OVERLOOKED: Joel Rizzi – Trentino

MXGP of Trentino always provides for some great racing at the front of the field for TV. Because of this, what you don’t see are some impressive rides from guys that aren’t always at the lead group. This year, we saw some impressive come from behind rides from the likes of Jeffrey Herlings. A first turn crash in race one and working his way up to 8th was fun to watch. A super impressive weekend for Emil Weckman until he sucked himself into his rear wheel going up to the big triple (I am sure you have seen the photos by now!). But the standout ride of the weekend you probably won’t hear too much about goes out to…JM Honda Racing’s Joel Rizzi. The young British rider had a great showing with a 19th and a 14th on the day. Sure, maybe these results do not scream out to be the most spectacular on paper, there is a lot more to the story than just scoring 9 World Championship points.

Rizzi for the past couple years was riding for the Riley Yamaha team. Just days before round 4 of the MXGP World Championship, Joel threw a major curveball into his program. The young lad switched to an entirely new program and went from the backwards facing motor Yamaha over to the JM Honda Racing team. Rizzi joined the team on such short notice, that during the practice sessions on Saturday, he didn’t even have numbers on his bike! According to @joelrizzi on Instagram, he had tested the bike on Wednesday before the GP and liked the bike enough to sign onto the team to fill in for the injured Camden McLellan. While there is still no word as to what happened to Rizzi and the Riley team, it was great to see the kid find a place in the paddock to call home and keep him on the grid for the time being.

So as I stated going 19-14 isn’t the most impressive result, its the way Rizzi got there that earned him the CULT MOTO most impressive ride of the weekend. A great showing for the second ride on a completely different bike than hes been used to. Coming off this performance, I think you can expect to see Joel gaining more momentum and pushing his way towards the top 10 as he gets more comfortable with the Honda. Keep an eye on the 912 as the season progresses throughout the year.

Joel Rizzi on his weekend: “First ride on the JM Honda was a good one, as well as my first time on hard pack in a long time. I felt really comfortable on the bike straight away, the bike is amazing. Every session I went out felt better on the bike. I got 15th overall  with a 19-14. My speed was better every session. I’m just going to keep improving like this and go for more at the next one in Portugal.”

And as always, keep an eye on CULTMOTO.com for all your motocross needs and @cultmoto on the gram for all the best video and photo content you will see this week! Also, if you want to chat some moto, you can always email me robby.renner@cult-moto.com !