Women Motocross World Championship Round 3 takes on dramatic turn of events with Germany’s Larissa Papenmeier claiming the Overall win ahead of Dutch rider Nancy Van de Ven and Italy’s 6x Champion Kiara Fontanesi rounding out top 3.
Turning up the heat early on in Qualifying, it really was test of spirit and die-hard determination to put in best lap time ahead of races 1 and 2 in the afternoon, with Van de Ven claiming pole over Courtney Duncan, Papenmeier and Fontanesi.
There were early indications in Timed Practice that racing was not going to be anything but routine- NO! these women have been waiting, training and wondering when peak-fitness needs to be achieved before lining up on start-gates over past 29 weeks.
And, there are plenty of contenders to battle the most seasoned and experienced racers with likes of Dane’s Sara Andersen and Line Dam putting pressure to close out riders behind. Certainly Andersen’s hole-shot in Race 1 proved that getting jump off the gate is ‘game on’.
In the mix around the hole-shot in Race 1 Lynn Valk had unfortunate tumble which caught Van de Ven in time, while Duncan squeezed her way through to take the lead from Andersen and nail most important win ahead of Papenmeier and Fontanesi in 3rd.
Race 2 was just 3 hour gap, not the norm for the Women, and proved far from predictable with Nancy Van de Ven taking the hole-shot and stretching out the lead in the early laps. Duncan was reeling #85, while Fontanesi had major work ahead of her, having stalled at hole-shot.
Then, Duncan crashed- big time on jump, and from such a height her DRT Kawasaki bike snapped left handle-bar which left CD unable to re-join race. With loss of points, the Championship leader now stands 4th with 4 races to go.
Larissa Papenmeier raced smart, knowing that finishing 2-2 was good enough to take the Overall win- and bonus the Team Yamaha Racing #423 rider gained the Red Plate as well.
Hard to figure if sure certainty fits into WMX 2020. Championship points are: Papenmeier 129, Van de Ven 119, Fontanesi 116 and Duncan 115. Most certainly Round 4 at same venue in 3 days time will open more eyes on what these amazing Women MX riders are capable of achieving at World Championship level.
WMX Highlights Race 1 and 2 MXGP of Lombardia.
Words: Sharon Cox.
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