The world famous Autodromo Enzo & Dino Ferrari circuit in Imola hosted the championship deciding races of EMX300 presented by FMF Racing where Verde Substance KTM’s Brad Anderson renewed his title and became the newest FIM Europe Champion.
Imola is known for its road racing circuit but its history in motocross goes back 70 years when the first Motocross International races were held on its grounds. This weekend a massive amount of soil was moved to create an epic motocross track where the returning sound of two strokes echoed of the hillsides.
GL12 Racing’s Mike Kras was 27 points behind Brad Anderson from Verde Substance KTM coming into the weekend. Saturday hosted the first race of the two were we saw Kras take the lead as Anderson struggled and dropped from 4th to 7th before finally rebounding to finish 5th.
Third in the championship was A1M Husqvarna’s Andero Lusbo and he was also up in third early in the race but then had a bike issue and was unable to finish. Running 4th in the points was Vaclav Kovar but he too had issues when the chain derailed off his Gas Gas. The result of the pair going out of the race along with a strong second place ride moved Erik Willems from 5th to 3rd in the championship.
Kras ended up taking the first race win with Willems 2nd and Team Maddi Racing Husqvarna’s Mattia Guadagnini 3rd. The championship lead of Anderson dropped to 18 from 27 coming into today’s Race 2.
Sunday the 300cc 2-strokes were the second group on the prepped track and off the start Kras took the Holeshot and lead with Kovar back in second chased by Willems and Lusbo while Anderson was 7th.
Meanwhile Kras led Kovar by just over a second as Anderson dropped back to 9th in a fight to keep the points lead. Kras took the race win and overall with the maximum possible 50 points. Kovar took 2nd while Lusbo was 3rd, Willems 4th, and Guadagnini 5th. The celebrations were all Anderson’s however as cross the finish in 9th for 6th overall but successfully defended his EMX300 presented by FMF Racing title.
EMX300 Presented by FMF Racing Race 1 Top 10: 1. Mike Kras (NED, KTM), 30:19.612; 2. Erik Willems (BEL, Husqvarna), +0:04.570; 3. Mattia Guadagnini (ITA, Husqvarna), +0:13.167; 4. Manuel Iacopi (ITA, Yamaha), +0:18.887; 5. Brad Anderson (GBR, KTM), +0:28.435; 6. Yuri Pasqualini (ITA, KTM), +0:28.872; 7. Marco Lolli (ITA, Yamaha), +0:46.309; 8. Manuel Beconcini (ITA, KTM), +0:55.802; 9. Mario Tamai (ITA, KTM), +0:56.253; 10. Michele Cencioni (ITA, KTM), +1:04.715.
EMX300 Presented by FMF Racing Race 2 Top 10: 1. Mike Kras (NED, KTM), 29:24.443; 2. Vaclav Kovar (CZE, Gas Gas), +0:04.703; 3. Andero Lusbo (EST, Husqvarna), +0:06.000; 4. Erik Willems (BEL, Husqvarna), +0:11.074; 5. Mattia Guadagnini (ITA, Husqvarna), +0:13.941; 6. Yuri Pasqualini (ITA, KTM), +0:14.857; 7. Manuel Iacopi (ITA, Yamaha), +0:34.369; 8. Marco Lolli (ITA, Yamaha), +0:38.788; 9. Brad Anderson (GBR, KTM), +0:42.544; 10. Youri van t Ende (NED, KTM), +0:43.909.
EMX300 Presented by FMF Racing Overall Top 10: 1. Mike Kras (NED, KTM), 50 points; 2. Erik Willems (BEL, HUS), 40 p.; 3. Mattia Guadagnini (ITA, HUS), 36 p.; 4. Manuel Iacopi (ITA, YAM), 32 p.; 5. Yuri Pasqualini (ITA, KTM), 30 p.; 6. Brad Anderson (GBR, KTM), 28 p.; 7. Marco Lolli (ITA, YAM), 27 p.; 8. Vaclav Kovar (CZE, GAS), 22 p.; 9. Andero Lusbo (EST, HUS), 20 p.; 10. Michele Cencioni (ITA, KTM), 20 p
EMX300 Presented by FMF Racing Championship Top 10: 1. Brad Anderson (GBR, KTM), 279 points; 2. Mike Kras (NED, KTM), 274 p.; 3. Erik Willems (BEL, HUS), 223 p.; 4. Andero Lusbo (EST, HUS), 221 p.; 5. Vaclav Kovar (CZE, GAS), 210 p.; 6. Greg Smets (BEL, KTM), 196 p.; 7. Manuel Iacopi (ITA, YAM), 180 p.; 8. Youri van t Ende (NED, KTM), 106 p.; 9. Michele Cencioni (ITA, KTM), 78 p.; 10. Tim Louis (BEL, HUS), 68 p.
EMX300 Presented by FMF Racing Manufacturers: 1. KTM, 342 points; 2. Husqvarna, 263 p.; 3. Yamaha, 217 p.; 4. Gas Gas, 210 p.; 5. TM, 72 p.; 6. Honda, 15 p.