The 2023 FIM Junior Motocross World Championships wrapped up at the TCS Racing Park near Bucharest, in Romania, at the weekend, revealing a few fresh names and faces for fans to now look out for on the world scene.
We all now know that riders such as Eli Tomac, Glenn Coldenhoff, Dylan Ferrandis, Jeremy Seewer, Courtney Duncan, Thibault Benistant, Liam Everts and Mattia Guadagnini, to name a few, raced the FIM Junior Motocross World Championships in years gone by and they went on to achieve greatness in the senior AMA and Grand Prix ranks.
But it was French rider Mathis Valin (pictured here) who was crowned the 125cc Junior World Champion at the 2023 edition of the event in Romania at the weekend, while Dutch rider Dani Heitink became the 85cc Junior World Champion and young Latvian rider Patriks Cirulis dominated the 65cc World Cup.
In the nations’ standings, it was Team Italy who finished at the top in front of Team Netherlands second and Team France third.
In 125cc race one, it was Valin who clinched the first holeshot of the day and continued with the lead to display a confident performance and never give up the lead to win race one.
One of the big contenders and the one who topped the qualifying race on Saturday, MJC Yamaha Official EMX125’s Janis Martin Reisulis went down early which hindered his chance to win the race but still managed 7th place in the end with an incredible comeback.
While Valin was cruising to victory, a great battle was raging for the 2nd place between the Italians Simone Mancini, JK Racing Yamaha’s Nicola Salvini and the Australian Jake Cannon.
The last word went to Mancini on lap five of 15 to get up to 3rd and keep going until the chequered flag.
Salvini settled for 3rd and Cannon for 4th.
In race two it was Fantic Factory Team Maddii’s Maximilian Werner who came out of the gate the fastest to take the holeshot but it was once again Valin taking the lead after a few corners.
However, this time Reisulis made a good start and quickly put pressure on Valin to remind us of the battles we are used to witness between them in EMX125 racing this season.
Reisulis managed to pass Valin on lap two of 15 and kept the lead until the end to win race two while Valin settled for 2nd knowing he would be the World Champion at the end with this position.
Behind them it was RFME GasGas MXJunior Team’s Francisco Garcia who rode superbly to come from the back to nick the 3rd place to Cannon on the last lap. Cannon finished 4th in the end.
With a 1-2, Valin was crowned the 125cc FIM Junior World Champion to get his gold medal while race two winner Reisulis finished with the silver medal in front of Mancini who secured the bronze medal.
85cc CLASS
In 85cc in race one, the holeshot was taken by Ryan Oppliger as the Swiss took the lead, but he could not do anything on lap two when Dani Heitink passed him.
The young Dutch rider managed to control the race until the end to win the first race in front of Oppliger. Dex Kooiker was 3rd for 5 laps out of 12 but had to unexpectedly retire from the race which gave Dean Gregoire the opportunity to finish 3rd in the end.
One of the favourites, Jarne Bervoets did not have the best start and had to battle to go from 11th on lap one to 6th in the end.
In the second race, Austrian Ernecker Moritz took the second holeshot but Bervoets took the lead quickly after that and showed an immense performance to win with an 8 seconds gap in front of Heitink.
Heitink rode superbly and fought his way to the 2nd place after finding himself 5th on the turn of lap 1. Gregoire showed some good speed once again and managed to finish at a good and comfortable 3rd place again. Moritz ended the race in 4th.
An excellent 1-2 meant that Heitink was crowned the 2023 85cc FIM Junior Motocross World Champion in front of Bervoets who showed all his talent in race two to win it and get the second place overall. Gregoire showed consistency to go 3-3 and get the 3rd place overall.
65cc CLASS
In the 65cc race one, young Latvian Patriks Cirulis took the first holeshot and kept going at the lead during the whole 8 laps to win the race. Behind him Rainers Grasis also got a very good start in 2nd position and kept this rank until the end of the in front of American Easton Graves who also rode the whole race in 3rd position.
Kenzo Jaspers made a remarkable comeback after an average start that saw him going from 9th on lap one to 4th in the end.
In race two, Cirulis showed that he was a head above again as he took his second holeshot of the day and took the lead and kept going with it until the end.
Graves managed to make a good pass on lap two to move up to 2nd and keep that position until the end while it was a great race for Italian Francesco Assini who made several overtakes to go from 6th on lap one to 3rd in the end. Starting very well and finding himself 2nd over the first lap Tim Lopes had to concede few places to finish 4th in the end.
A perfect score and a perfect weekend from the young Latvian Cirulis who dominantly won and was crowned the 2023 65cc World Cup Winner in front of the great and consistent performer, American rider Graves, with 3-2 earning him the silver medal. With his excellent race two, Assini made it to the third step of the podium.
NATIONS CLASSIFICATIONS AND RIDE GREEN CUP
In the nations’ classifications, Team Italy were the overall winners with 10 points, while second with 17 points were Team Netherlands, followed by Team France in third with 19 points.
Meanwhile, Team Italy was declared the winner of the Ride Green Cup for showing their commitment to protecting their environment.
2023 Junior World Championship Nations Top 5 Classifications: 1. Italy 10p.; 2. Netherlands 17p.; 3. France 19p.; 4. USA 25p.; 5. Latvia 30p.
Photo courtesy Fortineau
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FINAL STANDINGS:
125cc Junior World Championship Top 10 Overall Classifications:
1. Mathis Valin (FRA, GAS), 25 points; 2. Janis Martins Reisulis (LAT, YAM), 14 p.; 3. Simone Mancini (ITA, YAM), 22 p.; 4. Francisco Garcia (ESP, GAS), 16 p.; 5. Jake Cannon (AUS, YAM), 18 p.; 6. Nicola Salvini (ITA, YAM), 20 p.; 7. Julius Mikula (CZE, YAM), 11 p.; 8. Mads Fredsoe (DEN, KTM), 6 p.; 9. Noel Zanocz (HUN, KTM), 12 p.; 10. Elias Escandell (ESP, FAN), 7 p.
85cc Junior World Championship Top 10 Overall Classification:
1. Dani Heitink (NED, HUS), 47 points; 2. Jarne Bervoets (BEL, KTM), 40 p.; 3. Dean Gregoire (NED, KTM), 40 p.; 4. Riccardo Pini (ITA, KTM), 34 p.; 5. Ryan Oppliger (SUI, KTM), 32 p.; 6. Travis Leok (EST, HUS), 30 p.; 7. Moritz Ernecker (AUT, GAS), 25 p.; 8. Nicolò Alvisi (ITA, GAS), 25 p.; 9. Robbie Daly (GBR, KTM), 25 p.; 10. Andrea Uccellini (ITA, HUS), 21 p.
65cc Junior World Cup Top 10 Overall Classifications:
1. Patriks Cirulis (LAT, HUS), 25 points; 2. Easton Graves (USA, KTM), 20 p.; 3. Francesco Assini (ITA, GAS), 12 p.; 4. Kenzo Jaspers (NED, HUS), 18 p.; 5. Tim Lopes (FRA, GAS), 11 p.; 6. Evan Frost (RSA, KTM), 10 p.; 7. Jamiro Peters (GER, KTM), 15 p.; 8. Rainers Grasis (LAT, GAS), 22 p.; 9. Teunis Spijkerman (NED, GAS), 14 p.; 10. Gregor Lootus (EST, KTM), 4 p.