Nierychlo becomes European champion in the Central Europe Zone in the 65cc class
The final meeting of the EMX65 and EMX85 of the Central Europe Zone drew riders from the countries of Central Europe to Reutlingen in Germany.
Championship leader Luca Nierychlo also went to the last zone race to give his all once again so that the Zone European Championship title comes to Germany.
Very heavy rain on Friday made things difficult for both, the club and the drivers on Saturday. The track was very demanding and difficult to drive, especially for the 65s.
The warm-up and qualifying were pushed back in the schedule and the qualifying race was completely canceled. In the Wam up and also in the qualifying, Luca was able to take second place behind the Dutchman Kash van Hamond. So the first steps were set and everything went as planned for the student.
On Sunday morning during the warm-up, driving on the Reutlingen track was a real challenge for the kids. After half a lap, Luca’s Husqvarna was already so heavy and covered in mud that it simply couldn’t go any further.
The sun did the rest for the races and made the track much easier to drive for all classes. For the start of the first race, Luca chose the outside gate, as he did in the DM65 last year, in order to have as solid ground as possible on the starting straight, because further in the middle it was extremely muddy. The plan worked and the pilot of the AK Bouw-Hutten Metaal Junior Team took the holeshot and led the strong international field. After just a few laps, the ten-year-old was able to gain a lead of around ten seconds over the second-placed Brit Jett Gardiner and maintained this lead safely until the finish.
The race victory went to the German Luca Nierychlo, ahead of Jett Gardiner from Great Britain and Kash van Hamond from the Netherlands.
For the start of the second race, the ADAC Hessen-Thuringia sponsored driver decided to prepare a starting position very far inside. The ground there was now a little better than at the very outside in the first race. Once again the plan worked and Luca led the field through the first corner into the first steep slope. Right at the start he was able to set fast lap times and increase the gap to his contenders, creating a gap of around ten seconds again.
With a calm and forward-looking driving style, Luca showed all his potential in front of the numerous spectators and confidently won the second race again ahead of the Brit Jett Gardiner. The Norwegian Hakon Ronning came in third after a strong race.
At the end of the day, victory went to the German Luca Nierychlo ahead of Jett Gardiner (GBR) and Kash van Hamond (NED).
At the same time, he won the Central Europe Zone championship in the 65cc class and thus won his first title of the 2024 season.
Conclusion Luca: “I’m really happy about the European Championship title in the Central Europe Zone. Now I’m concentrating on the last races with the 65 because the semi-finals in Lithuania and the final in the Czech Republic will be very tough. There’s also the Junior World Championships coming up in Holland, where I want to give my best.”
It continues on June 29th/30th. in Siauliai / Lithuania at the semi-finals of the EMX65. There the top 25 riders in the Central Europe Zone have to compete with the best 25 in the North East Zone. The best 25 from this event will advance to the final, which will take place as part of the MXGP of Czech Republic in July. The best riders from all four zones (Central Europe, South East Europe, South West Europe, North East Europe) meet there and compete for European championship titles in all zones.
