th place on the opening lap and put pressure on Fueri over few corners on lap 7 and finally took a commanding line that nudged Fueri out of the way. Fueri fell quickly after and in the end had to retire a few laps later. Zanchi who set a couple of fastest laps during the race was very quick and finished comfortably 2nd.

Red Plate Andrea Bonacorsi got a decent start to find himself in 5th right in front of his closest rival in the Championship, Kay Karssemakers Both riders got overtaken by a very fast Zanchi and both riders followed each other. Karssemakers could not find the way past the Championship leader and had to settle for 5th in the end while Bonacorsi finished 4th and gave himself the best chance for winning the Championship after Race 2. 

It was a great performance for Bud Racing Kawasaki’s Benjamin Garib who consistently rode into the top 10 to climb to the 6th place in the end after overtaking his teammate Bud Racing Kawasaki’s Quentin Prugnieres on the very last lap. Prugnieres rode well and settled for 7th. Hutten Metaal Yamaha Racing Team’s Karlis Reisulis stayed consistent and finished on the same position that he found himself in the opening round, 8th. 

In Race 2, Fueri took another good start with the Holeshot and took the lead but unfortunately the young French rider committed a mistake and move down to 6th while Karssmakers took the lead in front of Lata. Karssemakers was doing all he could to delay Bonacorsi’s Title while in the meantime, Bonacorsi took a decent start to get to 4th on the opening lap. Karssemakers was getting under pressure by Lata when Bonacorsi caught them up and overtook both rider over the course of two laps to show his determination to win the Title with a race and overall win. On lap 7, Bonacorsi was the new leader and started to pull away from Karssemakers to comfortably clinch the race win, the overall round in Turkiye and the EMX250 Championshipin an incredible atmosphere celebrated by all his team and family. 

Karssemakers had to deal with a menacing Lata who managed to find the way to pass the Dutch rider to go 2nd on lap 10. However, the Italian tipped over on the very next turn and left Karssemakers off the hook in 2nd position while Lata went down to 4th. Karssemakers managed to keep his 2nd place until the end and keep Lata out of the podium as both riders levelled in point. Lata finished 4th overall in the end while Karssemakers secured yet another podium with 3rd overall. 

Prugnieres showed very good qualities again in race 2 as he solidly finished 3rd after avoiding to make mistakes and keep good control. Prugnieres went 5th overall with 7-3. Valk didn’t have the same impact as in the first race but stayed focused to gain two positions along the way and finish 5th which put him on the second step of the podium and kept a chance to threaten Karssemakers for the 2nd place in the Championship with a 29 points gap. 

Garib confirmed his good first race with another confident performance to finish 6th and go 6-6 for 7th overall. Zanchi had a nightmare in race 2 as he crashed in the start straight and made other mistakes along the way despite a good comeback in 11th place to finish 6th overall. Zanchi compromised his chances of podium by alternating the great and the less decisive.

Andrea Bonacorsi: “It was really good. I struggled a bit on Saturday but today I managed to win it and win the overall. I really want to thank a lot my whole family who is at home watching, my boss and everybody around me, Yamaha, Monster Energy who all helped me so much to achieve this goal. We finally made it and thanks to everyone.”

Main Photo: EMX250 Start Turkiye

Top Photo: Andrea Bonacorsi with Golden Plate of EMX250 Champion

Bottom Photos: 1.Andrea Bonacorsi 2. EMX250 Podium Turkiye

MXGP OF TURKIYE QUICK FACTS:

Circuit length: 1725m

Type of ground: Hard Pack

Temperature: 25°

Weather conditions: Sunny/Cloudy

Crowd Attendance: 29,000