News
Sunday, July 5: Large crowds turned out in Mira for the final day of racing, in which champions asserted their dominance with clean sweeps of all the weekend’s Motos. The day ended in a celebratory mood with the weekend’s winners across all categories crowned, and attention turning to the next installment of the UIM Aquabike European Continental Championship.
Runabout GP1
Moto 2
Jeremy Perez once again took the holeshot, as Pierre-François Savelli overtook former World Champion Samuel Johansson to move into second place. Meanwhile a slow start from Robin Laforge saw the Belgian drop two places, from fourth to sixth, with Petr Dryjak among those benefitting as he moved from his seventh place start into fourth place. By the second lap, Perez had managed to establish a small lead of 2.09 seconds, but Savelli was going toe-to-toe with the current European Champion, with Savelli registering a time exactly one second quicker than Perez’s 1:34.13 seconds.
Dryjak’s strong start ended up proving short-lived, as his bike encountered problems by the fourth lap which slowed the Czech rider and saw him tumble to the back of the racing pack. He kept on fighting to complete the race, but never managed to regain his pace and gain positions. Lino Araújo soon joined him in having technical difficulties of his own, meaning the Portuguese rider who had raced so well in Mira last year was far slower than his usual self for the second consecutive Moto.
Perez had seemed in firm control of the race and set to repeat last year’s feat of winning all three Motos in Mira, but suddenly the Frenchman slowed on the thirteenth lap, with Savelli speeding along to close the gap to 4.36 seconds by the time he crossed the finish line. Meanwhile, Johansson fell far behind Savelli once the Swede was overtaken, with the former World Champion finishing 27.09 seconds behind second-placed Savelli.
Moto 3
Savelli had a slow start in Moto 3, falling from his second-place start into fourth with Johansson and Mattias Siimann taking advantage to gain a position each. Meanwhile, once again Perez stormed out in front to claim the holeshot, quickly establishing a lead of 4.26 seconds after one lap. Savelli then quickly made up for his poor start, overtaking Siimann to take third place by the first lap. The Frenchman kept pushing to regain the position he started the race in, closing the gap with Johansson until he found a gap and made the overtake on lap five to retake the runner-up spot. Johansson’s problems only compounded from there, with Siimann overtaking him in the next lap to send the Swede into fourth place.
Savelli then set his sights on race leader Perez, narrowing the gap to just 2.14 seconds by lap nine, closing the gap further to 1.36 seconds the following lap to set up an epic showdown for first place at the end of Moto 3. Perez showed his experience and quality once put under pressure by Savelli, going up a gear and improving his lap times, achieving a lap of 1:28.75 seconds to Savelli’s 1:33.10 seconds on the twelfth lap. Meanwhile, Johansson tussled back a position from Siimann on the penultimate lap, returning the Swede to third place. That last gasp overtake meant that the top five positions at the finish line ended up the same as they were at the start of the race, with Perez in front, followed by Savelli, Johansson, Siimann, and finally Robin Laforge in fifth. However, Savelli faced a one lap penalty for failing to keep his lane at the start of the race, moving him down to fifth in the Moto 3 rankings.
Perez therefore left Mira with the perfect start for his campaign to retain the European Championship, going home with the full 75 points. Savelli’s penalty in Moto 3 cost the Frenchman vital points, allowing Johansson to come runner-up in Mira with 64 points, and leaving Savelli in third place on 58 points.
Ski GP1
Quinten Bossche claimed the holeshot for the third Moto in a row, as Oliver Koch Hansen and Soshi Sato recorded flying starts, with the former moving from sixth to second place, and the latter jumping from tenth to third place. However, even those impressive starts were outdone by Jayden Richardson, who flew off the start to slot into fourth place having started in sixteenth place. These spectacular starts came at the expense of Jeremy Poret, who fell from second place into ninth, while his brother Morgan Poret benefitted from the chaos at the front to move up from seventh to fifth place.
Yet again, there was no stopping Bossche out in front, as the Belgian claimed a best lap of 1:39.41 seconds and established a lead of almost ten seconds after three laps. Morgan Poret suffered a double overtake on the fourth lap by Valentin Dardillat and then Mickael Poret to fall back into seventh place following his strong start, with an overtake in the following lap by other brother Jeremy Poret compounding Morgan’s difficulties. Dardillat continued his overtaking streak, first going for Sato, then on the next and penultimate lap overtaking Richardson, but leaving it too late to challenge Koch Hansen for second place, meaning Dardillat had to make do with a third place finish.
As he has done before on so many occasions, Bossche proved himself a cut above the rest in Mira, comfortably crushing his competition in all three Motos to claim the full 75 points. Jeremy Poret’s seventh place finish in Moto 3 was far below the standard the Frenchman set in the previous Motos in which he came runner-up, and those results provided enough points for him the finish second overall in Mira on 58 points, tying for points with fellow Frenchman Dardillat after the latter’s stunning overtaking run in Moto 3.
Ski Ladies GP1
Jessica Chavanne had a dazzling start to Moto 3, going from last place on the grid to third as she pushed her Kommander bike to its limits. Ahead of her, both Estelle Poret and Benedicte Drange retained their positions to go into the first lap in first and second place respectively. The current World Champion immediately started to emulate her winning performances from the first two Motos, building a healthy lead that extended to 7.62 seconds after four laps. That lead proved insurmountable for Drange, who having won all three Motos in Mira last year, was disappointed to leave the Portuguese town without a single win this time.
Her clean sweep in Mira puts Poret firmly in front in the European Championship standings with a full 75 points. Drange netted 57 points over the weekend, placing her second on the podium. Current European Champion Chavanne put in a stunning performance to finish third in Moto 3, but the penalty she picked up in Moto 2 proved costly and kept her out of the podium finishes in Mira, where she came fourth on 52 points. Siiri Salonen claimed the third podium place having secured 56 points in Mira.
Freestyle
Massimo Accumulo topped the table in the Freestyle Moto 2, wooing judges with a polished routine that saw him awarded 163 points. Roberto Mariani was the clear winner in last year’s Freestyle showdown in Mira, but problems with his bike once again forced the World and European Champion to perform his routine on a borrowed bike, which hampered him in Moto 2 just as it had in Moto 1. The Italian therefore scored 140 points from the judges, below his usual standards. Steven Royer was able to profit from Mariani’s misfortune to claim the second spot after the Frenchman marginally outdid the current Champion and scored 141 points.
Those results mean that Accumulo leaves Mira with the gold and in the lead in this year’s European Championship followed by Royer in second place, and Mariani in third, hungry to claw back lost momentum at this opener in Mira.
Runabout GP2
Stefano Castronovo yet again had a stunning start, going from twelfth to fourth, while the top three remained unchanged from the starting positions, with Mattias Siimann leading ahead of Karl Keskula and Manuel Reggiani. Siimann immediately got to work building up a lead, establishing a 4.03 second gap after two laps. Keskula was not going to let his fellow Estonian rider win without a fight however, keeping his pace up to close the gap to 3.67 seconds after four laps.
Castronovo has proven himself one of the strongest starters in the category, but was once again hampered by his inability to maintain a strong pace throughout the race. He started sliding down the positions after five laps, losing out to Linus Lindberg and then Romain Bardoux on lap seven, but managed to hold off a strong double challenge from Nylan Briole and Matthias Giraldo on the final lap to finish in sixth place.
Keskula hovered around four seconds behind Siimann throughout the race, ultimately finishing 4.16 seconds behind the fellow Estonian, with Keskula finishing second for this third successive Moto. These consistent runner-up finishes were enough for Keskula to secure the most points of the Grand Prix, beating Reggiani by 66 points to 65 to claim the gold in Mira. Siimann’s penalty in Moto 1 came to cost him dearly, with his two wins in the subsequent Motos proving unable to make up the lost points, as the Estonian finished third overall in Mira with 57 points.
Ski GP2
Robin Sylvester took the holeshot and immediately started pulling away from the rest of the riders, establishing a gap of 4.76 seconds over second-placed Daan Hoeke by the first lap. Hoeke managed to chip away at the gap as the race went on, reducing it to just 1.82 seconds after five laps, but Sylvester kept his cool and crossed the finish line 1.56 seconds ahead of Hoeke to complete a clean sweep of all three Motos in Mira.
His three Moto wins mean Sylvester leaves Mira as Ski GP2 winner and puts him in good stead for the European Championship title. Daan Hoeke trailed Sylvester in all three Motos, always staying close to the Frenchman but not quite close enough to execute an overtake, so he leaves Mira in second place with 66 points. The Dutchman’s brother, Luuk Hoeke, filled the last podium spot, having accrued 58 points over the weekend’s racing.
Ski GP3/Junior GP3.3
Milo Beernout once again led from start to finish to claim another win in Moto 3. The Belgian managed to win Moto 2 by a margin of just 1.54 seconds, and Moto 3 proved a slightly less close affair, but crossing the finish line just 2.66 seconds after Beernout, Leo Kete ensured the race leader had to remain on top form throughout to claim the win.
Beernout’s win saw him crowned winner in the Ski Junior GP3.3 category in Mira, with Kete claiming gold in the Ski GP3 category, ahead of Manuel Leite in second place and Michael Van Reybroeck closing out the podium places in third.
Ski GP4/Junior GP4
Csongor Jászai put on another flawless display to make it three Moto wins from as many races, leading Moto 3 from start to finish. He quickly established a comfortable gap between himself and second-placed Daniils Potrivailo, eventually crossing the finish line 30.93 seconds ahead of his Latvian challenger.
Jászai therefore leaves Mira with a perfect haul of 75 points and a reputation as the man to beat. Consistent runner-up finishes for Potrivailo saw him earn 66 points and take second on the podium in Mira, followed by Maxime Arthebise in third place with 58 points. Francesco Mariani claimed the top spot in the Junior category.
Runabout GP
Jose Vainio made it a clean sweep in Mira after securing the win in Moto 3. The Finn was once again in control throughout the race, never seeming troubled by his competitors behind him. Arti Molter managed to keep Vainio in his sights throughout the race, but never found enough pace to challenge for the top spot, crossing the finish line in second place 3.65 seconds behind Vainio. Jurica Marovic followed almost fifteen seconds behind, achieving the best finish of the Croatian’s weekend with third place.
Vainio’s clean sweep put him comfortably in front on 75 points, with Molter and Palau behind him on 60 points each, having mirrored each other’s results with each rider recording a second, third and fourth place finish in Mira.
Runabout GP4 Junior
Jose Vainio took the holeshot and led from there, with David Dvorak managing to trail the Finnish race leader by only a few seconds throughout the race, even achieving the race’s best lap of 1:48.21 seconds, yet never getting close enough to take the top spot. This allowed Vainio to make it three Moto wins from three, thus granting him the gold in Mira. Adele Reiner-Latoseva benefitted from consistency to take the second place in Mira on 64 points, with Dvorak failure to finish Moto 2 costing him valuable points, leading to him coming third overall.
Runabout GP4 Ladies
Alizée Vanden-Blecken once again took the holeshot and did not look back from there, leading Moto 3 from start to finish to make it a clean sweep in Mira. Meanwhile a tumble into the water on the first lap saw Aurora Filiberti drop positions immediately, with the Italian falling from fourth to last and facing an uphill struggle for the rest of the race. She managed to claw back two positions as the race went on, finishing in ninth place. At the other end of the race, Michelle Dimov kept a competitive pace throughout the race, finishing in second place 4.26 seconds behind leader Vanden-Blecken.
Vanden-Blecken comfortably claimed the gold in Mira, securing the full 75 points. Consistent podium finishes from Dimov secured her the second spot on 64 points, with Annemarie Oiemets taking the final podium place in Mira on 54 points.