Fantastic Four for Fontanesi

[totalmotorcycle]

Fantastic Four for #Fontanesi


The tense decider to the 2014 FIM Women’s Motocross World Championship took place at Loket for the Grand Prix of Czech Republic and the scenario between Yamaha’s Kiara Fontanesi and rivals Meghan Rutledge and Livia Lancelot was one that the athletes themselves never imagined they would experience again.

Fast forward twelve months and same track, same racers – this time ‘Fonta’ and Lancelot – and the same predicament. With two points separating the protagonists the final two motos of the six rounds in the 2015 campaign would come down to the very last.

Across the hard-pack and under blue skies Fontanesi set her sixth consecutive Pole Position on her YZ250F by almost three seconds to send a strong signal to her French foe. Lancelot would beat the Italian in the first race on Saturday after Kiara was held up by a fall on the opening corner. With the gap at four points prior to the ‘last word’ Sunday morning an anticipated climax to the WMX season was ruined when Lancelot’s bike developed a problem on the sighting lap.

Yamaha’s Nancy Van de Ven would run away to her first Grand Prix win and Fontanesi had to completely reset her goals and focus for the moto to make sure of the five points she needed to make history. In the event, the twenty one year old finished second to Van de Ven and started the celebrations when she rolled past the flag for the best possible case of déjà vu at Loket.



Kiara Fontanesi


WMX World Champion
“I never expected I could win the championship like this…but I never stopped believing I could do it,” she said. “I knew I could win because the speed was there and when you are almost three seconds faster than anyone else on this track then it means you can make the difference. I don't know what happened yesterday but I got stuck at the start when someone crashed in front of me. I just pushed really hard and gave my best and Saturday night I slept well and didn't have any regrets. In the morning I was just trying to get a good start and run my own rhythm. I knew if I could win and Livia was third then that would be enough and this was possible because Livia was not faster than Nancy yesterday. In the end she broke the bike and I only had to handle the race easily to win the fourth title.”

“I still cannot believe it at the moment, maybe tomorrow it will sink in but for sure I am really happy and I’m the first female racer to win four titles in a row,” she added. “This is really good and we are working well with the team. I have taken Pole at every round so I have been faster than the others and this is good and we are working in a good way.”