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MICHELE CERVELLIN
Michele Cervellin was able to draw from confidence inducing season in the MX2 World Championship in order to put to- gether some impressive rides at the 2018 Motocross des Nations. The Yamaha rider earned a new contract with the SM-Action Yamaha team after earning a 7th place result in the overall championship stand- ings, despite missing a total of three rounds throughout the season due to injury. The Italian was quite the surprise in the MX2 division throughout the weekend of racing at RedBud Track and Trail, finishing 5th overall in the class with combined moto scores of 10-14. The Italian showed im- pressive speed as well as terrific technique and ability in the sloppy, sandy conditions in order to assist the Italians in a surprise podium finish. On Saturday, he did his job accordingly by finishing 4th in the MX2 Qualifying Heat, affording the Italian team the first gate pick heading into Sunday’s all-important motos. Cervellin’s best result on Sunday came in an unlikely scenario as he actually performed better in the deep talent pool of the MXGP class, earning a top ten finish against the world’s best rac- ers. The Yamaha rider battled as hard as possible from the gate drop to the check- ered flag, starting the race in 8th position and eventually finishing in 10th position. Although he dropped a couple of positions, he did exactly what needed to be done
and limited the amount of 250cc machines ahead of him on the field, as well as limiting the amount of 450cc machines that he let past him throughout the course of the race. It’s expected and accepted that one of the MX2 results will be dropped at the end of the three motos and that’s exactly what happened, but it’s worth noting that if all
six scores counted, the Italians would have been crowned champions for the third time in the history of Motocross des Nations.
34 THE PULSE • ISSUE SIX