Lielbārži Brothers and Straubergs Triumph at Latvian Motocross Championship in Madona

The third round of the Latvian motocross championship season took place last weekend on the 'Smeceres sils' track in Madona, featuring several racing classes.

Sidecars

Brothers Daniels and Bruno Lielbārži dominated the sidecar competition, leading both races from start to finish without serious challenge. In the first race, second place went to Jānis and Pēteris Jegorovs after the Estonian crew of Roberts Lihtsa and Olivers Sebastians Lamps retired, ahead of Māris Rupeiks and Kaspars Liepiņš. In the second race, Estonians Markus Normak and Tomas Daniel Dukulis finished second, while Lithuanian Jonas Pirtinas with co-rider Lotārs Aleksējevs took third. In the overall BV Open standings, the Lielbārži brothers won, followed by Normak/Dukulis and Rupeiks/Liepiņš. In the amateur category, Māris Zubkovs and Artūrs Liepiņš took first place, while the veterans' class was won by Litauras Variakojis and Mārtiņš Antons.

Quads

In the quad races, Kārlis Neija suffered a technical failure in the first race and was forced to retire. Kārlis Straubergs took over the lead and, despite recent health issues, held first place to the finish, six seconds ahead of Reinis Bicāns, with Lithuanian Laurynas Mikalauskas finishing third. In the second race, Neija got his revenge, taking the lead early and holding off a close fight with Bicāns and Straubergs. Straubergs secured the overall Q Open class victory, finishing ahead of Bicāns and Mikalauskas.

Both winners shared their impressions afterward — Neija said a broken rear axle in the first race cost him a podium chance, while Straubergs noted he had returned from nearly three weeks without training before the event.

Other classes

In the youth Q Kids class, Estonian riders dominated, led by Krenn Astok, with Marko Ronis the best-placed Latvian. Solo class wins went to Ralfs Zemītis (Pitbike MX Open) and Jurijs Sigajevs (Pitbike MX Limited). In retro motorcycle racing, Jānis Anrijs Ģipslis won both his races, while other retro category winners included Jānis Mironovs, Valdis Dzērve, Agris Lungevics, Gundars Cīrulis, Marius Jaknūnas and Mantas Galvanauskas.