Americans Tristan Charboneau and Marshal Weltin made their EMX250 debuts last weekend at the first round of the series at the MXGP of Trentino. This off-season both riders signed with Bud Racing Kawasaki to contest the entire EMX250 series in Europe in 2017.
Charboneau, who rode for GEICO Honda in Lucas Oil Pro Motocross in 2016, and raced the 250SX West Region earlier this year with Bud Racing (he failed to make a main event), finished ninth in the opening moto of the season on Saturday. On Sunday, the Washington native experienced a bike issue with a lap to go and finished 36th. He finished 15th overall on the day.
“Qualifying was not so bad with the 14th gate pick, and in the first moto I got a decent start. The track was mainly one line on Saturday and it was difficult to pass, I came back to ninth and was not super pumped with this place,” he said in a team statement. “Sunday the feeling was much better on the track and I came back to fifth when the clutch failed in the last lap.”
Weltin, the Michigan native who received help from Justin Barcia to make his pro debut in 2015, had to go through the LCQ to make the motos. According to a Bud Racing team release, Weltin was disqualified from the first moto after he went off the track and didn’t reenter in the same spot. In the second moto, he finished 11th and 18th overall on the day.
“Qualifying was tight, everyone was so close with time but unfortunately I had a couple of bad lines and that cost me some seconds, it was a problem this weekend,” he said in a team statement. “I had a tough last chance qualifying race but qualified in the last lap to get the last gate pick. It was embarrassing for me as I had such high expectation coming to this race. Next week we’ll race in the sand, I come from Michigan and I’m used to riding in sand, but it will be more technical as always. But I’m excited to go there.”
Round 2 of the championship takes place at Valkenswaard this weekend.
