Michek and Fontanesi dominate race one / Maggiora, Italy for round five of the 2013 FIM Motocross MX3 World Championship

Within less than a quarter of a lap Walkner had snatched away the lead and began to make a charge. While it would seem Walkner would be fired up after a bit of bad luck saw him loose a lot of points last weekend in Slovenia, the Austrian couldn’t get it together here in Italy.

Charging from behind with soaring confidence was Czech Martin Michek who seemed eager to prove he is the best rider to race today. After 5 laps of tossing the lead back and forth with Walkner, Michek finally made a pass that stuck and charged away never to look back.

Meanwhile, the pass from Michek seemed to have thrown Walkner right off his rhythm as he came under pressure from a trio of riders in the form of red plate holder Klemen Gercar, Czech Petr Smitka and German Christian Brockle. The trio Gercar, Smitka and Brockle took advantage of Walkner’s vulnerability with all three going by him in a short period of time.

Coming into the closing stages of the race all eyes were on Petr Smitka and the battle for second as he closed the gap on the current championship point’s leader Klemen Gercar. Fortunately for Gercar, Smitka ended up getting caught up behind some lapped riders allowing Gercar to make it to the finish unchallenged.

After taking on the gnarly conditions here in Maggiora it was Martin Michek who took the chequered flag ahead of the red plate holder Klemen Gercar. Taking third, in his first MX3 round this year was Peter Smitka who finished a comfortable eight seconds ahead of Christian Brockle in fourth. Rounding out the top five was the early leader and current MX3 World Champion Matthias Walkner

MX3 Race one: 1. Martin Michek (CZE, KTM), 34:50.576; 2. Klemen Gercar (SLO, Honda), +0:05.574; 3. Petr Smitka (CZE, Kawasaki), +0:08.783; 4. Christian Brockel (GER, KTM), +0:16.816; 5. Matthias Walkner (AUT, KTM), +0:21.903; 6. Frantisek Smola (CZE, KTM), +0:26.163; 7. Gert Krestinov (EST, Kawasaki), +0:33.915; 8. Ludvig Söderberg (FIN, Honda), +0:54.465; 9. Petr Bartos (CZE, KTM), +0:58.812; 10. Alain Schafer (SUI, Kawasaki).

Also taking part alongside the FIM Motocross MX1, MX2 and MX3 World Championships is round three of the FIM Women’s Motocross World Championship where the current world champion and red plate holder Italian Chiara Fontanesi showed her fellow countrymen why she is motocross’s leading lady.

After dominating the qualifying race the Italian superwoman Chiara Fontanesi did it again, taking the holeshot in race one and checking out to hold on to her unbeaten status in 2013.

Meanwhile behind her Rabbit Racing Kawasaki’s Stephanie Laier was doing her best to hold on for second but couldn’t hold off the wrath of Bud Racing Kawasaki’s Meghan Rutledge. While the Australian Rutledge was quick around Laier, she couldn’t match the pace of Italian Stallion Fontanesi.

After a few mistakes in the opening laps of the race HM Plant KTM UK’s Natalie Kane began to get it together putting in a strong charge to pass Laier and catch the second place Meghan Rutledge. Unfortunately Kane couldn’t seem to hold that pace, giving up the fight and settling for third.

WMX Race one: 1. Chiara Fontanesi (ITA, Yamaha), 25:24.646; 2. Meghan Kat Rutledge (AUS, Kawasaki), +0:04.428; 3. Stephanie Laier (GER, Kawasaki), +1:01.122; 4. Anne Borchers (GER, Suzuki), +1:22.857; 5. Justine Charroux (FRA, Yamaha), +1:24.415; 6. Natalie Kane (IRL, KTM), +1:29.019; 7. Gabriela Seisdedos (ESP, Kawasaki), +1:29.714; 8. Francesca Nocera (ITA, Suzuki), +1:31.193; 9. Marianne Veenstra (NED, KTM), +1:40.645; 10. Britt van der Wekken (NED, Honda).

Photos of the whole event are available here

MX3/WMX Round of Italy – QUICK FACTS
Circuit length: 1520m
Type of ground: Hard pack mi
Weather conditions: Sunny

TIMETABLE
Sunday: WMX Warm-up 8:00; MX3 Warm up 8:30; MX2 Warm up 9:00; MX1 Warm up 9:30; WMX Race 2 10:10; MX3 Race 2 11:00; MX2 Grand Prix Race 1 12:10; MX1 Grand Prix Race 1 13:10; MX2 Grand Prix Race 2 15:01; MX1 Grand Prix race 2 16:07.


LINKS
Youthstream
FIM
MX3 Round of Italy