MX3 at Troyan, Bulgaria plus Joel Doeksen

Monday 25 April: Milko Potisek gets his first overall win of the 2011 FIM MX3 World Championship’s season confirming himself as one of this year’s title contenders. Joel Doeksen was 21st.

Copy and photos courtesy of Nuno Laranjeira - Youthstream MX3 Press Coordinator.

It wasn’t easy though. The French UFO-Racing team rider had to work hard to win both motos as his rivals didn’t make it easy, especially in the second moto. The biggest threat on Potisek’s lead throughout the day was always the R.S.C. Italia Corse Orion RS Petrol team’s rider Martin Michek, while Julien Bill had to make a bigger effort to keep up with the pace after two bad starts.

Moto 1: The Czech KTM rider started by leading with Antii Pyrhonen right behind but giving up the lead when Potisek found his way to pass him. Pellicari Team’s Julien Bill was on his way to third place and still tried to catch Michek but ended up securing this position. Behind him was Pyrhonen who had to deal with Motoman’s Martin Zerava and Saso Kragelj for the fourth place during a good part of the race and only when some backmarkers forced the Finn to slow down his rhythm they got their chance to overtake him.

Moto 2: Antii got the holeshot but Potisek soon took the lead. The Finnish rider had to consequently hold his second spot from Parshin who was determined to repeat his feat in Megalopolis although the Finn wasn’t making it easy even getting a taste of the lead when Potisek crashed. After Milko’s crash came what was the most exciting moment of the race with Potisek, Parshin, Michek and Bill all riding very close and threatening Pyrhonen. After lapping some of the slowest riders Potisek got back the lead followed by Michek, Bill, Parshin and Pyrhonen in fifth.

Having two solid rides was Martin Zerava, the new Motoman’s team rider was fourth overall thanks to his consistency. Dmitry Parshin had two hard fought motos, ending up seventh and fourth although it could all have been very different if it wasn’t for the crashes the privateer Russian had this weekend spending all his motos recovering positions even though he ended up being fifth overall. Estonian AKR-Betoni KTM rider Juss Lansoo did 9-7 to seventh overall followed by Marco Maddii, Michalec and Kovalainen closing the top-ten.

Milko Potisek: "It was the perfect weekend for me although on the last ten minutes of the second moto it was hard. I knew that if I would crash I couldn’t get the red plate and I actually went down. It was difficult to recover the lead but in the end it was very rewarding.”

Martin Michek: "I felt a bit sick all weekend, struggling with fever so for me it was a hard race. It was pretty good my battle with Julien, the crowd was enjoying it a lot, I could see that. On this track everybody was fast so it was difficult to pass.”

Julien Bill: "It was difficult to pass as I had two bad starts. The second moto was better for me as I came back strong in the end. The championship is long and I made some valuable points today.”

MX3 Race 1 top-ten: 1. Milko Potisek (FRA, Honda), 33:38.892; ; 2. Martin Michek (CZE, KTM), +0:04.553; 3. Julien Bill (SUI, Honda), +0:20.786; 4. Martin Zerava (CZE, Honda), +0:43.230; 5. Saso Kragelj (SLO, Yamaha), +0:54.755; 6. Antti Pyrhonen (FIN, Honda), +1:05.632; 7. Dimitry Parshin (RUS, Honda), +1:10.227; 8. Marco Maddii (ITA, KTM), +1:14.905; 9. Juss Laansoo (EST, KTM), +1:16.114; 10. Petr Michalec (CZE, Honda), +1:18.033

MX3 Race 2 top-ten: 1. Milko Potisek (FRA, Honda), 34:07.915; ; 2. Martin Michek (CZE, KTM), +0:02.538; 3. Julien Bill (SUI, Honda), +0:05.000; 4. Dimitry Parshin (RUS, Honda), +0:14.095; 5. Antti Pyrhonen (FIN, Honda), +0:23.043; 6. Martin Zerava (CZE, Honda), +0:30.795; 7. Juss Laansoo (EST, KTM), +0:45.429; 8. Marco Maddii (ITA, KTM), +0:57.856; 9. Petr Michalec (CZE, Honda), +1:08.343; 10. Marko Kovalainen (FIN, Yamaha), +1:13.879

MX3 Overall top-ten: 1. Milko Potisek (FRA, Honda), 50 points; 2. Martin Michek (CZE, KTM), 44 p.; 3. Julien Bill (SUI, Honda), 40 p.; 4. Martin Zerava (CZE, Honda), 33 p.; 5. Dimitry Parshin (RUS, Honda), 32 p.; 6. Antti Pyrhonen (FIN, Honda), 31 p.; 7. Juss Laansoo (EST, KTM), 26 p.; 8. Marco Maddii (ITA, KTM), 26 p.; 9. Petr Michalec (CZE, Honda), 23 p.; 10. Marko Kovalainen (FIN, Yamaha), 20 p.

MX3 Championship top-ten: 1. Milko Potisek (FRA, Honda), 68 points; 2. Julien Bill (SUI, Honda), 65 p.; 3. Martin Michek (CZE, KTM), 56 p.; 4. Dimitry Parshin (RUS, Honda), 54 p.; 5. Marco Maddii (ITA, KTM), 46 p.; 6. Antti Pyrhonen (FIN, Honda), 46 p.; 7. Martin Zerava (CZE, Honda), 44 p.; 8. Juss Laansoo (EST, KTM), 36 p.; 9. Nikolay Kumanov (BUL, Yamaha), 29 p.; 10. Lauri Lehtla (EST, KTM), 26 p.;

Update on Joel Doeksen

Qualified 19th
Moto 1: 19th
Moto 2: 20th
Overall: 21st
Championship: 26th

Jolanda, Joel and Jan. Photo courtesy of Nuno Laranjeira - Youthstream MX3 Press Coordinator.

EMX 85cc

Jorge Zaragoza Beltran showed that his Suzuki was up for the challenge of the fastest junior two-stroke in Troyan. Indeed he proved his point by winning the overall in front of home hero Michael Ivanov. The Bulgarian 13 year-old did all he could to take the win on ‘his’ track and thank the crowd for supporting him especially after leading the second moto for several minutes and having a wild battle with Rostyslav Voytsyckyy for first place. In third overall came Lithuanian Arminas Jasikonis with two consistent rides to fourth place.

Ukrainian ‘torpedo’ Rostyslav Voytsyckyy tried to catch the Championship lead from Beltran although with no success due to a crash on the first race. He still proved his point by winning the second moto but with great opposition from the Spanish rider. Dutch youngster Davy Pootges was fourth overall following a third and a fifth positions.