JOY FOR FRANCE WITH TEAM AND INDIVIDUAL GOLD MEDALS AT THE FIM JUNIOR MOTOCROSS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS.
After a day of qualification on Saturday for the FIM Junior World Motocross Championships, it was time for racing today at the French circuit of Romagné, although the young riders were faced with much tougher conditions than expected as heavy rain hit the north-western venue to leave a slippery surface for all competitors to deal with!
Despite challenges from ever-changeable weather, the day was a brilliant one for the home nation, as Team France’s riders took two Gold Medals and one Silver for an unbeatable four-point total in the team standings, while Team Italy took second overall, and Team Great Britain claimed third for the second year in a row!
It was pure joy for in-form local boy Mano Faure, who took a solid 1-3 scorecard to overall victory for Yamaha Europe EMX125 MJC, despite several small crashes in the second race! Italian Filippo Mantovani was consistent to take the Silver Medal on his KTM for the best Italian result of the day, while Jekabs Kubulins took the second race win for JK Racing Yamaha to claim the Bronze Medal.
The 85cc class saw a consistent pair of second-place finishes seal the overall victory for home hero Rafael Mennillo, with Lucas Leok claiming Silver for Estonia with a second race win, just as he did in 2024! Australian Seth Thomas took a brilliant third overall to justify his long journey to the race and complete a 1-2-3 finish for KTM.
The 65cc World Cup event got hit with the worst conditions for anybody, and were limited to just one race, and Gold was won by the American rider Kannon Zabojnik on his Cobra MOTO machine, ahead of local KTM ace Mathys Agullo, with another American, Levi Geis, taking the Bronze on his Cobra MOTO.
Before all the racing, the official Opening Ceremony of the 2025 FIM Junior Motocross World Championship was a moment of great pride and joyful atmosphere. Attending the ceremony were Infront Moto Racing COO Daniele Rizzi, Infront Moto Racing Junior Motocross General Manager Patricia Maskarova, FIM/CMS Director Antonio Alia Portela, FFM President Sébastien Poirier, FFM National Motocross Commission President Jean-Pierre Forest, Patrick Bertaud, Vice President of the FFM and President of the Bretagne Motocross League, Nikos Psimmenos, FIM Sustainability Delegate and Romagné Motoclub President Jean-Pierre Villerbue.
Teams and riders gathered on the on the starting area with their national flags in hand, welcomed by a live orchestra that set the tone for the day. The emotional highlight came as the musicians played La Marseillaise, marking a proud moment for the host nation and completely launching the day. Before racing began, a one-minute silence was held in memory of former FIM President Francesco Zerbi, who made a lasting impact on international motocross.
The 13-17 year-old class got the brightest of conditions for any of the races, and it was the stars of the EMX125 Presented by FMF Racing Championship, that many MXGP fans would be familiar with, that treated us to a spectacular day of racing on a track that still offered varying levels of grip and moisture.
French hope Mano Faure, whose Yamaha Europe EMX125 MJC team has its base in close proximity to the Romagné venue, was inspired to take a clear Fox Holeshot after taking fastest time in Qualifying Group A on Saturday. He was followed by British rider Charlie Richmond, although the S Briggs Commercials Yamaha kid was quickly overtaken by regular EMX frontrunner Nicolò Alvisi of the Racestore KTM Factory Juniors team. However, just as Alvisi looked to mount a challenge to Faure, he got the downhill approach to a big table-top jump completely wrong, falling off the side of the track in spectacular fashion! Richmond gladly accepted second place back, as Swiss rising star Ryan Oppliger, Czechia’s Vitezslav Marek, and the TM Moto CRD Motosport rider Niccolo Mannini battled for third place!
Oppliger dropped down the order on the second lap, eventually finishing in ninth, as Mannini challenged Marek for third, getting past the Czech on lap four. Alvisi recovered well to get to fifth by lap five, but he brought his compatriot Filippo Mantovani with him, and as they both got past Marek, Mantovani seized his chance to pass his countryman to claim fourth at the end of lap seven!
Faure continued to dominate, winning by a comfortable 36 seconds from the delighted Richmond, who has only raced at a couple of EMX125 rounds this year. Mantovani reeled in Mannini to take the top Italian position in third, while Dani Heitink of the Netherlands passed Alvisi for fifth with two laps to go!
Race two again saw a clear Fox Holeshot Award win by Faure, chased by JK Racing Yamaha ace Jekabs Kubulins, and the French flyer looked to be giving the home crowd a replay of his convincing first race win. Alvisi fell on the first lap again while in fourth behind Mantovani, leaving Heitink and Mannini to complete the top five by the start of the first full lap. Faure pushed the front end out in the downhill left-hand corner after Pit Lane, toppled over and gifted the lead to Kubulins! He remounted in fourth, just in front of Mannini, who then had his own crash to put him down to 13th!
Heitink was third after a back-and-forth battle with Faure, but the former 85cc Junior World Champion’s position was short-lived as news came through that he was to be disqualified for running off-track, but therefore on smoother ground, up the whole length of the start straight! He raced on and crossed the line second, but the early advantage gained meant that disqualification was inevitable.
Kubulins marched on to take a solid win for Latvia, which combined with his 12th in race one to nudge himself onto the podium overall! Faure tipped over several times but managed to stay ahead of his Yamaha teammate Jarne Bervoets to claim third behind Mantovani, while countryman Liam Bruneau enjoyed a top five finish.
Marek took sixth overall as the best Czech rider of the event, ahead of Alvisi and Richmond, who suffered a bad start and a 16th place in race two. Bervoets’ 10-4 finishes were enough to claim fifth overall, behind the 4-8 scores of Mannini. Kubulins took Bronze with a wild 12-1 scorecard, while Mantovani’s 3-2 efforts were good for the Silver Medal to go the way of the Italian, who was the best finisher for his country on the day.
Despite his second race issues, Faure claimed the fourth 125cc Junior World Championship for a Frenchman, following in the footsteps of such stars as Jordi Tixier, Maxime Renaux, and Mathis Valin! The future looks bright for the Yamaha rider, and he will look to continue his good form with the EMX125 red plate as they race in Finland next weekend!
125cc Junior World Championship – Race 1 – Top 10 Classification: 1. Mano Faure (FRA, Yamaha), 30:20.025; 2. Charlie Richmond (GBR, Yamaha), +0:35.922; 3. Filippo Mantovani (ITA, KTM), +0:55.942; 4. Niccolo Mannini (ITA, TM), +1:00.375; 5. Dani Heitink (NED, Yamaha), +1:01.130; 6. Nicolò Alvisi (ITA, KTM), +1:02.103; 7. Vitezslav Marek (CZE, KTM), +1:34.389; 8. Ricardo Bauer (AUT, KTM), +1:43.479; 9. Ryan Oppliger (SUI, KTM), +1:55.552; 10. Jarne Bervoets (BEL, Yamaha), +2:00.281
125cc Junior World Championship – Race 2 – Top 10 Classification: 1. Jekabs Kubulins (LAT, Yamaha), 31:06.184; 2. Filippo Mantovani (ITA, KTM), +0:19.782; 3. Mano Faure (FRA, Yamaha), +0:43.912; 4. Jarne Bervoets (BEL, Yamaha), +1:09.208; 5. Liam Bruneau (FRA, KTM), +1:10.983; 6. Vitezslav Marek (CZE, KTM), +1:11.952; 7. Nicolò Alvisi (ITA, KTM), +1:12.933; 8. Niccolo Mannini (ITA, TM), +1:13.142; 9. Dean Gregoire (NED, KTM), +1:17.755; 10. Ryan Oppliger (SUI, KTM), +1:25.357
125cc Junior World Championship Top 10 Overall Classifications: 1. Mano Faure (FRA, YAM), 45 points; 2. Filippo Mantovani (ITA, KTM), 42 p.; 3. Jekabs Kubulins (LAT, YAM), 34 p.; 4. Niccolo Mannini (ITA, TM), 31 p.; 5. Jarne Bervoets (BEL, YAM), 29 p.; 6. Vitezslav Marek (CZE, KTM), 29 p.; 7. Nicolò Alvisi (ITA, KTM), 29 p.; 8. Charlie Richmond (GBR, YAM), 27 p.; 9. Liam Bruneau (FRA, KTM), 24 p.; 10. Ryan Oppliger (SUI, KTM), 23 p.
The 85cc brigade also had a muddy circuit to deal with, with sporadic rain falling on the 12-14 year-old riders for their first 20-minute plus two-lap race. Latvian Martins Cirulis claimed a surprise Fox Holeshot Award from top Group B Qualifier Rafael Mennillo. British rider Brian Gyles was briefly third before a crash dropped him down the order, as Tim Lopes of France held off a determined Lucas Leok for Team Estonia. Leok was to suffer his own accident which dropped him to 15th at the end of the first full lap, as Mennillo burst into the lead, while his countryman Enzo Herzogenrath used his tall frame to fight through to second place, making it a French 1-2 from very early on!
Team USA’s Gauge Brown was another tall rider on the move and was up to third when Cirulis crashed out of the race altogether, although he was unhurt. The battle up front was already raging between Mennillo and Herzogenrath, as the pair passed and re-passed each other again and again, sometimes even briefly hitting the ground, but staying in the top two positions throughout.
Australian Seth Thomas had suffered a small crash early on, but fought through from ninth to catch and pass Brown for third on the very last lap, while Leok had also used his top Qualifier’s pace to claw back up to fourth by lap five, before once again slipping down the order! The hot pre-race favourite would eventually recover to take eighth place, the highest scoring rider to be lapped by the flying French pair out front.
New Zealander Tripp Glasgow was briefly in the top five, but in the end Spanish rider Pau Caudet would claim fifth behind Brown, and ahead of the third French rider Louis Morette in sixth. His compatriots Herzogenrath and Mennillo continued to battle back and forth, even if the lap charts showed they didn’t change position, as Herzogenrath was always able to retaliate successfully against Mennillo’s overtakes, or indeed recover from his own mistakes very quickly! The gap at the end was just 1.733 seconds in favour of Herzogenrath, and the crowd thoroughly appreciated their efforts for a French 1-2 at the close!
Leok was in no mood to mess around in race two, claiming the Fox Holeshot Award and never being passed in the entire race, charging off with a first lap that was an incredible 12 seconds faster than the next rider! Herzogenrath was initially second, but jumped off-track on a difficult uphill leap, dropping him outside the top 30! He would eventually recover to finish 13th, which would lead to him taking fifth overall on the day.
Jaggar Townley was another one who fell from a strong position, and the New Zealander would eventually take 15th place, as Brown battled with Mennillo for 2nd place behind the charging Leok. Italian Francesco Assini made his presence felt in a strong battle with Caudet, and as Brown got stuck in a rut to drop from third to an eventual ninth, Assini made a strong move on Caudet to take that top three position!
Brit Harley Marczak, a disappointed 16th in race one, was this time much higher up, and moved into fifth as he took advantage of a mistake from Seth Thomas, who looked like he had lost his overall podium position to Caudet until the Spaniard was finally passed for third by Assini with three laps to go! The Italian was the best of his country in the class, taking seventh overall, while Marczak’s tenth overall was the best for Team GB, and crucial in claiming third in the overall team results.
Gauge Brown was the top American with sixth overall, while Caudet missed out on the podium by just a single point! Leok powered to win by nearly a full minute, finishing second overall in the class for the second straight year, but Mennillo couldn’t care less about the big gap as he steadily made sure of second place, matching his first race result to claim the FIM Junior 85cc world title, the first ever by a Frenchman in the class!
The top European stars will be looking forward to the EMX85 Finale at Loket in just three weeks’ time, while many will look to step up to a 125cc machine next season!
85cc FIM Junior World Championship – Race 1 – Top 10 Classification 1. Enzo Herzogenrath (FRA, KTM), 26:58.254; 2. Rafael Mennillo (FRA, KTM), +0:01.733; 3. Seth Thomas (AUS, KTM), +1:21.280; 4. Gauge Brown (USA, KTM), +1:32.009; 5. Pau Caudet (ESP, GASGAS), +1:49.498; 6. Louis Morette (FRA, Husqvarna), +2:45.470; 7. Maxim Zimmerman (SVK, Husqvarna), +2:53.787; 8. Lucas Leok (EST, KTM), -1 lap(s); 9. Max Lindström (SWE, Husqvarna), -1 lap(s); 10. Tim Lopes (FRA, GASGAS), -1 lap(s)
85cc FIM Junior World Championship – Race 2 – Top 10 Classification: 1. Lucas Leok (EST, KTM), 26:42.464; 2. Rafael Mennillo (FRA, KTM), +0:59.606; 3. Francesco Assini (ITA, GASGAS), +1:11.499; 4. Pau Caudet (ESP, GASGAS), +1:25.743; 5. Harley Marczak (GBR, KTM), +1:39.336; 6. Seth Thomas (AUS, KTM), +2:03.062; 7. Tim Lopes (FRA, GASGAS), +2:22.863; 8. Maxim Zimmerman (SVK, Husqvarna), +2:48.129; 9. Gauge Brown (USA, KTM), -1 lap(s); 10. Blake Bohannon (AUS, Yamaha), -1 lap(s)
85cc Junior World Championship Top 10 Overall Classification: 1. Rafael Mennillo (FRA, KTM), 44 points; 2. Lucas Leok (EST, KTM), 38 p.; 3. Seth Thomas (AUS, KTM), 35 p.; 4. Pau Caudet (ESP, GAS), 34 p.; 5. Enzo Herzogenrath (FRA, KTM), 33 p.; 6. Gauge Brown (USA, KTM), 30 p.; 7. Francesco Assini (ITA, GAS), 29 p.; 8. Maxim Zimmerman (SVK, HUS), 27 p.; 9. Tim Lopes (FRA, GAS), 25 p.; 10. Harley Marczak (GBR, KTM), 21 p.
In a cruel change in the weather for the youngest riders of the day, a deluge of rain lashed the circuit almost as soon as the gate dropped, making many slopes of the natural valley as very difficult obstacles for the smallest machines in the event! The 10-12 year-old competitors gave all they could in extremely challenging conditions for their scheduled 12-minute plus two-lap races.
American flyer Kannon Zabojnik blasted his Cobra MOTO machine to the Fox Holeshot line first, although home hero Mathys Agullo, who had caught the eye on Saturday with the fastest time in Free Practice, managed to wrestle the lead away after the first couple of corners, getting the fans behind him as he carved a path around the increasingly damp track!
Initially, the leading pair were tailed by American Levi Geis, Spaniard Izan Rodriguez, and Italian youngster Daniel Corda. British rider Cohen Jagielski was charging through the field after starting outside of the top 15. Just as his countryman John Slade got to the back wheel of Corda, Rodriguez fell from fourth, coming home eventually in 12th. Both Brits got past Corda to run in fourth and fifth, as Geis managed to keep third despite falling on one of the treacherous uphill sections!
On the second full lap, with the rain easing slightly, Agullo crashed at the end of a wave section, handing the lead back to Zabojnik in what would turn out to be a crucial move, especially as he kept the lead to the end of lap four.
Lap five would see a massive change in fortunes for all riders, as Zubojnik fell on an uphill section due to a collision with a lapped rider, and Agullo joined him on the floor just moments later! The French kid recovered to lead, but an incredible charge from Slade had seen him pass Jagielski back for fourth, overtake Geis for third, then reach the rear wheel of Agullo. On the start of what looked to be the last lap, Slade took an inside line up the most difficult uphill, weaved through the fallen riders, and past Agullo to take the lead!
However, with the hill now impassable due to several crashed bikes and riders, the decision was made to stop the race for safety reasons. With so few riders even crossing the line for lap five, the countback to the end of lap four left the win in the hands of Kannon Zubojnik, ahead of Agullo, Geis, then Jagielski, with Slade ending up in fifth!
The second race had drier conditions overhead, and Agullo took the Holeshot ahead of Jagielski and Slade, but the track was extremely muddy after more showers. As a different section to race one became almost completely blocked by fallen riders, it was decided to red flag the race before the end of the first full lap. With the track continuing to get tougher throughout the day, the decision was made to abandon race two of the 65cc class.
Zabojnik’s victory was the first by an American rider in this class since 2013, and the first World Junior Championship for the USA since Caden Braswell’s 85cc title in 2018.
Just like the 85cc class, the EMX65 Finale will take place at Loket, as part of the MXGP of Czech Republic on the 26th & 27th of July, all available to watch on MXGP-TV.com! Join us there for more Youth Motocross action from the stars of the future!
65cc Junior World Cup – Race 1 – Top 10 Classification: 1. Kannon Zabojnik (USA, Cobra MOTO), 12:38.991; 2. Mathys Agullo (FRA, KTM), +0:26.395; 3. Levi Geis (USA, Cobra MOTO), +0:53.507; 4. Cohen Jagielski (GBR, GASGAS), +1:13.272; 5. John Slade (GBR, GASGAS), +1:21.147; 6. Daniel Corda (ITA, KTM), +1:23.806; 7. Liam Morette (FRA, Husqvarna), +1:25.087; 8. Tobe Vandeneynde (BEL, KTM), +1:34.683; 9. Kye Sproule (AUS, Yamaha), +1:40.728; 10. Alfie Cotter (GBR, KTM), +2:02.059
65cc Junior World Cup – Race 2 – Top 10 Classification: –
65cc Junior World Cup Top 10 Overall Classifications: 1. Kannon Zabojnik (USA, COB), 25 points; 2. Mathys Agullo (FRA, KTM), 22 p.; 3. Levi Geis (USA, COB), 20 p.; 4. Cohen Jagielski (GBR, GAS), 18 p.; 5. John Slade (GBR, GAS), 16 p.; 6. Daniel Corda (ITA, KTM), 15 p.; 7. Liam Morette (FRA, HUS), 14 p.; 8. Tobe Vandeneynde (BEL, KTM), 13 p.; 9. Kye Sproule (AUS, YAM), 12 p.; 10. Alfie Cotter (GBR, KTM), 11 p.
NATIONS CLASSIFICATIONS
The 2025 FIM Junior Motocross World Championship concluded with an electric atmosphere in Romagné, where the home team, Team France delighted the home crowd by securing the sought-after Team title, finishing with an unbeatable four-point total. Italy followed in second with strong, consistent performances and Great Britain claimed a well-deserved third overall.
The top five was completed by the USA and Latvia both of whom showed great depth and determination across all categories. Belgium, Spain, Germany, the Netherlands, and Australia respectively rounded out the top 10 in the Nations Classification.
Meanwhile, Team Ireland proudly took home the prestigious Ride Green Cup, awarded for their outstanding commitment to environmental sustainability throughout the event.
With passionate fans, fierce competition, and incredible memories made, Romagné delivered a world-class showcase of junior motocross talent.
2025 Junior World Championship Nations Top 10 Classifications:
1. France 4p.; 2. Italy 15p.; 3. Great Britain 22p.; 4. USA 34p.; 5. Latvia 46p.; 6. Belgium 49p.; 7. Spain 51p.; 8. Germany 56p.; 9. Netherlands 64p.; 10. Australia 12p (competed in only 2 categories).
Bild/Text: Infront