The Junior World Motocross Championships are over for another season, with German Suzuki star Brian Hsu taking top honours in the premier 125cc class.

Hsu (pictured above) finished 1-1 in the Belgian mud to totally dominate the 125cc class at the event in Lierneux, near Bastogne in southern Belgium, quite remarkable considering that Suzuki have not had a 125cc bike come off their production lines since about 2008.

Venezuela’s Gilberto Locurcio (Yamaha, who finished 3-2) and Sweden’s Alvin Ostlund (Yamaha, 2-3) shared second place overall, Locurcio getting the nod for the No.2 position on a count-back because of his superior finish in moto two.

Two New Zealanders finished among the world’s top 40 juniors too – Hamilton’s Josiah Natzke (CMR Red Bull KTM) finished seventh and 10th in his two outings to end up seventh overall and Taupo’s Cohen Chase (Total BikesportNZ.com Yamaha) rode home 32nd and 30th to wind up 34th overall.

“It’s a good result if I look at it from the outside, but, in all honesty, it’s a hard pill to swallow, not getting the result I wanted and knowing how much me and all my people around me put into this,” said the 15-year-old Natzke afterwards.

“I just want to say a huge thank you to KTM. I had a huge amount of support from them over the past few weeks; and also KTM in New Zealand.

“Also to my family, mum and dad, without them and their support I wouldn’t be who I am today. Brother, Joel, and sister, Sarah, for their words of wisdom and support. Big thanks to all my close friends for the unconditional support win or lose. Big thanks to Ben Townley, without him my riding wouldn’t be how it is. I love working with him.

“This has been a team effort everyone in my circle gave it their all. I did my best and that’s all anyone asked of me.”

Meanwhile, the Australians had plenty to celebrate at the event, with Jett Lawrence (KTM) winning the 65cc title ahead of Japan’s Jo Shimoda (KTM), while Finland’s Kim Savaste (KTM) winning the 85cc class ahead of Australian rider Caleb Grothues (KTM).

In terms of the nations competing, the United States topped the podium, with Germany, France, Sweden and Australian rounding out the top five.

New Zealand’s two-rider effort managed a ranking of 21st overall of the 33 countries represented.

Photos courtesy Youthstream

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125cc CLASS SUMMARY

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 in Lierneux.

The young German was in a league of his own, 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 labelled him ‘the underdog’, upon a bit of research it has been learned that Venezuelan Lorenzo Locurcio is a familiar name in the United States after moving to the US back in 2008.

It turns out the L30 Yamaha Team rider has been making waves across the Atlantic and did a solid job at turning heads 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 CLASS SUMMARY

After throwing away the European EMX85 title due to two random crashes, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s young Fin Kim Savaste has officially learned 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 17 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 13th 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 CLASS SUMMARY

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.