New Zealand is potentially just two races away from having another motocross champion in Europe.

Waikato’s Josiah Natzke is now so close to taking the European 125cc Motocross Championships (EMX125) crown that he can probably taste it after another impressive performance at the weekend, this time at the seventh round of eight in the series at the sand track of Lommel, in north-eastern Belgium.

Racing for the Belgian-based Red Bull KTM Juniors motocross race team, and with massive support from KTM and Red Bull in New Zealand, the Hamilton 16-year-old finished sixth and third in his two EMX125 races at the Belgian Grand Prix over the weekend

He started the weekend at No.2 in the championship standings, 10 points behind French Yamaha rider Maxime Renaux, and four points ahead of his own Red Bull KTM team-mate Jorge Prado, from Spain.

But, with Renaux sidelined by injury and unable to add to his points tally, it was left to Natzke and Prado to battle for the ascendancy and the weekend ended with Prado on top, one ahead of Natzke.

Prado eclipsed Natzke by finishing 1-6 in the two races and it now seems inevitable that the showdown for the title will go down to the wire between these two Red Bull KTM team riders when they next meet, at the eighth and final round at Assen, in The Netherlands, on August 30.

To some extent, Natzke believes he may already have exceeded his own expectations so far this year, his first full international campaign since making it back-to-back senior 125cc national championship title wins when racing for the CMR Red Bull KTM team in New Zealand earlier this year.

“The season in Europe didn’t start off how I wanted to, with me struggling with the tracks and adapting and I was quite a few points down,” said Natzke.

“But I began to dig myself out of the hole and establish my place in the championship, taking race wins and even an overall (GP win), which was always the goal.

“The main thing that I have been working on has just been sand riding and I’ve been living in the sand since the French round of the championship (round five in June).

Natzke has secured several spectacular and memorable wins in the EMX125 championships this season – scoring victories in Spain, Germany, France and Italy – and he is the rider with the most wins in the series so far.

Of the 14 races over the seven rounds thus far, Natzke has won five of them, compared to Prado’s three race wins.

Natzke became the youngest ever rider to win a senior motocross title in New Zealand, at age 15, when he dominated the senior 125cc championships in 2014, before successfully defending his title, with support from the CMR Red Bull KTM team, in Pukekohe in March of this year, just a week before heading to Europe.

© Words by Andy McGechan, www.BikesportNZ.com

Photo by G Maes

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RESULTS AND STANDINGS:

EMX125 Race 1 Top Ten:

1. Jorge Prado Garcia (ESP, KTM), 29:29.057; 2. Nathan Renkens (BEL, KTM), +0:22.991; 3. Cyril Genot (BEL, Husqvarna), +0:34.316; 4. Jago Geerts (BEL, KTM), +0:39.284; 5. Conrad Mewse (GBR, KTM), +0:54.063; 6. Josiah Natzke (NZL, KTM), +0:55.479; 7. Glen Meier (DEN, KTM), +1:05.972; 8. Noud van Kraaij (NED, KTM), +1:16.859; 9. Miro Sihvonen (FIN, KTM), +1:17.023; 10. Marcel Conijn (NED, KTM), +1:24.473.

EMX125 Race 2 Top Ten:

1. Cyril Genot (BEL, Husqvarna), 30:59.766; 2. Jago Geerts (BEL, KTM), +0:06.626; 3. Josiah Natzke (NZL, KTM), +0:14.986; 4. Conrad Mewse (GBR, KTM), +0:35.154; 5. Miro Sihvonen (FIN, KTM), +0:50.051; 6. Jorge Prado Garcia (ESP, KTM), +0:53.813; 7. Ruben Fernandez Garcia (ESP, KTM), +1:14.285; 8. Nathan Renkens (BEL, KTM), +1:18.012; 9. Hardi Roosiorg (EST, KTM), +1:24.314; 10. Glen Meier (DEN, KTM), +1:32.027.

EMX125 Overall Top Ten:

1. Cyril Genot (BEL, HUS), 45 points; 2. Jago Geerts (BEL, KTM), 40 p.; 3. Jorge Prado Garcia (ESP, KTM), 40 p.; 4. Josiah Natzke (NZL, KTM), 35 p.; 5. Nathan Renkens (BEL, KTM), 35 p.; 6. Conrad Mewse (GBR, KTM), 34 p.; 7. Miro Sihvonen (FIN, KTM), 28 p.; 8. Glen Meier (DEN, KTM), 25 p.; 9. Hardi Roosiorg (EST, KTM), 19 p.; 10. Sander Agard-Michelsen (NOR, TM), 16 p.

EMX125 Championship Top Ten:

1. Jorge Prado Garcia (ESP, KTM), 271 points; 2. Josiah Natzke (NZL, KTM), 270 p.; 3. Maxime Renaux (FRA, YAM), 245 p.; 4. Conrad Mewse (GBR, KTM), 178 p.; 5. Miro Sihvonen (FIN, KTM), 172 p.; 6. Stephen Rubini (FRA, KTM), 147 p.; 7. Davide Cislaghi (ITA, TM), 144 p.; 8. Mathys Boisrame (FRA, YAM), 139 p.; 9. Glen Meier (DEN, KTM), 134 p.; 10. Nathan Renkens (BEL, KTM), 128 p.