Team Venum Bud Racing Kawasaki’s Francisco Garcia raced to a career-first EMX victory in the third round of the European EMX250 Motocross Championship at Pietramurata in the Trentino region of northern Italy.
The Spanish youngster had dominated both practice sessions to earn pole position and in the first moto of the weekend he came out of the first turn just inside the top-ten. Lapping more than a second faster than anyone else, he sliced his way up the leaderboard with a series of immaculate passes to take over third by the end of the opening lap and was second next time round before taking the lead with a decisive move on lap four. He immediately opened up an advantage of several seconds to control the race to the finish, eventually taking victory by more than eight seconds. The track was different on Sunday for the second race as it rains in the night, and our young Spaniard emerge fifteenth from the first corner, but quickly moved to fifth by the completion of the first lap. Fourth one lap later he quickly passed third, and was fighting for second position when he was pushed into the trackside banking and fell. He was quickly back on his feet without losing a position and with three laps remaining was back in contention. A pass for second appeared secure but his front wheel was engulfed by a deep sticky rut and he crashed with three laps to go; the incident pushed him back to a distant seventh but that position was sufficient to secure his first-ever overall victory in EMX250. Scoring thirty-nine points for the weekend he is back into serious championship contention as he is now fourth in the standings, twenty-four points off the series lead and just eight points off second.
The weekend was not so good for Jake Cannon; in the first heat Jake was running a comfortable tenth for the first half of the race until he crashed off the side of the track; it cost the Australian teenager nearly a minute to rejoin the race and he eventually finished twenty-fifth. On Sunday he pushed forward from a mid-pack start and was eyeing up the top-ten until a mid-moto fall cost him several places; after recovering to thirteenth the Australian teenager had he heartbreak of bogging down at the very last turn of the race when a rock blocked his rear chain.
Francisco Garcia: “I had really good speed this weekend and I wanted to win again after my first victory on Saturday. I didn’t have much luck in the mud at the first two rounds of the series but I have felt so good since I joined Bud Kawasaki. I had a really good feeling with the track and my KX250 immediately from the start of the weekend. My start was not so good on Saturday but I could soon pass into the lead and push to open up a gap. On Sunday the track was really tough in the rain and I guess I pushed just a little too hard but I was on the top of the box anyway. It’s my first-ever overall win in EMX and I am so happy, not only for myself but also for the team and for my father who is the most important person in my life. I now have a lot of confidence; with our first win the season has really kicked in.”
Francisco Garcia : Winner (1/7) and fourth in the championship
Jake Cannon : Thirty fifth overall (25/33) and nineteenth in the championship.
