Husqvarna BT Racing’s Kay Karssemakers managed a podium finish in the seventh round of the EMX250 Championship in Uddevalla, Sweden. Karssemakers managed this podium finish with a 4-6 in the motos while Maxime Grau finished tenth and in the day’s standings and Wesly Dieudonne also scored in Sweden with a fifteenth place in the first moto.
On Saturday, conditions were perfect in Uddevalla. Karssemakers immediately showed he felt at home on the track and managed to qualify for the race in second fastest time. Grau was also in a good position with an eighth time and Dieudonne was just outside the top twenty with a 21st time!
In the first moto, it was Grau who managed to take a very good start and was riding in second position for the first half of the race. Unfortunately, a few mistakes cost him several places and he was flagged in tenth place. Karssemakers came out of the first lap in sixth place and came back to fourth from there. As it was difficult to overtake, he lost the connection with the leading group and had to settle for fourth place. Dieudonne came out of the first lap in the top twenty and fought his way back to fifteenth place taking six points.
In the second moto, conditions were completely different. It had rained a lot in the night from Saturday to Sunday making it very muddy. It was survival in these conditions. Karssemakers did this well and after taking fifth place in the middle of the race, he eventually finished in sixth place. This was enough for third place in the day’s standings, allowing him to take a place on the podium. Grau worked his way up to eighth place but a crash knocked him back to 14th. In the remaining part of the race he recovered well and eventually crossed the finish line in twelfth place. Riding in the points, Dieudonne ran into trouble and was then forced to abandon the race.
In the day’s standings, Karssemakers finished third, Grau was tenth and Dieudonne closed the weekend in twenty-first place. In the standings, Karssemakers remains in second place and faces a 46-point deficit on the leader. Grau is twelfth and Dieudonne occupies twenty-sixth place. Next weekend the team’s home race is scheduled in Arnhem, the Netherlands.
Photocredits – Huub Munsters
