WMX Round 4 at Arnhem, August 23 – 24 – preview. At the half-way stage of the Women’s Motocross World Championship, defending Champion – Lotte van Drunen leads the Series on 133 points ahead of Italian WMX Champion 6x – Kiara Fontanesi on 127 with fellow Dutch rider – Lynn Valk rounding out the top 3 on 118.
From the opening Round in Sardegna, to Round 2 in Spain, to Round 3 in Germany, WMX rider’s have produced fiercely competitive performances with Van Drunen taking Round 1 overall win and Fontanesi claiming back-to-back GP victories on the tracks in Lugo and Teutschenthal. While Valk has remained consistent with results of 3 – 4 – 4 overalls, the Van Venrooy KTM Racing rider will want to capitalize on racing her home GP to close the points gap to P2.
Most certainly, sand queen – Van Drunen – will take comfort that her ability to race with speed, flow, and precision on sand will be an advantage, along with the boost in physical stamina from racing MX2 at MXGP of Flanders, Lommel last weekend. While finishing P24 and P23 against an all male field remains a feat in itself, completing Qualifying Race, Race 1 and 2 of 38 minutes – compared to WMX motos of 25 mins – adds further boost of confidence heading into Round 4 at Arnhem in a couple of weeks time.
The fortitude of WMX Champion 6x – Kiara Fontanesi – continues to butt against odds of standing on the top step of the podium in her 15th season racing WMX. With a total of 55 race wins and 56 podiums out of 87 GP’s, the mother of two daughters has achieved another milestone in her career, winning Race 2 in Spain along with Race 1 in Germany, claiming Round 2 and 3 overalls. It is therefore a no brainer that Kiara will tap into her innate sense of determination to close the points gap to P1, which is after all only 6 points.
For RFME Spain National Team rider – Daniela Guillen – results have been mixed taking Race 1 win in Spain and currently standing P4 overall. Having come close to taking her first WMX Title in 2024 – finishing P2 overall – Guillen has the ability to climb up the rankings leaving behind costly mistakes from gate-drop to the chequered flag. Equally, the contest between French WMX Champion – Amandine Verstappen, Germany’s WMX Champion – Larissa Papenmeier, and Dutch rider – Shana van der Vlist will play out in Arnhem, with only 1 point separating the three on 85, 84, and 83 respectively.
Importantly, rider’s results at Arnhem will be as crucial as ever, not only to consolidate standings on the points table, but also to defer the inevitable pressure of racing which is building ahead of the final 2 Rounds in Turkey on September 7 and Darwin on September 21. For all WMX rider’s, make-or-break moments on the track have the potential to up-end all the hard work that has been done in between Rounds, or in contrast – elevate a rider’s position within a touch of Title contention.
Such was the case in 2020 when Dutch rider – Nancy van de Ven and NZ’s Courtney Duncan faced off at the final Round in Trentino with a mere 4 points separating the two. With Nancy on 166 points and Courtney on 162, the dominant win by Duncan in Race 1 followed by P3 in R2 edged out Van de Ven who went 4 – 1. Tied in points on 207, it was Duncan’s Round 6 victory, that sealed her WMX Championship victory.
Will history repeat itself in 2025 – let’s see.
Header photo WMX standings: Lotte van Drunen, Kiara Fontanesi, and Lynn Valk. Graphics: MXLink
Words: Sharon Cox.
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