The 2021 FIM Junior World Champions and World Cup Winner have been crowned in Megalopolis, Greece.
Impressive performances saw Fantic Factory Team Maddii’s Haakon Osterhagen become this year’s 125cc Junior World Champion, while Mattia Barbieri was crowned the 85cc Junior World Champion and Aaron Katona the 65cc World Cup Winner.
Meanwhile, in the Nations standings, it was Team Italy who were victorious once again, finishing ahead of Team Hungary and Team Netherlands.
In the first 125cc race, it was Bence Pergol who took the holeshot, though it was Osterhagen who took the lead in the first lap and then led the rest of the race until the chequered flag.
Raul Sanchez made contact with a lapped rider in front of pit lane, while Gorgios Vagenas almost crashed, but he managed to stay in the game, though it cost him second position.
Last year’s 85cc World Champion, Valerio Lata of MRT Racing Team KTM, finished the race second after making the most of the opportunity handed to him thanks to the mistake of Sanchez, who finished the race third.
In the second race it was Osterhagen who took the second Fox Holeshot, got his head down and controlled the rest of the race to go 1-1 and become this year’s 125cc Junior World Champion.
While Osterhagen led, there was a nice battle between Kay Karssemakers and Lata for second, with the pair wheel-to-wheel for the entire race. Eventually, though, it was Lata who finished second, with Karssemakers third.
The perfect race score handed Osterhagen the overall victory, while two solid second place finishes put Lata second, with Karssemakers placing third with a 7-3 result.
The 125cc Junior World Champion, Haakon Osterhagen said: “I won basically everything except one holeshot in the first race.
“After the first race, where I ran out of energy due to the heat, I decided to be ready for what would come and I did my best. This is very great success for me and for my country. I would like to thank my family, my sponsors and everybody who supported me.”
NATIONS CLASSIFICATIONS AND RIDE GREEN CUP
In the nations’ classifications, it was Team Italy who was victorious with eight points thanks to the great results by their riders Valerio Lata, Mattia Barbieri and Andrea Uccellini, while placing second with 10 points was Team Hungary with strong results from Bence Pergel, Noel Zanocz and Aaron Katona.
Finishing third were Team Netherlands on 20 points with Kay Karssemakers, Lotte Van Drunen and Dex Van Den Broek.
Meanwhile, Team Estonia were declared the winners of the Ride Green Cup for showing their dedication to caring for their environment.
Photo courtesy Infront Moto Racing
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RESULTS:
125cc Junior World Championship Top 5 Classifications:
- Haakon Osterhagen 50 pts, 2. Valerio Lata 44 pts, 3. Kay Karssemakers 34 pts, 4. Andrea Viano 29 pts, 5. Karlis Alberts Reisulis 29 pts.
85cc Junior World Championship Top 5 Classifications:
- Mattia Barbieri 45 pts, 2. Vitezslav Marek 45 pts, 3. Noel Zanocz 38 pts, 4. Markuss Ozolins 34 pts, 5. Simone Mancini 33 pts.
65cc Junior World Cup Top 5 Overall Classifications:
- Aaron Katona 50 pts, 2. Sleny Goyer 42 pts, 3. Andrea Uccellini 42 pts, 4. Leo Diss-Fenard 32 pts, 5. Dex Van De Broek 30 pts.
The 2021 Junior World Championship Nations Top 5 Classifications:
- Italy 6 pts, 2. Hungary 10 pts, 3. Netherlands 20 pts, 4. France 24 pts, 5. Spain 26 pts.