Bonacorsi Dominates in Turkey to Clinch the EMX250 Championship Title – Report, Results, Highlights

The penultimate round of the EMX250 in Afyon, Turkey witnessed greatness in the making with many battles and good racing taking place over the weekend.

Words & Images – InFront Media

In the end, Hutten Metaal Yamaha Racing Team’s Andrea Bonacorsi managed to clinch the overall and the EMX250 Championship Title with one round to spare and a 100% podium record which shows the dominance of the Italian this season. Bonacorsi cannot be caught up by Husqvarna BT Racing Team’s Kay Karssemakers in the last round in Great Britain and can enjoy becoming a double European Champion following his title in EMX125.

Ecstatic Italian Andrea Bonacorsi celebrates his second European crown

The Turkish round saw Bonacorsi win the overall with an impressive second race win in front of Fantic Racing MX’s Cas Valk in second, who is confirming week after week his talent. Kay Karssemakers, who has been consistently riding for the top spot throughout the season, finished third overall.

In Race 1, it was Husqvarna BT Racing Team’s Maxime Grau who took the best start and took command of the race in front of  Valk and KTM Beddini Racing Team’s Valerio Lata. Grau was doing very well until lap 3 of 15 when he crashed, picking himself up in 11th place. Valk inherited the lead but Lata started to threaten the Dutch rider and launched himself on the inside to take the lead on lap 5. However, a couple of corners later, Lata went down and lost the lead instantly!  Valk pulled away and flew to victory, continuing on his recent form. Grau managed to get to 10th in the end.

Lata had to settle for the 3rd place in moto one. Fantic Racing MX’s Alexis Fueri who was 3rd when Lata fell, moved up to 2nd place. However, an impressive VRT KTM Factory Juniors’ Ferruccio Zanchi came from the 7th place on the opening lap and put pressure on Fueri over a few corners on lap 7, finally taking a commanding line that nudged Fueri out of the way. Fueri fell quickly after and in the end had to retire a few laps later. Zanchi, who set a couple of fastest laps during the race, was very quick and finished comfortably in 2nd.

Red Plate holder Andrea Bonacorsi got a decent start in race one to find himself in 5th right in front of his closest rival in the Championship, Kay Karssemakers. Both riders got overtaken by a very fast Zanchi and followed each other for the rest of the race. Karssemakers could not find his way past the Championship leader and had to settle for 5th behind Bonacorsi, who finished 4th to give himself the best chance for winning the Championship after Race 2.

It was a great performance for Bud Racing Kawasaki’s Benjamin Garib who consistently rode into the top 10 to climb to 6th place at the flag after overtaking his Bud Racing Kawasaki teammate Quentin Prugnieres on the very last lap. Prugnieres rode well and settled for 7th. Hutten Metaal Yamaha Racing Team’s Karlis Reisulis stayed consistent and finished where he started in 8th.

In Race 2, Fueri took another good start with the Holeshot,  but unfortunately the young French rider committed a mistake and dropped to 6th while Karssmakers took the lead in front of Lata. Karssemakers was doing all he could to delay Bonacorsi’s Title while in the meantime, Bonacorsi took a decent start to get to 4th on the opening lap. Karssemakers was getting pressure from Lata when Bonacorsi caught them and overtook both riders over the course of two laps to show his determination to win the Title with a race and overall win. On lap 7, Bonacorsi was the new leader and started to pull away from Karssemakers to comfortably clinch the race win, the overall result in Turkey and the EMX250 Championship, in an incredible atmosphere celebrated by all his team and family.

Karssemakers had to deal with a menacing Lata who managed to find his way past the Dutch rider to go 2nd on lap 10. However, the Italian tipped over on the very next turn and left Karssemakers off the hook in 2nd position, while Lata went down to 4th. Karssemakers managed to keep his 2nd place until the end and kept Lata off the podium as both riders levelled in points. Lata finished 4th overall in the end while Karssemakers secured yet another podium with 3rd overall.

L-R Cas Valk, Andrea Bonacorsi, Kay Karssemakers celebrate on the Turkish podium

Prugnieres showed very good qualities again in race 2 as he solidly finished 3rd after avoiding mistakes and keeping good control. Prugnieres went 5th overall with 7-3. Valk didn’t have the same impact as in the first race but stayed focused to gain two positions along the way and finish 5th, which put him on the second step of the podium overall and kept a chance to threaten Karssemakers for the 2nd place in the Championship with a 29 points gap.

Garib confirmed his good first race with another confident performance to finish 6th and go 6-6 for 7th overall. Zanchi had a nightmare in race 2 as he crashed in the start straight and made other mistakes along the way, despite a good comeback in 11th place to finish 6th overall. Zanchi compromised his chances of the podium by mixing great riding with some indecisive moments.

Andrea Bonacorsi: “It was really good. I struggled a bit on Saturday but today I managed to win it and win the overall. I really want to thank a lot my whole family who is at home watching, my boss and everybody around me, Yamaha, Monster Energy who all helped me so much to achieve this goal. We finally made it and thanks to everyone.”

Raising his arm as Champion. Hutten Metaal Yamaha Racing’s Andrea Bonacorsi

EMX250 – Race 1 – Top 10 Classification: 1. Cas Valk (NED, Fantic), 29:42.941; 2. Ferruccio Zanchi (ITA, KTM), +0:03.748; 3. Valerio Lata (ITA, KTM), +0:05.499; 4. Andrea Bonacorsi (ITA, Yamaha), +0:27.323; 5. Kay Karssemakers (NED, Husqvarna), +0:33.684; 6. Benjamin Garib (CHI, Kawasaki), +0:37.287; 7. Quentin Marc Prugnieres (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:37.887; 8. Karlis Alberts Reisulis (LAT, Yamaha), +0:59.436; 9. Edgar Canet (ESP, KTM), +1:14.137; 10. Maxime Grau (FRA, Husqvarna), +1:15.738

EMX250 – Race 2 – Top 10 Classification:  1. Andrea Bonacorsi (ITA, Yamaha), 29:24.413; 2. Kay Karssemakers (NED, Husqvarna), +0:16.376; 3. Quentin Marc Prugnieres (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:19.647; 4. Valerio Lata (ITA, KTM), +0:25.813; 5. Cas Valk (NED, Fantic), +0:27.780; 6. Benjamin Garib (CHI, Kawasaki), +0:38.537; 7. Alexis Fueri (FRA, Fantic), +0:53.260; 8. Karlis Alberts Reisulis (LAT, Yamaha), +1:04.747; 9. Haakon Osterhagen (NOR, Fantic), +1:23.088; 10. Xavier Cazal (FRA, GASGAS), +1:25.035

EMX250 – Overall Top 10 Classification: 1. Andrea Bonacorsi (ITA, YAM), 43 points; 2. Cas Valk (NED, FAN), 41 p.; 3. Kay Karssemakers (NED, HUS), 38 p.; 4. Valerio Lata (ITA, KTM), 38 p.; 5. Quentin Marc Prugnieres (FRA, KAW), 34 p.; 6. Ferruccio Zanchi (ITA, KTM), 32 p.; 7. Benjamin Garib (CHI, KAW), 30 p.; 8. Karlis Alberts Reisulis (LAT, YAM), 26 p.; 9. Haakon Osterhagen (NOR, FAN), 22 p.; 10. Maxime Grau (FRA, HUS), 20 p

EMX250 – Championship Top 10 Classification: 1. Andrea Bonacorsi (ITA, YAM), 393 points; 2. Kay Karssemakers (NED, HUS), 334 p.; 3. Cas Valk (NED, FAN), 305 p.; 4. Ferruccio Zanchi (ITA, KTM), 272 p.; 5. Quentin Marc Prugnieres (FRA, KAW), 249 p.; 6. Valerio Lata (ITA, KTM), 241 p.; 7. Marc-Antoine Rossi (FRA, KTM), 199 p.; 8. Karlis Alberts Reisulis (LAT, YAM), 197 p.; 9. Ivano Van Erp (NED, YAM), 190 p.; 10. Alexis Fueri (FRA, FAN), 158 p

EMX250 – Manufacturers Classification: 1. Yamaha, 407 points; 2. KTM, 361 p.; 3. Husqvarna, 342 p.; 4. Fantic, 312 p.; 5. Kawasaki, 255 p.; 6. GASGAS, 157 p.; 7. TM, 93 p.; 8. Honda, 2 p