This year’s Women’s Motocross Championship was one for the books. The championship title was to be decided at the series finale in which Kawasaki’s Kylie Fasnacht and Marissa Markelon had just two points separating them in the championship standings as they made their way to round eight at Ironman Raceway in Crawfordsville, Indiana.
In the end, it was Team Green Kawasaki’s Fasnacht dethroning defending champ Markelon, to claim the 2015 WMX Championship. However, it would be Kaitlyn Morrow claiming the Ironman victory with a 2-1 moto score. Morrow would finish the season fourth overall in the championship standings.
Neither contender would have exactly what you could call a standout day, but Fasnacht, who injured herself a week and a half before the Ironman race, finished just well enough to edge defending champ Markelon for the title, going 4-4 on the day, compared to a 5-3 for Markelon.
When the checkers came out it was Markelon who had more total points, but after the two throw out rounds were counted out of the final points, the WMX Championship went to Fasnacht.
“It definitely feels good to win the title and get that out of the way, it was pretty tight,” said Fasnacht. “I injured myself about a week and a half before I went into that last round, so I was kind of stressing about it, but I was able to salvage just enough points to get the title. In the first moto, I got an excellent jump off the line but when I went to shift up to third, I accidentally shifted down, so I was at the back of the pack when we got to the first turn. I had to work my way back through the pack and I was able to get back up to fourth.”
“In the second moto, I got a better start, and I just kind of locked myself into a position because I knew I had the championship at that point,” added Fasnacht.
Markelon came into the race hoping for a miracle and knowing she would have to win both motos and hope for some help from others to get between her and Fasnacht.
“I knew the only way I could get the championship with the throw away rounds was to go in there and go 1-1,” said Markelon. “Unfortunately, Kylie and I both had bad first motos, which didn’t help either one of us – she got fourth and I got fifth, and that made it even more nerve wracking. The second moto, I almost got the holeshot and I was in second most of the race and I made a mistake on the second to last lap and Mackenzie Tricker got by me. Then Kylie tried to make a pass on me with three laps to go and we got together and I bobbled and ended up getting third. But I gave it everything I had and I’ll come out swinging next year.”
Yamaha’s Mackenzie Tricker put in an impressive ride at Ironman earning second overall with a 3-2 moto score. Tricker made some late moto charges through the pack to secure her finishing position. Tricker also holds the third overall position in the 2015 points championship standings.
N-Fab AmPro Yamaha’s Jessica Patterson rode what was most likely her last professional WMX race at Ironman putting in a solid finish of fifth overall with a 6-5 moto score. Patterson will continue to race in the AMSOIL Grand National Cross Country Series presented by Maxxis, an AMA National Championship.
Italy’s Kiara Fontanesi, who was giving the US series a go, added a bit of international flare to the event, winning the first moto, but the Yamaha rider would suffer mechanical issues on the second moto sight lap. Her team would work furiously to try and revive the bike, but when the gate dropped Fontanesi was unable to rejoin the WMX pack. She would suffer a DNF in moto 2, but would earn a 10th overall with her win in moto 1.
