News
Sunday, July 19: Surprise results in the final Moto of the weekend led to unexpected victories in the Grand Prix of Hungary, alongside continued dominance in other categories that saw the likes of Quinten Bossche, Benedicte Drange, and Roberto Mariani leave Gyor with a clean sweep of all the available points.
European Continental Championship
The final Runabout GP1 Moto completely upended the final Grand Prix of Hungary standings, as Gyorgy Kasza repeated his pacey performance from Moto 2 to take the holeshot and then lead the rest of the race to victory. But attention turned to his main challenger and current European Champion, Jeremy Perez, who had won every Moto in Mira and had looked set to repeat that feat after his win in Gyor’s Moto 1.
But disaster struck for the Frenchman, as he battled issues with his exhaust system that made him slow from the eighth lap. Perez gradually fell behind, unable to reach his usual pace, and finished the race in twelfth place. His closest rival from Moto 1, Samuel Johansson, was unable to overcome the bike issues that forced him to retire in Moto 2, and therefore did not start Moto 3. These shock Moto 3 results have thrown the Championship standings wide open, after Pierre-Francois Savelli was rewarded for his consistent performances with the win in Gyor on 60 points, with Kasza, Perez, and Mattias Siimann coming behind him in that order, each on 56 points.
Quinten Bossche secured yet another win in Ski GP1 to ensure he remains completely unbeaten in this season’s Championship, claiming all of the available 150 points so far. The Belgian’s pace was far too great for any other competitors to come close, so the real battle was for the remaining podium places, with the next three riders crossing the finish line with only 2.08 seconds separating them.
Valentin Dardillat managed to hold onto second place throughout Moto 3 to secure his third second-placed finish in a row in Gyor and 66 points overall. After a tightly contested battle, Kevin Reiterer was able to overtake Jayden Richardson to take third place, with the Australian losing out on his third consecutive third place finish by just 0.31 seconds to come fourth in Moto 3, but still third overall in the Grand Prix of Hungary
Benedicte Drange took the holeshot and from there no one could stop the Norwegian as she stormed to her third Ski Ladies GP1 Moto win in a row to secure the Grand Prix of Hungary victory and the full 75 points on offer this weekend. As in the previous two Motos, Jessica Chavanne once again trailed Drange throughout the race to come second, meaning the current European Champion leaves Gyor with an extra 66 points to her name. Third place went to Jonna Borgstrom.
It was a weekend to forget for current World Champion Estelle Poret, who faced disqualifications, lap penalties, and recurring bike issues, the latter of which forced her to not even start Moto 3. Following her full haul of 75 points in Mira, she leaves Gyor with just 16 points more, giving her a mighty battle in Vichy to regain her place at the top of the Championship standings.
Roberto Mariani delivered another spectacular routine to win in Freestyle. The Italian’s sequence of acrobatic moves secured him 173 points from the judges, and the full 25 points for claiming the top spot. Massimo Accumulo had to settle for second place after an impressive performance of his own that saw him awarded 157 points from the judges.
In Runabout GP2 Justin Patzner flew off the start to claim the holeshot, whilst a slow start from Vaznys Domantas from pole position saw him drop down to fifth place. Patzner was unable to hold onto the lead his flying start gave him, as Linus Lindberg overtook the Hungarian on the third lap to take the lead. Lindberg then had to contend with a challenge to his own lead, as Mattias Siimann crept up behind him to reduce the gap to just 0.68 seconds by the fourth lap.
It took Siimann until the sixth lap to take the lead, and once he did, the Estonian immediately started building up a cushion between himself and the rest of the racing pack. His strong lead management saw him cross the finish line with a gap of 16.90 seconds. The Moto 3 win was enough to secure Siimann the Grand Prix of Hungary win on 67 points, although he still remains behind fellow Estonian Karl Keskula in the season’s overall rankings by just five points.
Daan Hoeke was finally able to secure a Ski GP2 Moto win after he delivered a dominant performance in Moto 3 to win the race by a margin of 20.88 seconds. His Moto win was not enough to claim the top spot in the Grand Prix’s overall standings, however, as Karl Joosep Steinberg managed to secure enough points by finishing fourth in Moto 3 to deliver him the Grand Prix of Hungary victory on 68 points to Hoeke’s 58 points.
Leo Kete took the holeshot and then led for the rest of the race in the final Ski GP3 Moto. Kete comfortably won with a 21.28 second lead to secure all three Ski GP3 Moto wins and assure him of the Grand Prix of Hungary win. The win, alongside his strong performances in Mira, puts the Slovenian well ahead in the overall standings on 147 out of a possible 150 points.
Csongor Jászai took the holeshot in Ski GP4 after a slow start from Dorijan Jakopanec saw him lose his pole position and fall back into third place. Once in the lead, Jászai immediately started to put distance between himself and the rest of the racing pack, extending his lead to almost five seconds after the first lap.
Jászai once again managed his lead well to comfortably finish first, this time with a 9.96 second lead. The Moto 3 win secured Jászai victory in the Grand Prix of Hungary on 72 points, well ahead of Jakopanec who came second on 62 points and third-placed Markus Erlach on 60 points.
Arti Molter was able to maintain his lead in the final Runabout GP4 Moto by the slimmest of margins, as Mattias Siimann pushed for the top spot until the very end, crossing the finish line just 2.48 seconds behind Molter. The Moto 3 win meant Molter did just enough to win the Grand Prix of Hungary by one point, claiming 65 points to Siimann’s 64.
Alizée Vanden-Blecken had another perfect set of results after securing her third Moto win in Gyor by a margin of 8.32 seconds. This puts her as the firm favourite to win the Runabout Ladies GP4 European title going into the final installment in Vichy, France.
In Ski Junior GP4, Marvin Bohuslav completed a hat-trick of Moto wins that saw the Hungarian claim first place in Gyor. However, since Bohuslav did not compete in the Grand Prix of Portugal, Francesco Mariani remains first in the overall Ski Junior GP4 standings on 141 points.
Junior World Championship
After back-to-back wins in Ski Junior GP3.2 for Noam Santos Bíró, Topi Järvenpää claimed an unexpected holeshot in Moto 3 to keep his hopes of winning the Grand Prix of Hungary alive. However, Bíró remained hot on his trail, just 1.47 seconds behind after the second lap. Järvenpää managed his lead well and crossed the finish line 3.50 seconds ahead of Bíró, but the Moto 3 win was not enough to secure him the World Championship title, which instead went to Bíró on 72 points to Järvenpää’s 69 points.
In Ski Junior GP3.3, Milo Beernaut took the holeshot and then had to manage a tight lead for the rest of Moto 3 to claim the win. Beernaut eked out a gap of 1.27 seconds over Leo Kete after the first lap, but Kete would not let the Belgian get away, knowing that a win in Moto 3 would decide the overall winner of the Grand Prix, and so remained around two seconds behind him throughout the race. Beernaut kept his cool and claimed the Moto 3 win, and therefore the title of Ski Junior GP3.3 World Champion after triumphing overall in Gyor.
Jose Vainio completed a hat-trick of wins in Moto 3 to claim the Runabout Junior GP4 World Championship.