The European EMX65 headed to Matterley Basin for the Final of the European Motocross Championship following the regional qualifying rounds. British hopes were placed upon Kacey Hird and after qualifying in sixth place, things were looking promising.
In the first of the Championship races it was to be Dutch youngster Raivo Dankers that took the win ahead of Anton Nagy and Emil Weckmann in third place. Fourth and fifth places went to Nikita Kucheror and Kevin Cristino with British star Hird finishing a well-deserved 8
th place.
The second race for the EMX65 class took place on the Sunday in terrible conditions following the heavy rain shower. Once again it was Dutch rider and race one winner Raivo Dankers who produced a stellar performance, winning by over a minute in very challenging conditions to be crowned European EMX65 Champion. Meanwhile taking second place in the mud of race two was Rene Hofer. The young Austrian Hofer rode the wheels off his little KTM 65 to finish a massive forty-eight seconds ahead of Spaniard David Braceras in third. Despite a few little crashes on the slippery off camber corners, Italian Kevin Cristino took fourth with Russian Timur Petrashin rounding out the top five. Brit rider Kacey Hird took another well-deserved 8
th place finish, which gave the youngster sixth overall in the European 65cc Motocross Championship.
EMX 65 race one top 10: 1. Raivo Dankers (NED, KTM), 18:31.138; 2. Anton Nagy (SWE, KTM), +0:12.011; 3. Emil Weckmann (FIN, KTM), +0:38.487; 4. Nikita Kucherov (ESP, KTM), +0:53.544; 5. Kevin Cristino (ITA, KTM), +0:53.743; 6. Oriol Oliver (ESP, KTM), +0:54.467; 7. David Braceras Martinez (ESP, KTM), +1:00.867; 8. Kacey Hird (GBR, KTM), +1:02.399; 9. Stef Karssemakers (NED, KTM), +1:04.358; 10. Daniel Stehlik (CZE, KTM), +1:07.760
EMX 65 race two top 10: 1. Raivo Dankers (NED, KTM), 18:52.011; 2. Rene Hofer (AUT, KTM), +1:01.176; 3. David Braceras Martinez (ESP, KTM), +1:49.372; 4. Kevin Cristino (ITA, KTM), +2:17.648; 5. Timur Petrashin (RUS, KTM), +2:21.979; 6. Noel Nilsson (SWE, KTM), +2:25.451; 7. Emil Weckmann (FIN, KTM), +2:26.960; 8. Kacey Hird (GBR, KTM), +2:37.647; 9. Henry Vesillind (EST, KTM), +2:58.592; 10. Emil Jönrup (SWE, KTM), +3:04.764;
EMX 65 championship: 1. Raivo Dankers (NED, KTM), 50 points; 2. David Braceras Martinez (ESP, KTM), 34 p.; 3. Kevin Cristino (ITA, KTM), 34 p.; 4. Emil Weckmann (FIN, KTM), 34 p.; 5. Rene Hofer (AUT, KTM), 28 p.; 6. Kacey Hird (GBR, KTM), 26 p.; 7. Anton Nagy (SWE, KTM), 22 p.; 8. Oriol Oliver (ESP, KTM), 21 p.; 9. Noel Nilsson (SWE, KTM), 20 p.; 10. Emil Jönrup (SWE, KTM), 20 p.