Built by the hands of motocross enthusiast’s way back in the 1960’s, the hard pack circuit of Pacov, Czech Republic, gets ready to host round eight of the FIM MX3 World Championship, as well as the fifth round of the FIM Women’s Motocross World Championship.Coming into this round, Slovenian Klemen Gercar has been consistent all season and currently holds onto the red plate with a fifteen point advantage over local hero Martin Michek, and Chiara Fontanesi is travelling to the Czech Republic with 31 points advantage over Natalie Kane, who won the British round last weekend in Matterley Basin.
MX3
Martin Michek was the runner up in the 2012 FIM MX3 Championship and looks to be picking up momentum in the 2013 MX3 championship as his result’s gradually improve. Looking at his points patterns at the recent rounds, Czech Michek will definitely be on the hunt for glory this weekend as he lines up for his home round.
Third in the championship is the defending champion Matthias Walkner. Walkner has had a season of ups and downs, at the previous round in Matterley Basin the Austrian finished second in race one but was plagued with bad luck in race two when he was caught up in some first corner carnage. This weekend we are expecting to see him steal back some valuable championship points, but as we have seen in previous rounds, anything can happen.
A further twenty-five point’s back from Walkner, in fourth is the round one winner and early red plate holder Gert Krestinov. Krestinov has had moments of greatness this season, proving he is more than capable of winning. The Estonian said earlier in the season his lack of results on the hard pack circuits were due to not enough hard pack training, but now as we enter the closing stages of the championship we expect that he has done the work required, making him a definite podium contender.
Rounding out the top five is Frantisek Smola; after spending the last two years chasing his dreams in the USA, Smola has returned to Europe ready to race. The Czech has already stood on the second and third steps of the podium at earlier MX3 rounds so we are sure he will be looking to better those results in his home country this weekend.
WMX
Joining the MX3 in Pacov, Czech Republic, this weekend will be round five of the FIM WMX World Championship. After the last round in Matterley Basin, Monster Energy Yamaha’s Chiara Fontanesi’s winning streak was put to an end by HM Plant KTM UK’s Natalie Kane. Kane had never won a WMX World Championship overall before that day, now with the monkey off her back, we assume the charismatic Irish lady will be expecting to back it up again this weekend.
Meanwhile, Fontanesi still holds the red plate with a thirty one point cushion over Natalie Kane. Kane on the other hand, can’t rest easy as she has Bud Racing Kawasaki’s Meghan Rutledge breathing down her neck only four points back meaning with only two rounds to go, the race for second is wide open. Behind the three front runners former WMX World Champion Stephanie Laier is currently occupying fourth, twelve points behind Rutledge in third, and the rookie Dutch Nancy Van de Ven rounds out the top five in fifth.
TIMETABLE
Saturday: MX3 Free Practice 10:00; MX3 Pre-Qualifying Practice 11:40; MX3 Qualifying Race 15:10.
Sunday: MX3 Warm up 10:30; MX3 Race 1 13:30; MX3 Race 2 16:30.