De Baets Yamaha Supported MX Team’s Lotte van Drunen has won both races at her home GP in The Netherlands to win the overall and extend her lead to 17 points at the top of the WMX Championship Standings.
Racing in front of her adoring fans at the sand circuit of Arnhem for the penultimate round of the 2024 WMX campaign, the Dutch sensation arrived focused on winning to build upon her three-point lead in the title race.
Under sunny skies, van Drunen led the way from the start in Race One, with an almost full gate of female racers giving chase. As the race progressed, the recently turned 17-year-old withstood pressure from Courtney Duncan in second but was able to maintain a comfortable cushion to take victory in the first WMX race of the weekend.
Another holeshot for van Drunen in Race Two had the passionate Dutch crowd on their feet once again as the GYTR-kitted YZ250F racer set about putting in a hard charge to break away from the field. By mid-race, the number 401 had opened up a comfortable margin over Duncan in second, and despite the former four-time WMX World Champion closing in as the race neared its conclusion, van Drunen maintained her strong pace to take the win and her third GP victory of the season.
Having arrived at her home race with a slender lead at the top of the Championship Standings, van Drunen’s supremacy in the sand sees the series leader head to the final round in Turkey on September 7-8 with a 17-point advantage.
Also in action in Arnhem was the MJC Yamaha Official EMX125 team for the ninth round of the series. One week on from placing fourth overall in Sweden, Dani Heitink replicated that finish in The Netherlands after charging to a 5-3 result. Despite narrowly missing out on a trip to the podium, Heitink’s late-season form sees the talented Dutchman move up to sixth in the Championship Standings with two rounds remaining.
Jarne Bervoets lined up in The Netherlands carrying a thumb injury from the previous round in Sweden and pushed through the pain barrier to score a point in Race Two. That single point proved vital as Bervoets moves up to 11th in the Championship Standings.
In three weeks’ time, the FIM Women’s Motocross World Championship concludes at the MXGP of Turkey where van Drunen is in a strong position to claim her first world title. Before then, the EMX125 series continues next weekend alongside the MXGP of Switzerland where Heitink and Bervoets will contest the penultimate round of their season.
Click here for the WMX and EMX125 results from the MXGP of The Netherlands.
Photocredits – Fullspectrum Media
