The European round of Garda Trentino has concluded and with it we saw the final stage of the EMX2t Presented by FMF Racing and EMX Open Championships, which saw Karel Kutsar claim the EMX Open title in the second race of the day.
Meanwhile in EMX2t Presented by FMF Racing, with the Brad Anderson of Verde Substance KTMcrowned champion at the previous round here in Italy, all was left was the battle for second and third in the championship, which made for some very interesting racing.
EMX2T Presented by FMF Racing
Today’s EMX2t Presented by FMF Racing races saw Nicholas Lapucci of Fantic Racing dominated the races once again, as he was victorious in both heats with quite an impressive margin, over the newly crowned 2020 EMX2t Presented by FMF Racing Champion, Brad Anderson of Verde Substance KTM. With two second place finishes, Anderson ended the season with his 5th podium of the series. While, JK Yamaha Racing’s Manuel Iacopi was the third rider on the podium today, with some nice battles in the races with Anderson, which saw him finish 4th and 3rd in heats one and two.
With Anderson securing his third EMX title at the previous round of Pietramurata, this shifted the focus onto who would occupy second and third in the championship standings. Two 5th place finishes, were enough for Husqvarna Junior Racing Maddii’s Federico Tuani to claim the silver medal, after races that saw him battle with Kade Tinkler-Walker and his teammate, Eugenio Barbaglia. Tuani completed the season with 3 podiums, with his best result in Faenza during the opening round of the championship, where he finished 2ndoverall.
Though it was the fight for the third spot that was the main focus in the second race, as there was nothing in between Walker and Loris Freidig. Walker rode a strong race and had some nice battles to claim 5th, while Freidig had a much tougher time and only finished the race in 13th. Eventually, Walker secured third in the standings with a 7-point advantage over the Swiss.
Looking back on the season, Anderson dominated the first three rounds in Faenza, as he took 5 race wins and 3 overall victories. His lowest point scoring results came here in Pietramurata, as he finished the two rounds second overall, behind Lapucci, who dominated the last two stages of the championship, winning all 4 races. Apart from Anderson and Lapucci, the only other rider, to win a race, during the 2020 campaign, was Freidig, who was victorious during the first race at the round of Italy.
Brad Anderson: “It’s been great. The worst position this season was second place and I’ve been really consistent, I’ve had a good fight behind me. As I said, I struggled a little bit on this track, but Nicholas [Lapucci] was going really well, but I was happy to finish with two second places and finish the season off. The races were pretty tough. I didn’t get the best starts, I struggled to get past one rider and then me and Manuel had a good battle, then I made a move and he caught back up, it was a good little battle, but as I said I’m just please to finish second overall and take this championship”.
Federico Tuani: “It was a really good season for me, I finish 2nd in the championship; my goal at the beginning of the season was to finish in the top 5 so I got a result over my expectation. Today I wasn’t so happy about my riding, I had two bad starts, in the first race I finished fourth and in the second I finish fifth, but anyway I want to thank all my team for the support that they gave me for all this fantastic season”.
Kade Tinkler-Walker: “I didn’t think about that [championship points], I wanted to do my own thing and I didn’t care who I had behind or in front. I had Barbaglia pushing hard but I tried to be focused and especially with my bike I had to take a good start because If I don’t get a good start after it’s quite difficult for me to regroup and at least I’m happy about today. It’s awesome, I really like the championship and I’ll do it again next year. My goal for next year is to have fun; I really enjoyed the battles and fighting with the other guys”.
Nicholas Lapucci: “It was another perfect day for me, I’m really happy about my riding and the bike. The team did an incredible job. We came here without knowing anything and at the end we got the best results for me and for Fantic as well. We took four victories and for that I want to say thanks to everybody that helped me getting these incredible results”.
Manuel Iacopi: “Today was a really good day for me. You know this season has been really hard for me because I had a really bad crash in Faenza, and I couldn’t’ fight for the championship. At the end I’m quite happy about the 6th position, I want to thank my team, my family and all the sponsors that support me this season”.
Nicholas Lapucci 
Brad Anderson
EMX Open
Today’s EMX Open action saw Karel Kutsar become the very first European Champion in the brand-new category, as he claimed his maiden EMX title. It was a tough day for the Estonian, who rode tight all day to place 5th and 10th in the races, to miss out on the podium. Though this didn’t matter, as he took to the podium anyways, to pick up his championship winning gold plate and medal.
Entering today’s races, Kim Savaste of 137 Motorsports KTM was the main championship rival, but unfortunately, we did not see the rider from Finland line-up for the races, due to an injury this morning. With no points scored, this pushed Savaste down to third in the standings, while Toms Macuks moved into the silver medal scoring position.
Macuks had two strong races, finishing 2nd and 3rd, despite a small get-off in the second heat that lost him a position or two. These results also handed the Latvian his 5th podium of the season, which was a positive way to end the season.
While Kutsar claimed the title, it was Jimmy Clochet who stood on the top step of the podium, after a race win in the opening heat and a second in race two. Clochet had a much tougher second heat, after getting another good start, the Frenchman had an off on one of the corners, then fought back to second, to crash in the same spot once again. He could only manage to fight back to P2, while Cornelius Tøndel of JWR Honda took the race win in the second heat.
Finishing the day second overall was Macuks, while Martin Michek was the third rider to make it onto the box. It was Michek’s first visit to the EMX Open podium this season, and it was a 4th in race one and a 5th in race two that helped him on his way to a trophy scoring overall.
Looking back on the first season of the all-new EMX Open, things started in Latvia, for the first triple header of the season. That time around it was Macuks who was victorious on home soil, as he won both races and became the early championship leader. Though this didn’t last long, as during the second round he didn’t score any points, as Savaste and Kutsar took a race win each, though it was Kutsar who was the overall winner.
The Estonian then became the new series leader by the second round, and he held on to the red plate until today’s final round when he swapped the red plate for a gold one. He held on to the red plate through his consistent results, as the champion ended the season with 4 podiums, 2 race wins and one overall victory. In terms of overall victories, Macuks and Clochet were the most successful riders, with two overall victories each, while Kutsar and Savaste were on one each, as they took to the top of the box during the round of Riga and Kegums.
Karel Kutsar: “It felt a bit impossible and now, I am a champion. Maybe when I get home, I will understand what this means but it feels really good to be a champion. I felt the pressure a little bit today, I tried to not to make mistakes and finally I did it and I get the title”.
Toms Macuks: “Of course, I lost points in the second race in Kegums as I got zero points, after that I was catching up with the top guys and I’m happy to finish second in the championship. The starts weren’t so good for me today. In both races I was in like eighth or seventh place and in the second race I could push very hard and made a mistake, crashed and after that I tried to push until the end and then finished third”.
Jimmy Clochet: “I had good feeling all day. In the second race I took the holeshot and crashed two times in the same corner, so yeah that was a difficult race, but I pushed really hard to come back to second for another overall. It was a difficult second race but I’m happy about it and happy about the overall”.
Martin Michek: “Of course I am happy with that because I had some difficult moments a few months ago and I am really happy to sit here today and for sure on the podium. Last year I did some EMX races and I won an overall, but that was another world and now the level is much higher because the guys are much stronger. So, I’m really happy that I finish third overall and I hope I will be back next year with a stronger body”.
