The WMX fifth Round in Italy for the FIM Women’s Motocross World Championship at historic Maggiora delivered another intense and competitive racing mixed with tough conditions for all the WMX riders.
Words and Images by Infront Moto Racing
Despite all of these factors Schmicker Racing’s Lynn Valk rose to the occasion to win the one race round and her first overall of the season at the same time.
With the first race stopped by red flags before the half of the race was past and therefore cancelled; all hope for the riders to get on the podium fell on the second race on Sunday in a one race intense round.
It all began with a tremendous start for Larissa Papenmeier from SYE Racing Team 423 who remained on a high after winning her home round in Germany. The German led the race in front of Lynn Valk, RFME Spain National Team’s Daniela Guillen and MXFONTA RACING’s Kiara Fontanesi . The defending World Champion F&H Racing Team’s Courtney Duncan fell in the first corner and had a mountain to climb but was incredibly back up to 5th already on the opening lap with the red plate De Baets Yamaha MX-Team’s Lotte Van Drunen coming not far behind in 7th after a poor start.
Ceres 71 Racing’s Danee Gelissen took her chance early on as she got a good start to get to 5th and ride a large part of the race on her own but Duncan was closing the gap.
Still in the opening lap, Papenmeier lost traction before the finish line jump and Valk leapt past into the lead! On lap 3, Fontanesi, with the crowd right behind her, stormed through on the top corner before the elevator shaft to take the 2nd spot off Papenmeier. The Italian looked comfortable and only 3 seconds behind the leader.
Papenmeier then crashed on the big uphill after the start and gifted her 3rd place to Guillen with the bike completely stuck to the muddy track and struggle to get back to it. The German picked up finally her bike up in 5th place just in front of Van Drunen. Meanwhile, Duncan crashed out again of 7th and got back to it in 16th place which was a hard one for the defending championship. The Kiwi still managed to get back up to 11th in the end.
Meanwhile, with roll-off film trailing behind her, Fontanesi closed in on Valk, desperate for a win in front of her home fans. Just like in 2015! However, it was then Kiara who fell around the back of the circuit. Losing ground but keeping 2nd place. That also reduced the gap to 8 second with 3rd place Guillen.
In the end, the race was stopped by red flag after 22 minutes 20 seconds. This meant that Valk clinched her first overall win of the season thank to her solid race.
Fontanesi got a well-deserved 2nd overall place to get acclaimed by the home fans on the podium!
Guillen showed once again why she is right in the mix for the Championship with another podium. She also closes the gap with Van Drunen in the series to 3 points following the Dutch 6th place-finish.
Gelissen stayed strong the full race after a great start to finish to a great 4th place and in front of the red plate Van Drunen.
Britain’s Lucy Barker was running around 10th in the moto but she ran off the track and got stuck in a rain rut which caused her to have a DNF.
Lynn Valk: “It was definitely a good weekend for me. Today I took a good start. It was difficult to pass but Kiara (Fontanesi) was riding very well and pushed me from the back as well as Larissa (Papenmeier). There was a good clean line and the uphill was tough so I’m so happy to have won. My brother won last week*and now it’s me so I’m super happy and want to thank my team Schmicker Racing, my family as they do everything for me and my sponsors”
*Cas Valk won the overall EMX250 round in Latvia.
WMX – Race 1 – Classification: –
WMX – Race 2 – Classification:
WMX – Overall Classification: 1. Lynn Valk (NED, KTM), 25 points; 2. Kiara Fontanesi (ITA, GAS), 22 p.; 3. Daniela Guillen (ESP, GAS), 20 p.; 4. Danee Gelissen (NED, YAM), 18 p.; 5. Larissa Papenmeier (GER, HON), 16 p.; 6. Lotte Van Drunen (NED, YAM), 15 p.; 7. Giorgia Montini (ITA, HON), 14 p.; 8. Amandine Verstappen (BEL, YAM), 13 p.; 9. Alexandra Massury (GER, KTM), 12 p.; 10. Elena Kapsamer (AUT, GAS), 11 p
WMX – Championship Classification: 1. Lotte Van Drunen (NED, YAM), 198 points; 2. Daniela Guillen (ESP, GAS), 195 p.; 3. Lynn Valk (NED, KTM), 166 p.; 4. Kiara Fontanesi (ITA, GAS), 163 p.; 5. Larissa Papenmeier (GER, HON), 138 p.; 6. Sara Andersen (DEN, KTM), 128 p.; 7. Courtney Duncan (NZL, KAW), 108 p.; 8. Malou Jakobsen (DEN, KTM), 96 p.; 9. Danee Gelissen (NED, YAM), 93 p.; 10. Shana van der Vlist (NED, YAM), 89 p
WMX – Manufacturers Classification: 1. Yamaha, 201 points; 2. GASGAS, 199 p.; 3. KTM, 170 p.; 4. Honda, 138 p.; 5. Kawasaki, 120 p.; 6. Husqvarna, 47 p.;
