The super Italian lady Monster Energy Yamaha’s Chiara Fontanesi was back on form this weekend, as she was victorious in both moto’s to take a perfect score at round six of the FIM WMX World Championship in Pacov, Czech Republic, while former WMX World Champion Rabbit Racing Kawasaki’s Stephanie Laier occupied the second step and Bud Racing Kawasaki’s Meghan Rutledge rounded out the top three.When the gates dropped for WMX race one, it was the two rookies Genette Vage and Nancy Van de Ven who showed the veterans how to start. Vage led the way for the majority of lap one, but as they came past pit lane Van de Ven made a pass and went on to lead the first three laps. Three laps in, Monster Energy Yamaha’s Chiara Fontanesi began to charge, aggressively passing both Vage and Van de Ven to take over the lead. Fontanesi then went on to win.
Meanwhile Rabbit Racing Kawasaki’s Stephanie Laier had a fight on her hands after not getting off to the best of starts. The German pushed her way through the field to eventually end up in an intense battle with Dutch Nancy Van de Ven for second. As the duo entered the closing laps of the race, the former World Champion Laier had the upper hand, taking over second forcing Van de Ven to finish third. Back in fourth the previous round winner Natalie Kane got off to a bad start, but after making a series of good passes the Irish lady managed to come home in fourth, ten seconds ahead of yesterday’s top qualifier Bud Racing Kawasaki’s Meghan Rutledge (who went down on turn one).
In race two both WMX toppers Monster Energy Yamaha’s Chiara Fontanesi and Bud Racing Kawasaki’s Meghan Rutledge set the scene for a hair-raising race to the finish after occupying the first and second positions around turn one. While Rutledge did everything in her power to find a way around the red plate holder and current world champion Fontanesi, she came up fractionally too short, finishing second with less than a one second gap on the current world champion Fontanesi. HM Plant KTM UK’s Natalie Kane finished fifty-five seconds behind the leaders in third while Rabbit Racing Kawasaki’s Stephanie Laier again had to find a way around the Dutch speedster Nancy Van de Ven to take fourth forcing Van de Ven to settle for fifth.
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WMX Round of Czech Republic – QUICK FACTS
Circuit length: 1950m
Type of ground: hard pack
Temperature: 23° C
Weather Conditions: changeable, rainy in the morning and sunny in the afternoon
Crowd attendance: 7000