Brits win EMX250 & EMX300 at Matterley Basin

Steven Clarke wins EMX250 at Matterley Basin

Brad Anderson wins EMX300 and takes the championship lead

Run alongside the British MXGP, the European Motocross Championship saw the EMX250 and EMX300 classes racing, with Steven Clarke and Brad Anderson winning the two classes respectively.

EMX250

The  competitive EMX250 class continued this weekend in Matterley Basin its 5th round of the season. Revo Husqvarna UK had high hopes for a home race win with both Martin Barr, the series points leader, and Mel Pocock, second in the standings, both racing in front of the home crowd. However when the gate dropped on Saturday for Race 1 both Barr and Pocock were out of the top 5 while Michael Sandner led the pack.

Behind Sandner was Tom Vialle from France but after 4 laps Vialle took the lead. Meanwhile Car Glass Honda’s Steven Clarke was charging forward from a 5th place start and was already up to 3rd past fellow Brit Josh Spinks.

With 4 laps to go Clarke took 2nd away from Sandner and started to close in on Vialle. On the final lap Clarke took the lead from Vaille and Spinks took 3rd from Sandner with Honda Redmoto Assomotor’s Mathys Boisrame in 5th.

Race 2 kicked off with the first points leader of the season and round 1 winner BUD Racing Monster Energy’s Pierre Goupillon in the lead and Clarke in second. Running in third was Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing’s Mikkel Haarup ahead of Sandner and REVO Husqvarna UK’s Mel Pocock.

Clarke was the first of the top 5 to make a move, doing so on lap 4 to take the lead from Goupillon. On lap 5 Pocock and his REVO Husqvarna UK teammate Martin Barr both took a position from Sandner.

Pocock and Barr now ran 4th and 5th as Haarup made his way around Goupillon for 2nd. The following lap Barr passed Pocock for 4th and Haarup took the lead from Clarke. For the next 3 laps until the finish the top five held their positions and giving Clarke the overall win Spinks 2nd and Goupillin 3rd tied with Barr, Sandner, and Vialle at 32 points.

Steven Clarke – P1

“Yesterday’s race was picture perfect, coming from around 10th or so after the first lap and working my way up into third where I spent most of the race. With a couple of laps to go I passed into second and then it was just a last-ditch, last-lap effort to get the win, but I was really happy to make it happen. I had a better start in today’s race on my Honda CRF250R and got into the lead pretty early on and rode a solid race but then near the end I got passed and settled in for second place which I knew would be good enough to win the overall. I wanted to get this win in front of my home crowd and that’s what I did so I’m very happy to head to France for the next round.”

Pierre Goupillon – P3

“It’s great to be back on the podium after a difficult period for me as I didn’t score any points at the last two rounds. I finally got back on the podium and it’s a great motivation before the French round of the series next weekend. I never stopped working since the beginning of the season, and we’ll continue to do so as my goal is to win some other races. This weekend one of my goal was to stay on two wheels and I did it; the result could have been even better if I hadn’t lost four positions when I made a mistake in the first race before a jump.”

EMX250 Race 1 Top 10

1. Steven Clarke (GBR, Honda), 30:08.019
2. Tom Vialle (FRA, Husqvarna), +0:01.900
3. Josh Spinks (GBR, KTM), +0:03.028
4. Michael Sandner (AUT, KTM), +0:03.933
5. Mathys Boisrame (FRA, Honda), +0:04.048
6. Mel Pocock (GBR, Husqvarna), +0:06.089
7. Martin Barr (GBR, Husqvarna), +0:06.139
8. James Dunn (GBR, KTM), +0:13.606
9. Pierre Goupillon (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:17.020
10. Alberto Forato (ITA, Honda), +0:18.252

EMX250 Race 2 Top 10

1. Mikkel Haarup (DEN, Husqvarna), 32:24.782
2. Steven Clarke (GBR, Honda), +0:04.680
3. Pierre Goupillon (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:07.590
4. Martin Barr (GBR, Husqvarna), +0:08.652
5. Mel Pocock (GBR, Husqvarna), +0:10.674
6. Mathys Boisrame (FRA, Honda), +0:15.881
7. Michael Sandner (AUT, KTM), +0:18.209
8. Josh Spinks (GBR, KTM), +0:23.813
9. James Dunn (GBR, KTM), +0:26.043
10. Karlis Sabulis (LAT, Yamaha), +0:35.080

EMX250 Overall Top 10

1. Steven Clarke (GBR, HON), 47 points
2. Josh Spinks (GBR, KTM), 33
3. Pierre Goupillon (FRA, KAW), 32
4. Martin Barr (GBR, HUS), 32
5. Michael Sandner (AUT, KTM), 32
6. Tom Vialle (FRA, HUS), 32
7. Mel Pocock (GBR, HUS), 31
8. Mathys Boisrame (FRA, HON), 31
9. Mikkel Haarup (DEN, HUS), 29
10. James Dunn (GBR, KTM), 25

EMX250 Championship Top 10

1. Martin Barr (GBR, HUS), 160 points
2. Mel Pocock (GBR, HUS), 157
3. Mathys Boisrame (FRA, HON), 151
4. Steven Clarke (GBR, HON), 128
5. Dylan Walsh (NZL, HUS), 117
6. Mikkel Haarup (DEN, HUS), 110
7. Tom Vialle (FRA, HUS), 105
8. Pierre Goupillon (FRA, KAW), 97
9. Brian Strubhart Moreau (FRA, KAW), 91
10. Giuseppe Tropepe (ITA, YAM), 85

EMX300

Race 1 of EMX300 presented by FMF Racing was led by Verde Substance KTM’s Brad Anderson from the start with GL12 Racing’s Mike Kras in second and Ashley Wilde in 3rd. Voclav Kovar from the Czech Republic was 4th on his Gas Gas early with Greg Smets in 5th.

Erik Williems was on a charge from 7th passing Smets on lap 3 and a lap later Kovar jumped into 3rd. Meanwhile Kras was pressuring Anderson for the lead but on lap eight bad luck struck the points leader when his bike gave out.

The loss of Kras allowed Kovar into second, Wilde into third and promoted iFly JK Racing Yamaha’s Manuel Iacopi to 4th after starting in 8th. A1M Husqvarna’s Andero Lusbo took 5th from Smets with 3 laps to go and held onto the top 5 till the finish.

Race 2 was led by Iacopi off the start ahead of Lusbo, Kras, and Smets. Race 1’s winner Brad Anderson was back in 6th the first two laps. As Kras rode in third another mechanical took him out of the race and giving the red plate holder coming into the weekend a heart breaking double zero score.

With Kras out Anderson moved up into 4th on lap 3 while Lusbo took over the lead from Iacopi on lap 4. Smets was into 2nd only one lap later as Iacopi pulled of the track with a rear wheel issue. Next to take 2nd was Anderson from Smets as the Belgian dropped 4 positions. Into third was Erik Willems but he was passed only a lap later by Kovar.

Across the finish line Lusbo took the race win with Anderson second, Kovar third, Willems fourth, and Wilde fifth. In the overall result Brad Anderson won followed by Kovar and Lusbo. Anderson’s win along with the misfortune of Kras gives the defending champion the red plate and a 26 point lead in the championship.

EMX300 Race 1 Top 10

1. Brad Anderson (GBR, KTM), 30:17.393
2. Vaclav Kovar (CZE, Gas Gas), +0:01.156
3. Ashley Wilde (GBR, Husqvarna), +0:33.564
4. Manuel Iacopi (ITA, Yamaha), +0:50.837
5. Andero Lusbo (EST, Husqvarna), +0:56.326
6. Greg Smets (BEL, KTM), +1:08.897
7. Ben Putnam (GBR, Yamaha), +1:14.736
8. Erik Willems (BEL, Husqvarna), +1:16.616
9. Ashley Greedy (GBR, KTM), +1:17.240
10. Jamie Skuse (GBR, Yamaha), +1:27.110

EMX300 Race 2 Top 10

1. Andero Lusbo (EST, Husqvarna), 30:43.085
2. Brad Anderson (GBR, KTM), +0:03.359
3. Vaclav Kovar (CZE, Gas Gas), +0:03.929
4. Erik Willems (BEL, Husqvarna), +0:19.863
5. Ashley Wilde (GBR, Husqvarna), +0:26.726
6. Greg Smets (BEL, KTM), +0:34.215
7. Ashley Greedy (GBR, KTM), +0:34.629
8. Ben Putnam (GBR, Yamaha), +0:41.642
9. Tallon Verhelst (BEL, KTM), +0:45.944
10. Tim Louis (BEL, Husqvarna), +0:47.207

EMX300 Overall Top 10

1. Brad Anderson (GBR, KTM), 47 points
2. Vaclav Kovar (CZE, GAS), 42
3. Andero Lusbo (EST, HUS), 41
4. Ashley Wilde (GBR, HUS), 36
5. Erik Willems (BEL, HUS), 31
6. Greg Smets (BEL, KTM), 30
7. Ben Putnam (GBR, YAM), 27
8. Ashley Greedy (GBR, KTM), 26
9. Michele Cencioni (ITA, KTM), 19
10. Manuel Iacopi (ITA, YAM), 18

EMX300 Championship Top 10

1. Brad Anderson (GBR, KTM), 169 points
2. Andero Lusbo (EST, HUS), 143
3. Greg Smets (BEL, KTM), 132
4. Mike Kras (NED, KTM), 130
5. Vaclav Kovar (CZE, GAS), 114
6. Erik Willems (BEL, HUS), 111
7. Manuel Iacopi (ITA, YAM), 104
8. Youri van t Ende (NED, KTM), 50
9. Tim Louis (BEL, HUS), 48
10. Tallon Verhelst (BEL, KTM), 44