LOKET (Czech Republic) 26 July 2026 – The historic hills of Loket crowned three new European Champions this weekend, a beautiful warm sky and bright sunshine hanging over one of motocross’ most traditional venues as the finals reached their climax. As has been the tradition for many years now, the Czech circuit hosted the Finals of the EMX65 and EMX85 classes of the FIM Motocross European Championship, together with the unique round of the EMX2T class, all staged alongside the FIM Motocross World Championship at the MXGP of Czech Republic.

Patriks Cirulis completed a Latvian family affair in EMX85, winning race two to force a four-way tie on the overall and taking the title on tie-break ahead of Robin Mooses,and his own brother Martins Cirulis. Great Britain’s Jack Waters became the first British rider to win the EMX65 European Championship, backing up second in race one with a race two win to head Spain’s Gines Alacid on the overall. And home favourite Vaclav Kovar produced the ride of the weekend, passing Jekabs Kubulinson the final lap of race two to defend his EMX2T title and become back-to-back European Champion in front of his own fans.

The 2026 EMX85 Final burst into life with Cohen Jagielski quickly at the front, only to be shuffled backwards almost immediately, first by P.Cirulis into the second corner, then by Theo Kolts, who took over at the head of the field on the opening lap. Arthur Annelot ran third at the end of lap one, with Jagielski fourth and Harry Dale, who had swung around the outside at the start rather than risk being boxed in, fifth.

Kolts and P.Cirulis then went to war over the lead. The Latvian came back at him more than once and Kolts was almost off the back of the machine at one point, but the Estonian fought his way back through at the bottom of the hill each time. The scrap ended badly for Cirulis, who fell from second on lap three and dropped all the way to eighth, handing places to Annelot, Dale and others.

That left Dale with a clear run at it. Up to third by lap three, he built momentum, picked off Annelot and then reeled in Kolts before cutting back neatly to take the lead on lap seven of twelve. He was never troubled again, setting the fastest lap of the race, a 2:00.289 on his way to a 3.2-second win.

Behind him Martins Cirulis moved past Kolts into second by lap ten, while Mooses came from fifth to snatch the final podium place to his countryman by just eighteen thousandths of a second from Kolts on the line. Annelot completed the top five and Patriks Cirulis recovered to sixth, with Jagielski seventh.

The second EMX85 moto shaped the destination of the title. Jagielski couldn’t repeat his front-row start, and it was Annelot who led the field away on the 333, ahead of Liam Morette and P.Cirulis, who had made a strong start out wide, with Mooses also in the mix around fifth. Dale, needing a big result to keep his title hopes alive, was squeezed and boxed through the first turn and emerged from the opening exchanges buried in twentieth, with Tim Lopes also mired mid-pack.

Mooses wasted no time working into third at the top of the hill with a pass on Morette, Kolts right behind him, while Dale carved his way forward past Kolts and others in search of at least a podium finish. The closing laps turned into a straight fight for the win: Mooses had a look at for third but couldn’t make it stick, and that opening was enough for P.Cirulis, who swept around the outside of Annelot at the start of the final lap to snatch the lead, and with it, the race and the European Championship. Annelot crossed the line right behind in second, with Mooses third, M.Cirulis fourth and Lopes fifth.

The overall came down to four riders locked together on 40 points apiece. On tie-break, Patriks Cirulis’s 6-1 scorecard came out ahead of Robin Robert Mooses (3-3), Martins Cirulis (2-4) and Harry Dale (1-6), crowning the Latvian just the second Latvian rider to win the EMX85 European Championship. It was a family affair on the podium too, with Martins Cirulis taking third overall behind his brother and Mooses splitting the two Latvians in second. P.Cirulis collects the gold medal, Mooses the silver and Martins Cirulis the bronze.

Patriks Cirulis: « On the last lap I knew I had to go for it, and I finally made it, I’m European Champion. I’m really happy. »

EMX85 – Race 1 – Top 10 Classification: 1. Harry Dale (GBR, KTM), 25:03.812; 2. Martins Cirulis (LAT, Husqvarna), +0:03.240; 3. Robin Robert Mooses (EST, Husqvarna), +0:09.768; 4. Theo Kolts (EST, GASGAS), +0:09.786; 5. Arthur Annelot (FRA, GASGAS), +0:19.601; 6. Patriks Cirulis (LAT, Husqvarna), +0:23.898; 7. Cohen Jagielski (GBR, KTM), +0:30.223; 8. Kenzo Jaspers (NED, Husqvarna), +0:31.156; 9. Mathys Agullo (FRA, KTM), +0:32.402; 10. Jaggar Townley (NZL, Yamaha), +0:33.330

EMX85 – Race 2 – Top 10 Classification: 1. Patriks Cirulis (LAT, Husqvarna), 24:56.124; 2. Arthur Annelot (FRA, GASGAS), +0:01.810; 3. Robin Robert Mooses (EST, Husqvarna), +0:02.420; 4. Martins Cirulis (LAT, Husqvarna), +0:09.725; 5. Tim Lopes (FRA, Husqvarna), +0:30.199; 6. Harry Dale (GBR, KTM), +0:37.283; 7. Theo Kolts (EST, GASGAS), +0:39.032; 8. Jaggar Townley (NZL, Yamaha), +0:39.860; 9. Dominick Maifredi (ITA, KTM), +0:47.982; 10. Anthony Montoneri (ITA, KTM), +0:48.663

EMX85 Overall / Championship – Top 10 Classification: 1. Patriks Cirulis (LAT, Husqvarna), 40 points; 2. Robin Robert Mooses (EST, Husqvarna), 40; 3. Martins Cirulis (LAT, Husqvarna), 40; 4. Harry Dale (GBR, KTM), 40; 5. Arthur Annelot (FRA, GASGAS), 38; 6. Theo Kolts (EST, GASGAS), 32; 7. Tim Lopes (FRA, Husqvarna), 26; 8. Jaggar Townley (NZL, Yamaha), 24; 9. Kenzo Jaspers (NED, Husqvarna), 22; 10. Cohen Jagielski (GBR, KTM), 17

EMX85 – Manufacturers Classification: 1. Husqvarna, 47 points; 2. KTM, 40 p.; 3. GASGAS, 40 p.; 4. Yamaha, 24 p.

The EMX65 Final opened with Bruno Geitus making the best of it, the Latvian leading the first two laps from Daniel Corda. Lucas Bos, who had started around sixth, came up the inside of Jack Waters and then past Gines Alacid to sit third by the end of lap one, with Alacid fourth and Waters fifth.

Bos closed onto the back of Corda but could not find a way through, and then the race turned on lap three: Geitus went down from the lead and rejoined in eighth, eventually coming home tenth. Corda took over at the front with Bos right behind him, the pair trading positions and running into one another as they fought over it.

On lap five Corda went down as he tried to square off a corner, and in one move he lost first, second and third. Bos took over the lead, Waters moved up to second and Alacid to third, while the Italian picked himself up to finish fourth.

Bos ran into the bank in the closing stages and gave Waters a little ground back, but in the end it was to no avail. The Frenchman held on to win by 2.3 seconds, having also set the fastest lap of the race with a 2:11.711. Waters took second and Alacid third, with Filip Juszczyk and Alonso Tribaldos completing the top five just 0.171 seconds apart.

Geitus grabbed the holeshot for the second time in the day, but Waters swept underneath him before the opening lap was even complete and set out on his own at the front. Adan Quesada moved up to run third at the top of the hill and set off after Alacid, who briefly held the position, while Georgi Iliev and Juszczyk battled through the pack behind them. Corda, fourth in race one, crashed heavily early on, after the first corner in the waves and would not make it to the finish.

Waters was never seriously challenged again, controlling the race from the front to seal the second moto by 5.4 seconds over Geitus. The battle for third raged on behind them: Quesada finally got the move done on Alacid at the top of the hill on lap seven and held it to the flag, with Juszczyk, Isidorsson and Iliev completing the top six. Bos, the race one winner, was handed a ten-place penalty for failing to respect a waved medical flag and was classified twentieth.

Jack Waters’s race-two win completed the job! The young Brit becomes the first-ever British rider to win the EMX65 European Championship, finishing on 47 points overall. Gines Alacid took second overall for Spain on 38, with Bruno Geitus third for Latvia on 33. Waters collects the gold medal, Alacid the silver and Geitus the bronze.

Jack Waters: “I got a good start, took the lead, and then just tried to manage the gap and bring it home for the win. I’m super happy to be European Champion »

EMX65 – Race 1 – Top 10 Classification: 1. Lucas Bos (FRA, KTM), 18:25.540; 2. Jack Waters (GBR, KTM), +0:02.311; 3. Gines Alacid (ESP, KTM), +0:07.177; 4. Daniel Corda (ITA, KTM), +0:08.232; 5. Filip Juszczyk (POL, KTM), +0:10.118; 6. Alonso Tribaldos (ESP, GASGAS), +0:10.289; 7. Elis Isidorsson (SWE, Husqvarna), +0:16.243; 8. Bas Verspaandonk (NED, GASGAS), +0:19.726; 9. Georgi Iliev (BUL, GASGAS), +0:25.711; 10. Bruno Geitus (LAT, GASGAS), +0:28.905

EMX65 – Race 2 – Top 10 Classification: 1. Jack Waters (GBR, KTM), 18:27.598; 2. Bruno Geitus (LAT, GASGAS), +0:05.429; 3. Adan Quesada (ESP, GASGAS), +0:06.108; 4. Gines Alacid (ESP, KTM), +0:09.401; 5. Filip Juszczyk (POL, KTM), +0:10.830; 6. Elis Isidorsson (SWE, Husqvarna), +0:11.509; 7. Georgi Iliev (BUL, GASGAS), +0:11.634; 8. Bas Verspaandonk (NED, GASGAS), +0:12.751; 9. Jacopo Pioggia (ITA, KTM), +0:13.438; 10. Martin-Markus Ansi (EST, GASGAS), +0:17.518

EMX65 Overall / Championship – Top 10 Classification: 1. Jack Waters (GBR, KTM), 47 points; 2. Gines Alacid (ESP, KTM), 38; 3. Bruno Geitus (LAT, GASGAS), 33; 4. Filip Juszczyk (POL, KTM), 32; 5. Elis Isidorsson (SWE, Husqvarna), 29; 6. Georgi Iliev (BUL, GASGAS), 26; 7. Bas Verspaandonk (NED, GASGAS), 26; 8. Lucas Bos (FRA, Husqvarna), 26; 9. Alonso Tribaldos (ESP, GASGAS), 24; 10. Adan Quesada (ESP, GASGAS), 21

EMX65 – Manufacturers Classification:  1. KTM, 50 points; 2. GASGAS, 37 p.; 3. Husqvarna, 29 p.; 4. Yamaha, 10 p.

The one-off EMX2T round burst into life with Jekabs Kubulins leading the field away on the JK Racing Yamaha, but there were one or two incidents through the first turn and on the climb through the middle of the circuit, and by the end of the opening lap the home rider was in front. Vaclav Kovar, the winner here last year and reigning EMX2T European Champion, led lap one and then every lap after it, all fifteen of them. Brando Rispoli held third.

Kubulins never let him settle though. The Latvian was closing towards the end of the race with the gap down to around a second at the checkered flag. Kovar set the fastest lap of the race, a 1:51.792, and the top five ran unchanged from the first lap to the last: Kovar, Kubulins, Rispoli, Tommaso Isdraele Romano and Marvin Salzer.

The drama was further back. Bryan Boulard was the first big talking point, tumbling from ninth to nineteenth after getting caught up in an incident before fighting his way back to thirteenth. Alberts Knapsis and Matteo Borghi went at it over the lower reaches of the top twenty, and there were two late changes on the final lap: Pavel Dvoracek took eleventh from Zoltan Ordog, and Boris Blanken slipped past Knapsis for fifteenth. Mirko Valsecchi, third overall here last year, finished fourteenth. Jaap Janssen was excluded from the results for having a spare bike in the pit lane.

For Race 2, a slicker, faster track than Saturday threw up different passing opportunities from the start. Rispoli got the better exit this time and led the opening exchanges before Kubulins came through to take over. Kovar, chasing a second gold medal of the weekend, had only an average start and was buried around ninth, but wasted no time getting to work: he passed Boulard and then capitalised on a mistake from Michael Sandner to move into seventh by the end of lap two.

Kubulins looked comfortable out front, stretching his lead over Rispoli to 6.5 seconds by lap seven, but Kovar kept coming. He picked off Salzer on lap five, closed down Bruno Miro and made a great pass on him at the top of the hill, right in front of the pit lane, on lap seven to move into third. Isdraele Romano, fourth in race one, also got past Miro before crashing out of the race. Kovar wasted no time dispatching Rispoli for second, and with six laps to go he trailed Kubulins by 6.8 seconds, the showdown the home crowd had been waiting for.

It produced one of the tightest EMX2T finishes in years. Kovar hunted down Kubulins on the final lap, the Latvian trying to cover every line to defend, but under the roar of the home fans Kovar made the pass stick to take the win, his only lap led all race at the end of a charge from mid-pack. Kubulins took the silver, Rispoli held on for third, with Sandner and Francesco Bassi completing the top five.

With EMX2T run as a single round, the race-two result settled the championship too. Vaclav Kovar defends his title on home soil to become back-to-back European Champion, finishing on 50 points overall. Jekabs Kubulins takes the silver for Latvia on 44, with Brando Rispoli claiming the bronze for Italy on 40, a 1-1, 2-2, 3-3 sweep for the top three across both races.

Vaclav Kovar:« This race was completely different to yesterday. Yesterday I got a good jump and was in the lead by the second corner, then had to manage it with arm pump. Today I had a really bad start off the gate, so in the first corner I just focused on not making a mistake and staying on two wheels. After that I went hunting, passing riders one by one. In the end I saw Kubulins up ahead and told myself, I have to go for it, I’m at home, and I gave it everything. »

EMX2T – Race 1 – Top 10 Classification: 1. Vaclav Kovar (CZE, KTM), 28:55.080; 2. Jekabs Kubulins (LAT, Yamaha), +0:01.002; 3. Brando Rispoli (ITA, Beta), +0:24.005; 4. Tommaso Isdraele Romano (ITA, Beta), +0:31.902; 5. Marvin Salzer (AUT, KTM), +0:53.586; 6. Bruno Miro (ESP, GASGAS), +0:54.354; 7. Karlis Kalejs (LAT, Husqvarna), +1:00.933; 8. Freek Van Der Vlist (NED, KTM), +1:08.043; 9. Rene De Jong (NED, KTM), +1:10.606; 10. Giovanni Meneghello (ITA, KTM), +1:18.761

EMX2T – Race 2 – Top 10 Classification: 1. Vaclav Kovar (CZE, KTM), 29:12.187; 2. Jekabs Kubulins (LAT, Yamaha), +0:09.104; 3. Brando Rispoli (ITA, Beta), +0:17.069; 4. Michael Sandner (AUT, Husqvarna), +0:29.478; 5. Francesco Bassi (ITA, Beta), +0:39.466; 6. Marvin Salzer (AUT, KTM), +0:41.700; 7. Bryan Boulard (BEL, Triumph), +0:49.667; 8. Mirko Valsecchi (ITA, GASGAS), +0:53.106; 9. Karlis Kalejs (LAT, Husqvarna), +0:53.740; 10. Rene De Jong (NED, KTM), +1:13.604

EMX2T Overall / Championship – Top 10 Classification: 1. Vaclav Kovar (CZE, KTM), 50 points; 2. Jekabs Kubulins (LAT, Yamaha), 44; 3. Brando Rispoli (ITA, Beta), 40; 4. Marvin Salzer (AUT, KTM), 31; 5. Karlis Kalejs (LAT, Husqvarna), 26; 6. Rene De Jong (NED, KTM), 23; 7. Bryan Boulard (BEL, Triumph), 22; 8. Mirko Valsecchi (ITA, GASGAS), 20; 9. Pavel Dvoracek (CZE, KTM), 20; 10. Michael Sandner (AUT, Husqvarna), 18

EMX2T – Manufacturers Classification: 1. KTM, 50 points; 2. Yamaha, 44 p.; 3. Beta, 40 p.; 4. Husqvarna, 32 p.; 5. GASGAS, 28 p.; 6. Triumph, 22 p.;

MXGP OF CZECH REPUBLIC QUICK FACTS:

Circuit length: 1527m

Type of ground: Hard pack

Temperature: 26˚

Weather conditions: Sunny

Crowd Attendance: 39,500