LIERNEUX (Belgium), 10 August 2014 – Pinned against each other, as well as the unappealing elements of wind and rain, 289 of the world’s fastest junior motocross riders were put to the test today in Lierneux as they each vied for the best spot they could achieve in the most prestigious youth motocross event of the year, the 2014 FIM Junior Motocross World Championship.
On a circuit that demanded the utmost amount of respect with its marbled clay surface, which was only made trickier with multiple down pours of rain, three riders managed to rise above. Rockstar Energy Suzuki Europe’s Brian Hsu was completely untouchable in the 125cc class this weekend, while Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Kim Savaste was the most consistent in the 85’s with young Australian Jett Lawrence topping the box in the 65’s.
125cc
Rockstar Energy Suzuki Europe’s Brian Hsu just put the cherry on top of his 2014 motocross campaign cake, which was iced last weekend when he claimed the European EMX125 title in Lommel, with his flawless performance here in Lierneux. The young German was in a league of his own today, clearly gelling with the gnarly square edged circuit as he blitzed away from the field in both motos to convincingly be crowned 2014 FIM Junior Motocross 125cc World Champion.
While those in Europe have labeled him ‘the underdog’, upon a bit of research it has been learnt that Venezuelan Lorenzo Locurcio is a pretty familiar name in the United States after moving there back in 2008. Turns out the L30 Yamaha Team rider has been making waves across the Atlantic and did a pretty solid job at turning heads today with his 3 – 2 performance to be dubbed 2014 FIM Junior Motocross 125cc vice World Champion.
The old saying goes ‘sometimes you have to go slow to go fast’ which is a sentence that springs to mind after watching Mafi Yamaha MX Team’s Alvin Östlund make a silly error in the second race to throw away what otherwise would have been a comfortable second overall. After bringing home a solid second in race one, it was evident the Swede was the second fastest in the class when he pulled the same gap in race two, but unfortunately the youngster, who is currently the European EMX125 vice champion, let the silver slide right through his fingers when he made a mistake out the back of the track and could only redeem himself for third.
Wrapping up fourth, the flamboyant Frenchman flying the flag for Team MJC Evolution Yamaha David Herbreteau posted a fourth and a fifth for fourth overall, while promising young Russian Ivan Baranov rounded out the top five.
85cc
After throwing away the European EMX85 title due to two random crashes, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s young Fin Kim Savaste has officially learnt from his mistakes as he fully embraced the ‘consistency wins championships’ motto to come away from this weekend crowned FIM Junior Motocross 85cc World Champion with his 3 – 2 score.
Meanwhile, race one dominator and 2012 FIM Junior Motocross 65cc World Champion Caleb Grothues was obviously disappointed after trying to put an aggressive pass on a rider in front of him in race two to have it backfire. The youngster hit the deck and got trapped under his bike which in turn cost him the title. Nevertheless, the young Australian can still fly back to the other side of the world proud of his silver medal.
Despite the rough start to the day, Danish Mikkel Haarup couldn’t have asked for more in race two than what he achieved, dominating the race from start to finish to win by more than seventeen seconds on the newly crowned champion Savaste. With such a big effort in race two, the Dane amazingly landed on the third step of the podium despite his thirteenth place in race one.
Similar to Haarup, Italian Paolo Lugana also sorted his mind out in race two bouncing back from his tenth in race one with a third. A score of 10 – 3 was enough to award the KTM rider with fourth overall just ahead of the European EMX85 Champion, Sahkar KTM Racing’s Jago Geerts, who could just write this weekend off as a rough one.
65cc
Jetting away with his first ever world title, Australia’s Jett Lawrence rode phenomenal in the first race passing the likes of American’s Jeremy Ryan and fellow ‘Jett’ Jett Reynolds for the win. In race two, the little Australian got off to a fifth place start but was quick to let rip and move forward into second which was enough to crown him 2014 FIM Junior Motocross 65cc World Champion.
Hi-fives for Japan’s young star on the rise Jo Shimoda who absolutely ran away in race two for a very convincing moto win which in combination with his fourth in race one landed him on the second step of the podium.
Meanwhile, flying the flag high for the stars and stripes of America, Jeremy Ryan, Jett Reynolds and Biese Carter all have one thing in common, they can’t keep their bikes on two wheels. Despite running a very hot pace, all three were forced to be happy with something a little less than they had expected yet still very respectable results with third, fourth and fifth. Although the individuals weren’t where they wanted them to be, all the Americans were ecstatic at the end of the day as Team USA’s were crowned as the winning Junior Nation. Team Germany was second and Team France was third.
Click here to obtain the complete results.
All the photos of the FIM Junior Motocross World Championship are available here
The best moments of the FIM Junior Motocross World Championship are available on www.mxgp-tv.com. In the upcoming days there will be a special 26’ magazine which will be broadcasted worldwide and it will also be available on MXGPtv Youtube Channel and on www.mxgp-tv.com.
FIM JUNIOR MOTOCROSS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP – QUICK FACTS
Circuit length: 1550
Type of ground: hard pack
Weather conditions: rainy
Crowd Attendance: 3,000
LINKS
Youthstream
FIM
