At Senkvice, Slovakia, Chiara Fontanesi secured her second FIM Women’s Motocross World championship. It did not seem as simple as last year, when she was already crowned after the penultimate round. We sat with the champ after the last last moto.
Question: Second title in the pocket; it was harder this year, am I right?
Chiara Fontanesi: Yeah first of all because Meghan Rutledge came over to do the whole championship and Steffi Laier is back, who is an ex-champ and she knows the game. Also Natalie Kane is stronger this year, so I have been battling with very strong girls the whole season. But in the end, I scored more points and won more motos. I lost one moto in England due to a bike problem and only finished third. At the final round in Slovakia I had a small injury which meant I could not ride at my normal level for the victory and ended the championship with a second and a third.
Q: You seem eager to always play the leading role.
Fontanesi: My target was to win all the motos this year; what happened in England put a stop to my winning streak. But from there we went to the Czech Republic and that was another double win even though it was a very difficult and emotional weekend. A friend of mine had had a big accident and for the first time in my life I did not want to ride my bike; I wanted to go home. Anyway, I won both motos and I felt proud of being able to focus on my racing despite so much going through my head.
Q: At Senkvice we did not see the usual dominant Chiara. Not in Saturday’s qualification race and not on Sunday (race day). What was wrong?
Fontanesi: On Thursday before the last MX3 races of the year, I twisted my ankle stepping out of the camper. I was with Martin Michek who took me to the hospital for a check-up. The problem was with the ligament and it was pretty painful. I had been on the road for a long time so I had not been doing my regular training. On top of that came the injury so all in all it went ok but it was hard work.
Q: How did it affect the last race?
Fontanesi: My dad taped my ankle really good and I managed to get third in the opening race, good enough to claim the title. It was a big party crossing the line with all my family and friends being there. I finished third in the opening race after a bad start, so that was a surprise riding with an injury. My dad had said to me before the race ‘Chiara you only need thirteenth place to grab the title’ but I wanted to do better and give it all I had in me despite the pain in my ankle.
In the second moto I could take a bit more risk with my ankle, as it was the final race. I finished second, I tried to catch Natalie to secure the overall win but sometimes you have to be happy with second. I had another bad start in our final moto and was happy to beat Steffi and Meghan. Being second is ok for now. The Senkvice track; I like its lay-out but the ground is pretty flat and there is just one racing line so a good start is essential.
Q: Any more races this year?
Fontanesi: First I want to rest and enjoy this title, then I start to practice again when my ankle allows me to do so. I want to race the Geneva Supercross in December and then in January start with next year’s training.”
Q: What was your best race this year?
Fontanesi: It must have been Maggiora because I felt good with the bike and my body and I had a lot of friends and fans to cheer me on. Winning both motos in front of such a big home crowd is always a big thing.
Q: And your worst race, if there was any?
Fontanesi: I must say England because in the second race I could not do what I had in mind, win both races. I was really angry with that.
Q: With two world titles in the pocket, what are your plans for 2014?
Fontanesi: Difficult to say at this stage. For sure WMX but with only six rounds I would need to find more races to train hard for the full year. So I am looking at extra options to do more races, maybe ADAC Masters if there is an opportunity. Racing with guys teaches you a lot and I would like to do some of these rounds to improve myself. Racing with the guys is hard work. I would also like to go back to USA and do the nationals but these are at this stage only ideas. The focus will be to defend my WMX title.
Q: Having 6 rounds in 2013 instead of 8 last year made a difference.
Fontanesi: Yeah this year there were six rounds and with these two extra rounds we had last year I managed to secure the title before the last moto was done. With six rounds you cannot really afford to miss one moto. In my opinion, 8 events is the minimum for a championship, 10 is good and 12 is perfect.
Q: How do you feel about the WMX being combined with the MX1 in 2014?
Fontanesi: Well in some ways it is good as there are usually bigger crowds. I must say I felt so much at home with the MX3 people during the last 2 years; it was a big family feeling. In Pacov, Czech Republic, there were 7000 spectators for our races. MX1 is a step up in some ways; a bigger show and they attract bigger crowds. For example, Matterley Basin in England was a spectacular event with a mix of all classes. Downside for us was the schedule with our races spread over more days.
By Harry van Hemmen