ANDREA BONACORSI BECOMES THE 2023 EMX250 CHAMPION.
Andrea Bonacorsi has made it to the top of the EMX250 before making the jump in the bigger classes. The Hutten Metaal Yamaha Official EMX250 rider now boasts two European Motocross Championship in EMX125 Presented by FMF Racing and EMX250.
At 20 years old, Andrea Bonacorsi already has a full trophy cabinet, and he will have to find some space with this new European Championship title, this time in the EMX250 class. A destiny all mapped out. That’s what you’d think when you look at his journey to date in the world of Motocross. His love for motorbike sports was born at a very early age, when the barely two-year-old was walking the paths of the Italian paddocks with his father, a national enduro rider. The passion was already there, and a year later the kid was given his first bike. Once he sat on it, he never got off again. At the age of 8, Bonacorsi took part in his first races in Italy. It was the start of a long road to develop his riding skills, and one day reach the European and World elite. He reached the top level at the age of 15, when he entered the EMX125 Championship with the team KTM Silver Action. A year to familiarize himself with the category, and in 2018 an important milestone was reached, with the teenager’s first podium in Lommel, the temple of motocross. That day, while he was third behind Swede Filip Olsson and his compatriot Mattia Guadagnini, Andrea realized that nothing could stop him from achieving his title dreams. But he will still have to wait.
While he joined the team Celestini KTM, the year 2019 had not been his best year, with a ninth-place finish in the EMX125 overall standings, but the feeling that he could become a Champion remained intact. And that obsession came to fruition a year later. Seven races won in 2020 and four overall wins later, the rider – at the time with Fantic Factory Team Maddii – was on the top step of the podium overall. The Hutten Metaal Yamaha Official EMX250 Team didn’t fail to notice the young phenomenon’s results and welcomed him for the 2021 season in the Netherlands, for his switch to the EMX250 class.
After an excellent rookie year in which he finished on the podium three times and obtained fourth overall, Bonacorsi has started his 2022 season…in MX2! Indeed, he was given the opportunity to replace Thibault Benistant at Matterley Basin, with the Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MX2 team. This first attempt did not end as he’d hoped, but other opportunities to shine at this level came later. A second European campaign which he was therefore able to alternate with a few races in the MX2 class resulted in a 6th place in the EMX250 overall standings. Almost anecdotal as the experience gained will be beneficial for the future.
Three years after his coronation in EMX125, Andrea Bonacorsi has conquered a new crown. And with manner. In the nine races of the 2023 EMX250 Championship, the Italian reached the podium each time, winning a total of four rounds.
During the first GP, in Sardinia, Bonacorsi went 1-1 to get a precious win to kick-start his season while Prugnieres clinched the second place on the podium and Karssemakers third overall. Then at Trentino, Valerio Lata clinched his first EMX250 win in front of the Red Plate holder who finished second (1-2), and Ferruccio Zanchi third for an 100% Italian podium. Agueda saw Bonacorsi getting his second overall win of the season, while Kay Karssemakers made a good operation with his solid racing getting second on the podium and second in the Championship Standings. Ferruccio Zanchi also rode very well in Portugal getting a well deserve back-to-back podium.
A week later in Madrid suburbs, Cas Valk won the overall while the NO.32 managed to get an important overall second place for the Championship and Kay Karssemakers made another podium in third. Coming to Eastern Europe then, at Kegums, the boy from Yamaha was surprised by finishing third behind Ivano Van Erp and the constant Kay Karssemakers. Bonacorsi tried to correct his “failure” in Germany. He finished second behind Marc-Antoine Rossi, but ahead of Kay Karssemakers. Still under threaten while he was still leader overall, the Italian got a new second place at Uddevalla, Sweden (2-2), beaten this this time by Cas Valk while the Third-Man Kay Karssemakers fought hard to get on the last step of the podium.
But it wouldn’t be long anymore before Andrea regained the taste of victory. And it was done in The Netherlands, with 2-2 results that allowed him to take first overall, in front of Cas Valk and Kay Karssemakers. And at Afyonkarahisar, despite a fourth place in Race 1, the kid from Bergamo surpassed himself to take the lead in the second heat and snatch a precious victory overall, the one that offered him the title, ahead of Valk second and Karssemakers third.
“It’s really cool for me. I worked so hard during the last two-three years to achieve this goal. If I put a goal to myself, I do everything that I can to realize it. And I did it so I’m really proud of myself because I did not give up and I’m really proud of all my guys, around me”, Bonacorsi rejoiced after winning the overall and the European title in Afyonkarahisar, Türkiye.
At the same time, he gave Yamaha its third EMX250 title in the last four years. Thibault Benistant in 2020, then Rick Elzinga in 2022, had previously allowed the Japanese brand to establish itself as the benchmark manufacturer in the category in recent years.
Text/Bild: Infront