AGUEDA (Portugal) 5 May 2024 – The third round of the EMX250 and EMX125 Presented by FMF Racing at Agueda happened in very tough conditions for the young riders who had to focus hard and showed great skills to stay on the bike with ruts deepening as the races went on.

This Portuguese test gave the opportunity to riders to show their resilience and skills to stay unscathed throughout the weekend. At this game it was the perfect weekend of Gabriel SS24 KTM’s Cas Valk who showed great speed and control to go 1-1 while in EMX125, it was a celebrated first career win for Gyan Doensen from Racestore KTM Factory Rookies Team.

Despite the muddy conditions, VRT Yamaha Racing’s Ivano Van Erp got to front early on while Gabriel SS24 KTM’s Cas Valk quickly got to 2nd on the rundown of turn 3. WZ Racing Team’s Maxime Grau got to a good start to see himself 4th after few turns. Still in the opening lap Van Erp went completely off track seeing Valk take the lead. This off-piste unnerved the Dutch as he lost his rhythm and got under attack from Grau and Beddini GASGAS Factory Juniors’s Valerio Lata who both went by as well as Bud Racing Kawasaki’s Mathis Valin on lap 2.

Van Erp’s misfortune continued unfortunately with a hesitation in clearing a rut which Saad Soulimani from Ghidinelli Racing capitalised on to pass him on lap 4 and went on to finish 5th while Van Erp finished 6th. The top two in the Championship, Valin and Lata got into a battle and reversed role as Valin passed the red plate for 2nd on lap 10, scaring himself in nearly losing control of his bike but hanged on in 2nd place.

Following a good start that saw him passed the opening lap in 3rd, Valerio Lata’s racing wasn’t smoothed and got picked up by JM Honda Racing’s Maximilian Werner on lap 8 to move down to 4th and made some mistakes that placed him in 7th on lap 9 of 12. However, Lata showed championship’s leader qualities to fight back to 3rd place on the very last lap. Werner settled for 7th in the end.

Valk who led and managed the race lost a bit of focus when he ran into traffic and back markers but kept his cool to fly to victory with around 25 seconds gap and took a good option on the overall win. 

In race 2, Van Erp made a blistering start with Valk trailing in 2nd place with red plate Lata behind. The race promised to be very competitive. While in the top 10, Valin crashed and flew of his bike while he was 3rd and found himself in 7th position but got back to 5th quickly. A little moment later, his back wheel touched Werner’s front wheel with Werner going down while Valin managed to go up to 6th place. Nothing was easy for Valin as the Frenchman got under pressure by Karlis Reisulis’s VRT Yamaha Racing soon after on lap 7 but Reisulis got bike issues and finished 11th in the end. 

Meanwhile, Valk went on the chase of Van Erp and was right behind him on lap 5 while Lata was 4 seconds behind and saw them fighting. Soulimani’s great start and good speed saw him climb up to 4th on lap 7 but went down leaving Valin going through and finished 5th for an excellent 5th overall. Meanwhile, Valk attacked and took the lead off Van Erp with Lata coming in hot too behind. The Italian managed to pass the Dutchman for 2nd. 

Fighting for the 3rd place overall, Valin raced very well until the end to get 4th for a 2-4 and 3rd overall keeping his 2nd place in the Championship, with Van Erp staying at the bottom of the podium despite a solid race and finishing 3rd.

It was then all about the front two riders. Lata started to charge on Valk with 3 laps to go for a great battle full of control on the challenging muddy track. With backmarkers coming into play, the fight got intense and the two riders had to be careful to not lose their speed. There was nothing between them but Valk managed to defend very well to keep his perfect score for the weekend with 1-1 while Lata finished second for 2nd overall, keeping his red plate safe in front of Valin and Valk. 

Cas Valk: “It was the perfect weekend, P1 in Time Practice, P1 in both races. It got me 3 races to get a win finally! So it is great to win both races this weekend. Difficult track conditions but the track in the second race was good. That was a perfect weekend. Big thanks to all my team for the hard work and we’ll keep working for the next one and see you all there”

Main Photo: Cas Valk

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

In the first race, chaos ensued right from the get-go as several riders went down in the first turn including Dean Gregoire from VOS KTM Racing Team, but Filippo Mantovani grabbed the lead with a strong start, however his lead was short-lived as Fantic Factory Racing EMX125’s Noel Zanocz swooped in around the outside at turn 2, and quickly started to pull clear from the solid 2nd, Gyan Doensen.

Meanwhile, Aaron Katona made a decisive move on Mantovani to go 3rd and RFME GASGAS MXJunior Team’s Salvador Perez appeared at the top end of the pack and overtook Matonvani for 4th with the Italian moving down the ranks throughout the race. 

Katona nearly lost his position on the treacherous terrain but saved it well although Perez seized an opportunity right after to overtake him. Katona wasn’t finished and came back up to 3rd but then took a cross rut and crashed out of 3rd to finish 5th as Francesco Bellei from Dreams Racing took this opportunity to finish 4th.

Mano Faure from Yamaha Europe EMX125 MJC managed to push hard to overtake Katona for 4th on lap 8 but some mistakes made him go down to 6th and finished in this position. Zanocz controlled the race until the end to win in front of Doensen and Perez.

In race 2, Doensen made a strong start in front while Zanocz managed to get up to 3rd after few turns wasting no time on the tail on McCullough who tipped over to gift 2nd place to the red plate. Perez saw himself in 4thbehind Mancini but managed to pass the winner in Trentino  to get to 3rd on lap 2. 

Meanwhile, Doensen began to pull out at the lead but Zanocz was on a mission to reduce the 5-seconds gap on lap 2. Jayson Van Drunen was a rider that seemed to like the conditions as storm on to 5th place until he crashed on lap 5.  Doensen showed great control as he kept his 5-seconds advantage on Zanocz for a while but past mid-race the Hungarian began to work hard to get closer to the leader.

Brando Rispoli from TM moto Steels Dr Jack and Faure managed at that time to get themselves in the top 10 after an average starts as they finished 6th and 7th respectively, with Faure finishing 4th overall. 

Doensen had to pick up his pace after giving few looks over his shoulder and seeing Zanocz getting closer. With the race leader pulling again a little from the red plate, Zanocz looked like racing the smart race t keep his 2nd place and his lead in the championship with a good 2nd overall.

The path was free for Doensen to finish perfectly the race but then nervosity maybe kicked in and he tipped over in a cross-rut in the very last lap. Fortunately, his 19 seconds advantage on Zancoz was more than enough to get back to it and win the race to go 2-1 and win his first overall of his career. Perez rounded the overall podium with a convincing 3rd place in the race.

Gyan Doensen:  “The second race was amazing you know. From start to finish at the lead but yeah I nearly threw it away in the last lap because of the nerves! 2-1 and my first overall and victory, very happy and big thanks to my team Racestore KTM Factory Rookies, my sponsrs, my family and the guys at the factory so thank you evryone!”  

Main Photo: Gyan Doensen

Bottom Photos: 1. EMX125 Start; 2. EMX125 Podium

EMX125 PORTUGAL – AGUEDA 2024 – Results and Video!

MXGP OF PORTUGAL QUICK FACTS:

Circuit length: 1630m

Type of ground: Hard Pack

Temperature: 15°

Weather conditions: Rainy