Successful premiere at the EMX65 in Lommel/Belgium

Last weekend, we travelled to the European Championships in Lommel, Belgium.

This sand track is known throughout the world for its deep, heavy sand and really demands everything from the riders.

It was our first time at the EMX65.

On Saturday, I went into the warm-up in Group A, got on quite well and was able to finish 12th. These were already good prerequisites for qualifying and the qualifying race on Saturday afternoon.

In qualifying for the qualifying race, I had some problems setting a clear lap at the start, as there were always yellow flags out, so I was around 16th place. After a short pit stop, I had exactly one lap left to set a time.

I put all my eggs in one basket and it paid off. Eleventh place was a great result!

The tension was high before the qualifying race. Only the first 18 of the two groups go straight through to the main races on Sunday. Everyone else had to go into the Last Chance Race, which we wanted to avoid at all costs.

I got out of the gate very badly at the start, but was quickly able to work my way up to tenth place. But then I risked too much and went down, dropping back to 19th place. With a knife between my teeth and a broken throttle cable fitting, I fought my way back to twelfth place. That ensured qualification for the main races.

On Sunday morning, the entire field of riders from both groups lined up at the pre-start for the warm-up. 40 strong riders from different nations, all of whom are really good motorbike riders.

Everything went well at the start of the warm-up and I was in the midfield in terms of lap times. Towards the end, however, I had a tough test on the ground. In a fast passage with lots of undulations, I lost control, went over the handlebars and got stuck under the bike. After a short time to catch my breath, however, I was able to pick up the pace again. So 19th place was a top result for us.

Before the first race, we took a look at the track together, as it had not been worked on during the day, so the conditions were extreme for the 65cc riders.

On the formation lap, I looked at everything very carefully again. This was to pay off once again in the initial phase.

Starting from 23rd on the grid, I went to the starting gate and positioned my bike on the inside of the starter box. This put me right in the middle of the 40 riders at the gate.

I got away very well at the start, allowed myself to be carried a little to the inside and lined up in about 15th place, which was all I could really get out of this starting position. By driving calmly and with foresight, I was able to work my way up to eleventh place over the course of the race. After many duels, I had to let some of the much older and bigger riders go. But I was more than satisfied with a 14th place out of 40 riders in the first race.

The second race was scheduled for the afternoon. On the formation lap we noticed that the Husqvarna was leaking some cooling water and seemed to be having problems.

It was no longer possible to change bikes at this point. We topped up with water in the pre-start area and hoped that everything would go well. In order not to heat up the bike unnecessarily, I only started the Husqvarna when the 5-second board was shown. Everything went well, I came straight out of the gate and went into the first corner in eighth place. Unfortunately, he lost a lot of positions in turn two due to a collision directly in front of me, but fortunately I didn’t crash.

I came out of the first lap in 20th position and, just like in the first race, my calm and anticipatory riding style helped me to lap the extremely difficult Belgian sand track without making any mistakes. In the first few laps I was able to work my way up to 15th place, but in the last two laps I didn’t want to risk any more crashes and let two riders go. So 17th place in the second race was also a strong result.

In the sum of both races, I was able to celebrate a successful debut in the European Championship with 14th place out of 40 riders who qualified for the race Sunday. We are both proud and happy to have scored our first FIM points.

The action continues next weekend at the German Youth Motocross Championship in Genthin.

Many thanks to all sponsors, supporters and everyone who cheered from home.