The 2015 FIM Women’s Motocross World Championship has never been as intense as it is this year.
At the start of the season, the 2014 WMX vice world champion Bud Racing Kawasaki Monster Energy’s Meghan Rutledge shattered her thumb while training back in Australia, while at the last round in Matterley Basin the defending champion Yamaha MXFontaracing’s Kiara Fontanesi was lucky to walk away unscathed from a massive crash in race one.
This weekend in Villars sous Ecot, France, for the fourth round of the FIM Women’s Motocross World Championship, it was the home soil heroine Livia Lancelot who was dealt a bad hand while the three-time FIM WMX World Champion Kiara Fontanesi put in a flawless performance to claim her second victory of the season.
Another shocking start for the race one winner Livia Lancelot left the defending champ Kiara Fontanesi in the drivers seat for the second time this weekend. While in the first race Lancelot put in a hair raising performance to chop down Fontanesi’s lead despite hovering around 20th at turn one, to take the win at the checkers, it wasn’t that clean cut and easy this time around.
Motocross Marketing KTM Silver Action KTM’s Amadine Verstappen took an outstanding holeshot but after making a few mistakes was passed by the little Dutch wonder Nancy Van de Ven and the Italian Suzuki rider Francesca Nocera.
Both Nocera and Van de Ven were relentless in their battle for second. With a handful of laps to go, Lancelot had crept up on the scrapping duo of Van de Ven and Nocera to make it a three horse race. This invited the boisterous French fans to the party as they went wild for their motocross-racing sweetheart Livia Lancelot.
While the race was compelling, it ended dramatically with Nocera crashing spectacularly leaving Lancelot with nowhere else to go but right over top of her, which threw the 114 over the handlebars too.
Nocera ended up going directly to the medical centre where we will await news of her injuries while Lancelot managed to remount and finish the race in 16th.
With Lancelot and Nocera crashing out of third, Australian Madison Brown took over the position to bank her strongest result of the season while Verstappen held off MVR-D Honda’s Natalie Kane for fourth.
After a crazy weekend here in France, Kiara Fontanesi stood top of the box for the second time this year, ahead of Nancy Van de Ven and Madison Brown.
Livia Lancelot still leads the WMX championship by eight points with the next round set to take place in Teutschenthal, Germany on the weekend of June 21.
WMX Race 1 Top Ten: 1. Livia Lancelot (FRA, Kawasaki), 25:14.448; 2. Kiara Fontanesi (ITA, Yamaha), +0:00.166; 3. Nancy Van De Ven (NED, Yamaha), +0:47.184; 4. Francesca Nocera (ITA, Suzuki), +1:00.398; 5. Madison Brown (AUS, Yamaha), +1:01.321; 6. Natalie Kane (IRL, Honda), +1:12.912; 7. Justine Charroux (FRA, Yamaha), +1:13.653; 8. Amandine Verstappen (BEL, KTM), +1:14.197; 9. Genette Vaage (NOR, KTM), +1:21.527; 10. Marianne Veenstra (NED, Husqvarna), +1:27.965
WMX Race 2 Top Ten: 1. Kiara Fontanesi (ITA, Yamaha), 25:32.611; 2. Nancy Van De Ven (NED, Yamaha), +0:26.556; 3. Madison Brown (AUS, Yamaha), +0:39.767; 4. Amandine Verstappen (BEL, KTM), +0:44.879; 5. Natalie Kane (IRL, Honda), +0:53.664; 6. Justine Charroux (FRA, Yamaha), +1:01.533; 7. Virginie Germond (SUI, Suzuki), +1:15.014; 8. Britt Van Der Werff (NED, Suzuki), +1:18.093; 9. Marianne Veenstra (NED, Husqvarna), +1:25.785; 10. Jessie Joineau (FRA, Honda), +1:36.263
WMX Overall Top Ten: 1. Kiara Fontanesi (ITA, YAM), 47 points; 2. Nancy Van De Ven (NED, YAM), 42 p.; 3. Madison Brown (AUS, YAM), 36 p.; 4. Livia Lancelot (FRA, KAW), 32 p.; 5. Amandine Verstappen (BEL, KTM), 31 p.; 6. Natalie Kane (IRL, HON), 31 p.; 7. Justine Charroux (FRA, YAM), 29 p.; 8. Britt Van Der Werff (NED, SUZ), 23 p.; 9. Marianne Veenstra (NED, HUS), 23 p.; 10. Virginie Germond (SUI, SUZ), 22 p.
WMX Championship Top Ten: 1. Livia Lancelot (FRA, KAW), 176 points; 2. Kiara Fontanesi (ITA, YAM), 168 p.; 3. Nancy Van De Ven (NED, YAM), 141 p.; 4. Amandine Verstappen (BEL, KTM), 113 p.; 5. Francesca Nocera (ITA, SUZ), 109 p.; 6. Genette Vaage (NOR, KTM), 94 p.; 7. Justine Charroux (FRA, YAM), 91 p.; 8. Meghan Rutledge (AUS, KAW), 78 p.; 9. Virginie Germond (SUI, SUZ), 78 p.; 10. Marianne Veenstra (NED, HUS), 68 p.
WMX Manufacturers: 1. Yamaha, 183 points; 2. Kawasaki, 177 p.; 3. KTM, 131 p.; 4. Suzuki, 126 p.; 5. Honda, 93 p.; 6. Husqvarna, 68 p.
