O’Hare and Sileika look back on Mantova racing
Top-10 in WMX standings for O’Hare, rollercoaster week for Thomas Sileika in EMX250
An hectic triple-header week came to an end yesterday in Mantova where KTM Diga Junior Racing competed in three classes with Thomas Sileika (EMX250), Daniel Volovich (EMX125) and TJ O’Hare (WMX). The Australian KTM Diga Junior Racing rider was the standout performer, she heads to the final race in Trentino sitting 10th in the series.
The returning Thomas Sileika had the busiest schedule of all three riders as he rode in all three events. After coming close to the top-10 on previous occasions the likeable Latvian was keen to make his marks in Mantova. The first race day saw Thomas claiming two 16th places after qualifying 7th in his group. Although Sileika continued to show good speed on Tuesday’s mid-week race he couldn’t put it quite together. He left the second round with 15-18 scores.
While Thomas delivered his best result of his week in Lombardia yesterday – 11th in moto one- two crashes in the final stint left him feeling wanting for more. After seven rounds in the EMX250 series Sileika is now 17th but he’s only 17 points down on the 12th place rider Gianluca Faccheti.
Even when she wasn’t particularly spoilt with great starts TJ O’Hare proved quite effective in both WMX rounds at the Tazio Nuvolari Motoclub track. A big get-off in her very first Mantova moto threw a spanner in the works and hurting her collarbone and hip in the process. However TJ managed to come home 16th and toughed it out for a solid 8th in the final moto.
Another 10th on Tuesday in the first race of the day was testimony to O’Hare’s consistency. With an excellent 6th place into the second corner TJ was well placed to equal or better her career best 8th place but nerves got the better of her. Eventually the determined KTM Diga Junior Racing rider came home 11th. Even when the potential to do better was there O’Hare will be super motivated to finish her season on a high when she enters the championship final in a month’s time.
EMX125 rider Daniel Volovich has been chipping away in practice and leading up to Mantova. Fresh from a 5th overall at the ONK race in Oss Daniel was keen to test his progress in Italy. Unfortunately the young Belarussian felt under the weather yesterday and didn’t line up for the second moto.
TJ O’Hare: “The races in Mantova were not so bad actually, especially considering that I had a couple of issues to deal with. I didn’t have the best feeling on the bike but I really enjoyed the track. It was quite hard to pass so in both first motos. I didn’t pass fast enough and kind of lost the rhythm but second motos where both quite good. The second race on Tuesday was a but of an eye-opener. I started great but but didn’t breath and just tensed up and dropped back to 11th. If I start good I should stay up there but plenty to take away and work on. Anyway we are leaving healthy and one more round to give everything so things are looking good for a top 10 finish.”
Thomas Sileika: “Should have, could have, would have doesn’t get you anywhere but it was definitely a bit frustrating this week. In general my riding was quite on point but it’s been disappointing that I couldn’t get two solid moto’s in. It’s fair to say that results could have been much, much better! On Tuesday I wanted to make a pass for ninth but went down with 3 laps to go… In that second moto I came back from 39th to 18th after a first lap crash. Yesterday I was in eighth for most of the moto, couldn’t make the pass for seventh and went down in the waves. (smiles) We won’t get into the final moto! But seriously I’m looking forward to the next races to show what I can do there.”
EMX250 standings after 7 rounds
1. Thibault Benistant (FRA, YAM), 286 points; 2. Mattia Guadagnini (ITA, HUS), 258 p.; 3. Kay de Wolf (NED, HUS), 198 p.; 4. Hakon Fredriksen (NOR, YAM), 188 p.; 5. Jorgen-Matthias Talviku (EST, HUS), 180 p.; 6. Tim Edberg (SWE, YAM), 174 p.; 7. Lorenzo Locurcio (VEN, KAW), 141 p.; 8. Tom Guyon (FRA, KTM), 137 p.; 9. Meico Vettik (EST, KTM), 137 p.; 10. Isak Gifting (SWE, KTM), 128 p.; 11. Bastian Boegh Damm (DEN, KTM), 110 p.; 12. Gianluca Facchetti (ITA, YAM), 98 p.; 13. Marcel Conijn (NED, KTM), 94 p.; 14. Lion Florian (GER, KTM), 93 p.; 15. Liam Everts (BEL, KTM), 87 p.; 16. Maximilian Spies (GER, HUS), 84 p.; 17. Thomas Sileika (LAT, KTM Diga Junior Racing), 81 p.; 18. Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, HUS), 72 p.; 19. Glen Meier (DEN, YAM), 54 p.; 20. Oriol Oliver (ESP, KTM), 49 p.; 21. Pierre Goupillon (FRA, KAW), 46 p.; 22. Joel Rizzi (GBR, HUS), 37 p.; 23. Andrea Adamo (ITA, YAM), 33 p.; 24. Mike Gwerder (SUI, KTM), 33 p.; 25. Karel Kutsar (EST, KTM), 28 p.; 26. Paolo Lugana (ITA, KTM), 25 p.; 27. Lorenzo Corti (ITA, KTM), 24 p.; 28. Albin Gerhardsson (SWE, HUS), 22 p.; 29. Emilio Scuteri (ITA, KTM), 17 p.; 30. Filip Olsson (SWE, HUS), 16 p.; 31. Gianmarco Cenerelli (ITA, HUS), 16 p.; 32. Emil Weckman (FIN, HON), 14 p.; 33. Raf Meuwissen (NED, HUS), 13 p.; 34. Twan Van Essen (NED, KTM), 11 p.; 35. Adam Zsolt Kovacs (HUN, HUS), 10 p.; 36. Federico Tuani (ITA, HUS), 9 p.; 37. Matias Vesterinen (FIN, KTM), 8 p.; 38. Rick Elzinga (NED, KTM), 7 p.; 39. Sander Agard-Michelsen (NOR, YAM), 7 p.; 40. Magnus Smith (DEN, YAM), 7 p.; 41. Raffaele Giuzio (ITA, YAM), 7 p.; 42. Timur Petrashin (RUS, KTM), 6 p.; 43. Mairis Pumpurs (LAT, YAM), 6 p.; 44. Mario Lucas (ESP, KTM), 6 p.; 45. Marcel Stauffer (AUT, KTM), 5 p.; 46. Matteo Del Coco (ITA, KTM), 5 p.; 47. Matteo Puccinelli (ITA, YAM), 5 p.; 48. Kimi Koskinen (FIN, KTM), 5 p.; 49. Giuseppe Tropepe (ITA, YAM), 4 p.; 50. Axel Louis (FRA, HON), 3 p.; 51. Martin Michelis (EST, KTM), 3 p.; 52. Manuel Iacopi (ITA, YAM), 2 p.; 53. Yago Martinez (ESP, YAM), 2 p.; 54. Marnique Appelt (GER, KTM), 1 p.; 55. Yuri Quarti (ITA, HUS), 1 p.; 56. Kjeld Stuurman (NED, KTM), 1 p.
WMX standings after 4 rounds
1. Nancy Van De Ven (NED, YAM), 166 points; 2. Courtney Duncan (NZL, KAW), 162 p.; 3. Larissa Papenmeier (GER, YAM), 160 p.; 4. Kiara Fontanesi (ITA, KTM), 156 p.; 5. Lynn Valk (NED, YAM), 128 p.; 6. Line Dam (DEN, YAM), 114 p.; 7. Shana van der Vlist (NED, KTM), 102 p.; 8. Sara Andersen (DEN, KTM), 93 p.; 9. Anne Borchers (GER, SUZ), 77 p.; 10. Tahlia Jade O'Hare (AUS, KTM Diga Junior Racing), 75 p.; 11. Jamie Astudillo (USA, KTM), 51 p.; 12. Amandine Verstappen (BEL, KAW), 46 p.; 13. Mathilde Martinez (FRA, KTM), 39 p.; 14. Britt Jans-Beken (NED, KTM), 35 p.; 15. Malou Jakobsen (DEN, KTM), 35 p.; 16. Emelie Dahl (SWE, YAM), 32 p.; 17. Britt Van Der Werff (NED, SUZ), 31 p.; 18. Francesca Nocera (ITA, YAM), 26 p.; 19. Avrie Berry (USA, KTM), 24 p.; 20. Elisa Galvagno (ITA, YAM), 23 p.; 21. Jordan Jarvis (USA, KAW), 22 p.; 22. Gabriela Seisdedos (ESP, KAW), 19 p.; 23. Elena Kapsamer (AUT, KTM), 16 p.; 24. Fiona Hoppe (GER, HUS), 16 p.; 25. Virginie Germond (SUI, KTM), 13 p.; 26. Stephanie Stoutjesdijk (NED, HUS), 13 p.; 27. Justine Charroux (FRA, YAM), 12 p.; 28. Janina Lehmann (GER, YAM), 12 p.; 29. Kim Irmgartz (GER, HON), 12 p.; 30. Sandra Keller (SUI, KTM), 11 p.; 31. Alicia Reitze (GER, YAM), 11 p.; 32. Amber Simons (NED, KTM), 10 p.; 33. Kimberley Braam (NED, KAW), 5 p.; 34. Demi Verploegh (NED, YAM), 5 p.; 35. Madelen Hofseth Pedersen (NOR, YAM), 4 p.; 36. Mathilde Denis (FRA, YAM), 3 p.; 37. Brenda Wagemans (BEL, YAM), 3 p.; 38. Nieve Holmes (GBR, HUS), 2 p.; 39. Ida Djärf Björklund (SWE, YAM), 2 p.; 40. Laura Raunkjaer (DEN, HUS), 1 p.; 41. Kathryn Booth (GBR, KTM), 1 p.;
Credit for all photos: "Eric Laurijssen"
