2025 EMX250 CHAMPION: JANIS REISULIS

Rider Profile
Name: Janis Martins Reisulis

Nickname: “The Killer”
Date of Birth: 25^th March 2008
Nationality: Latvian
Team: VHR VRT Yamaha Official EMX250 Team

Career Highlights

2020 85cc Latvian Champion
2021 85cc Latvian Champion
2021 EMX85 European Championship, 2^nd Position
2022 EMX125 European Championship, 3^rd position
2022 125cc Dutch Champion
2022 125cc German Champion
2022 125cc Latvian Champion
2023 EMX125 European Champion
2023 125cc Dutch Champion
2025 EMX250 European Champion

2025 EMX250 Season
It is said sometimes, maybe by those who yearn for the characters of yesteryear, that modern athletes don’t have personality. It is tough enough for top sportspeople in the 21^st century to work as hard and be as dedicated as they have to be in the ultra-professional sports world, that to then try and project a personality is often put down as a low priority. After all, the racing and results are what count.

In this respect, Janis Reisulis will hardly win many of those people over. With a deadpan expression, rarely smiling or openly happy, the kid they call “The Killer” will never truly show the joy of the sport to fans. However, this very persona is a characteristic all of its own, very true to his Baltic European roots, and helps add an edge to his on-track charisma that has always very much spoken for itself.

A winner in virtually every series he has been able to complete in the last five years, there is no doubt that the younger of the Reisulis brothers is a coming force in the Motocross world. His first EMX125 campaign in 2022 saw him finish the season in third, behind Cas Valk and his brother Karlis, but then he took the EMX125 title after a season-long battle with Mathis Valin in 2023. Despite a false start to his EMX250 career in 2024 due to a torn ACL, his comeback in 2025 has been nothing short of spectacular.

Janis had finished fourth in the opening EMX250 round at Madrid before his injury, and returning to Spain for just his second event in the class, it was like he had been there for years. In the deep mud at Cozar he overcame a mid-race slip-over to re-take the lead from Mads Fredsoe, and win by 11 seconds by the flag. The mud limited him to 12^th in race two, but he was clearly on the map. From there, a double win at St Jean d’Angely already marked him out as the alpha male of the class, and he took the red plate after Trentino despite a DNF in race two!

A mechanical failure in Switzerland left him with a tiny points lead over two new challengers. Reigning EMX125 Champ Noel Zanocz and rising Spanish star Francisco Garcia were each just two points behind Janis, but again he showed his class with complete domination through the mud of Portugal and Spain with a complete four moto sweep on the Iberian Peninsula!

Despite defeat to Zanocz at Ernée, an emotional perfect weekend at his home GP put him in a commanding position, and he maintained the lead from there, despite an incident in Finland where his Hungarian rival Zanocz put him off the track! The tasty rivalry between the two will be one to watch in years to come as they both progress to MX2, and the ebullient Garcia will also get amongst them!

Janis returned to winning ways at Arnhem to really put the Championship beyond doubt, and he sealed the deal with second behind Garcia on the Saturday race in Türkiye! There is no question of the Latvian’s talent, and in an age where racing brothers have often prospered together, he will join his sibling Karlis in MX2 for 2025 and beyond. Janis will have been interested in seeing Mathis Valin scoring well in MX2, as he will put himself at that level. His “Killer” persona and self-confident aura that seems to accept victory as the inevitable result will add yet another shade of colour to an already dazzling, talent-stacked MX2 category. Watching the progress of Janis Martins Reisulis into his new GP career should be absolutely fascinating.