Lotte van Drunen of the De Baets MX team finished second in the Italian Women’s Championship in Cingoli. Van Drunen has learned a lot on the hard surface with many elevation changes and managed to finish second in both heats.
Cingoli is a very hard track with many elevation changes. This was new for Lotte and she used the free practice to get used to the track. In timed practice she managed to post the second fastest time after several fast laps and returned to the paddock satisfied.
In the first heat she managed to take a good start and came out of the first corner in second place. She immediately attacked the leading lady but could not get past her. This resulted that she got passed herself. Later in the race, Lotte managed to take over second place and this was also the position in which she finished.
A lot of rain had fallen during the night from Saturday to Sunday, making the track very muddy. At the start of the second heat, Lotte chose a place on the outside. This worked out well because she was able to start the race in second place and she managed to maintain this throughout the entire race. In the final stages she came very close to the leading lady and went on the attack. However, Lotte crashed in a downhill, ruining her chances of victory and ending up second.
With two second places in the heats, Lotte also finished in second place in the daily rankings. Lotte looks back on the race with satisfaction and will continue her preparation for the next Grand Prix in the coming days!
Dex Kooiker and Brent van de Walle were racing the Dutch Masters of Motocross 125 in Markelo. Dex started the day positively by setting the fourth fastest time in time practice. The track was very wet due to the rain, but Dex felt at home on it and managed to set a fast time. The track in Markelo was completely new for Brent, but he managed to set a sixteenth fastest time.
In the first moto Dex got a good start and came out of the first corner in fourth place. However, due to a stone in the chain guide, he could no longer get the bike up to speed, but fortunately this improved again and he was able to start moving forward. Despite having another crash, he still managed to finish seventh. Brent did not get off to a good start and due to a mistake in the first lap he had to catch up. Brent came back well and managed to finish fourteenth.
At the start of the second heat the starting gate didn’t fall complete and this resulted in Dex and Brent both ran into the starting gate. From a very last place, Dex came back to seventh place, but then crashed and managed to come back from sixteenth place to eighth place again. After the starting gate problem, Brent also had a rider fall in front of him in the second corner, meaning he also had to come from far back. Giving everything, he came back to fourteenth place.
In the daily rankings, Dex finished in sixth place and Brent took fourteenth place. Both riders will prepare themselves now for the next round of the EMX125 Championship, which will be held in Portugal on the 4th and 5th of May.
Photocredits – Fullspectrum Media and Niek Kamper
