MAGGIORA (Italy) 16 June 2024 – The hilly circuit of Maggiora Park welcomed the EMX125 Presented by FMF Racing for their seventh round of the 2024 campaign and that offered the public a great show. Due to the race direction decision, the EMX125 got cancelled and we were spoiled with an intense one-race round.

It was Racestore KTM Factory Racing’s Gyan Doensen who lit up the race and completely control the race to get on the top step of the podium and come back closer in the championship behind Fantic Factory Racing EMX125’s Noel Zanocz  

What a great start from TM moto SteelsDrJack‘s Brandon Rispoli leading Gyan Doensen, his teammate Nicolò Alvisi and Tom Brunet from Jezyk Racing Team after the first corners. It was another tough start for red plate Noel Zanocz  

Zanocz as he emerged in 13th place. Other riders that w are used to see at the front aldso missed their start like RFME GASGAS MXJunior Team’s Salvador Perez, Yamaha Europe EMX125 MJC from Mano Faure and Dream Racing’s Francesco Bellei who were all 10th and above in the opening lap.

Rispoli started to create a good gap on Doensen after the first lap which was a dream start for the home rider.

Zanocz started his climbs and got right behind Faure on lap 2 in 11th. Meanwhile, Rispoli made a mistake and retrograded to 4th place as Doensen took the lead with a comfortable 8 seconds cushion on Alvisi. The Dutch rider was the fastest of the pack as he clocked the best time in lap 4.

Faure passed his teammate Dani Heitink for 9th on lap 3 with Zanocz pressuring Heitink but Faure crashed on lap 5 and lost precious time as he picked himself up in 12th.

With this one-race round, the urgency made itself known as Brunet did everything he could to squeeze pass Alvisi on the inside after the big climb to move up 2nd and therefore on the podium. Things were not over for Alvisi as Rispoli also found a way past his countryman to move up 3rd and leave Alvisi 4th.

With Doensen, 10 seconds clear at the lead with 5 min + 2 to go, all was to play for the 2nd place as Rispoli had Brunet just in front of him. Rispoli pressured the young French but backmarkers made it hard to have a clear line to pass.

On lap 8, Rispoli managed perfectly to pass the Brunet but the fight wasn’t over as the French rider took back his spot a couple of corners later. Meanwhile another Italian rider Simone Mancini made his way past Alvisi to move up 4th and get into the mix for a last showdown for the podium.

However, on lap 10, the hopes of a podium were all gone for Brunet as he made a costly mistake that that saw Rispoli and Mancini passing him. Brunet would stay in 4th until the end missing out on a podium. This was the perfect scenario for Rispoli who took his first podium of the season in 2nd as well as the consistent Mancini getting his 4th podium in a row. The fans showed their happiness to see two italians on the podium at home.

Red Plate Zanocz managed to get back to 8th and keep his red plate but will need to watch over his shoulder over the next rounds.

Gyan Doensen:  “After all that rain the track turned up perfectly with deep ruts of course but good for me. I’m happy to get this win as I worked hard for this and great to get points in the championship. Let’s keep the ball rolling again after a couple of less good rounds but so happy to get the overall and to the next one!”

Main Photo: EMX125 Podium

Bottom Photos: 1.  Gyan Doensen ; 2. EMX125 Start

MXGP OF ITALY QUICK FACTS:

Circuit length: 1730m

Type of ground: Hard Pack

Temperature: 22°

Weather conditions:Sunny