AFYON (Turkiye) 8 September 2024 – The final round of the 2024 FIM Women’s World Motocross Championship season in Afyon, Turkiye was set to deliver a thrilling conclusion to a fiercely contested championship battle. With only 17 points separating championship leader De Baets Yamaha MX-Team’s Lotte van Drunen from her closest rival, RFME Spain National Team’s Daniela Guillen, the stakes could not be higher as the riders gear up for a decisive showdown. This ultimate round was to determined who will be crowned the WMX World Champion with both competitors prepared to leave everything on the track in pursuit of motocross silvereware.

Under hot and dry conditions, the Afyon circuit presents a unique challenge, with its varying elevations playing a significant role in the bike setup and rider’s adaptation. As the riders navigate the undulating terrain, their ability to handle the changing conditions and maintain control was critical. With the championship on the line, the final round promised intense racing, and a fight to the finish that will keep fans on the edge of their seats.

And at this game Lotte Van Drunen kept her cool and with the 5th place overall secured the  FIM WMX World Champion for the first time of her career at only 17 years old which is stunning and very promising for the next seasons. Van Drunen established herself as a powerhouse in WMX.

The race began with a fantastic start from FontaMX’s Kiara Fontanesi, while Daniela Guillen emerged in third place just ahead of Charli Cannon. However, Duncan quickly surged to the front, taking the lead early on. Lotte Van Drunen started in fifth but wasted no time in challenging Cannon, who initially held fourth. On the opening lap, Van Drunen overtook the Australian rider, but Cannon fought back to reclaim fourth temporarily before Van Drunen secured the position once again.

At the front, Duncan established a commanding lead, pulling away with an eight-second gap over Fontanesi by lap 4. Behind them, Guillen nearly jeopardised her race with an aggressive lunge to pass Fontanesi on the inside, coming close to a crash but managing to stay upright. Though her move was unsuccessful, Guillen continued her charge for second place.

Meanwhile, Van Drunen found herself in a battle of her own, maintaining fourth position after a tussle with both Cannon and SYE Racing Team 423’s Larissa Papenmeier, and settled four seconds behind the leading trio. Lynn Valk from Schmicker Racing had not the race she would have dreamt of as while she was not having her usual pace finding herself in 9th position, her bike let her down and she had to retire mid-race losing serious ground in the championship as she lost her 3rd position to Fontanesi.

On lap 7 of 11, Guillen made a decisive move, finally overtaking Fontanesi for second place, gaining two crucial points in her battle with Van Drunen for the Championship. However, Fontanesi remained relentless, staying right on Guillen’s back wheel, refusing to let her pull away. Knowing that every point could be vital with just one race left in the championship, Fontanesi continued to push hard, putting pressure on Guillen to hold onto the second position.

Despite the intensity of the battle, Van Drunen kept her composure, holding onto fourth throughout the race, fully aware that with 13 points she needed just eight more points in Race 2 to secure her first-ever WMX World Championship title.

At the front, Duncan delivered a masterclass performance, displaying total control from start to finish. She clinched another victory on a track she clearly loves, having won four of the five editions in Afyon.

As the action moves to Race 2, the stage was set for an intense and dramatic conclusion to what has been an unforgettable season. The stakes couldn’t be higher, and all eyes were on Van Drunen and Guillen as they battled for the ultimate glory on this cooler day than on Saturday.  

The start seemed to be all good for Van Drunen as she jumped out of the gate at the top but probably caused by the understandable nervosity of the moment retrograded to 5th on the first corners while it was the 6-times World Champion Fontanesi who took a commanding lead in front of Guillen who managed to find her way quickly to 2nd in front of the surprising Cannon who was only competing in her first WMX round of the year but showed her great pace.

Cannon was on the chase of Guillen straight away while Duncan found herself in 4th with Danee Gelissen from Ceres 71 Racing in 5th position. The Dutch eventually finished 8th.  The raced in the heavy conditions of the track made passes tough and for up 7 of 10 laps not much movement happened.  Only Valk went from 10th on the opening lap to 6th, showing that she had the pace to fight to the top.

Then Duncan made a great move on Cannon to go 3rd on lap 7. The pace of the Kiwi was great and she rushed to Guillen, only to see Guillen responding back at her as she increased her pace and edged away to find herself next to Fontanesi. Fontanesi then made a mistake with 1 lap to go which costed her the overall win as Guillen and Duncan passed her.

Cannon finished at a strong 4th and displayed great racing through the whole weekend with an impressive 4th overall.

Daniela Guillen with 2-1 won the last round of the season and secured her Silver Medal on the Championship podium. Duncan also got in the podium in 2nd with a 1-2 although she finished 5th in the championship.
Despite a late mistake, Kiara Fontanesi managed to get on the last podium of the season to prove she is still fighting for the top spots. Thanks to her performance in Afyon she also clinched the Bronze Medal in the Champion.

But the hero of the day and the year was Lotte Van Drunen who did all sh had to do to get the Gold Plate and the Gold Medal. Becoming the 2024 WMX World Champion which is a dream come true for the Young Dutch rider.

Lotte Van Drunen: “I can’t believe it. I’m still so young and we worked so hard for it and now to do it already is something incredible. I want to give a big thanks to my dad because he’s the man behind all this. And thanks to my mom, my brother, my friends and family, my team, my trainers, everybody supporting me. This is crazy!  Dreams do come true. That’s what we can see now. It’s been quite a great season. I’ve had some bad results, but I’ve also had really good results. My starts were bad and also all shots. So, yeah, I think this could never have been better. I’m really proud of myself and everybody around me, because without them this would have never been possible”

Daniela Guillen: “First I want to say congratulations to Lotte. And yeah,, today was a good day for me because I won the race, so I finished very well the championships. Which is  a good feeling, I had my rhythm and then I finished well. I want to say also thank you to my team for this year and my mum and my sister. Thank you.”

Kiara Fontanesi: “Honestly, it would have been much better to win a GP, but it wasn’t this GP that would have changed my life. And important for me was to come back to the end for sure if I didn’t lose that much time in the last lap I couldn’t win and win the GP and it would have been amazing but really it wouldn’t change anything in the championship. So I’m just really happy it’s the first race I’m doing without my kids here so I just want to say ciao to them!”

 –  Race 1 – Top 10 Classification: 1. Lotte Van Drunen (NED, YAM), 266 points; 2. Daniela Guillen (ESP, GAS), 253 p.; 3. Kiara Fontanesi (ITA, GAS), 212 p.; 4. Lynn Valk (NED, KTM), 204 p.; 5. Larissa Papenmeier (GER, HON), 179 p.; 6. Courtney Duncan (NZL, KAW), 177 p.; 7. Sara Andersen (DEN, KTM), 175 p.; 8. Malou Jakobsen (DEN, KTM), 131 p.; 9. Danee Gelissen (NED, YAM), 129 p.; 10. April Franzoni (FRA, HON), 104 p

WMX – Race 2 – Top 10 Classification: 1. Daniela Guillen (ESP, GASGAS), 26:47.878; 2. Courtney Duncan (NZL, Kawasaki), +0:14.607; 3. Kiara Fontanesi (ITA, GASGAS), +0:21.630; 4. Charli Cannon (AUS, Honda), +0:25.253; 5. Lotte Van Drunen (NED, Yamaha), +1:48.029; 6. Lynn Valk (NED, KTM), +1:54.269; 7. Larissa Papenmeier (GER, Honda), +2:13.886; 8. Danee Gelissen (NED, Yamaha), +2:17.538; 9. Mathea Seleboe (NOR, Yamaha), +2:21.095; 10. April Franzoni (FRA, Honda), +2:35.623;

WMX Overall – Top 10 Classification: 1. Daniela Guillen (ESP, GAS), 47 points; 2. Courtney Duncan (NZL, KAW), 47 p.; 3. Kiara Fontanesi (ITA, GAS), 40 p.; 4. Charli Cannon (AUS, HON), 34 p.; 5. Lotte Van Drunen (NED, YAM), 34 p.; 6. Larissa Papenmeier (GER, HON), 29 p.; 7. Danee Gelissen (NED, YAM), 25 p.; 8. Martine Hughes (NOR, KAW), 24 p.; 9. Mathea Seleboe (NOR, YAM), 21 p.; 10. April Franzoni (FRA, HON), 21 p.; 11. Malou Jakobsen (DEN, KTM), 20 p.; 12. Sara Andersen (DEN, KTM), 18 p.; 13. Lynn Valk (NED, KTM), 15 p.; 14. Lucy Barker (GBR, KTM), 15 p.; 15. Alexandra Mass

WMX World Championship – Top 10 Classification: 1. Lotte Van Drunen (NED, YAM), 282 points; 2. Daniela Guillen (ESP, GAS), 278 p.; 3. Kiara Fontanesi (ITA, GAS), 232 p.; 4. Lynn Valk (NED, KTM), 219 p.; 5. Courtney Duncan (NZL, KAW), 199 p.; 6. Larissa Papenmeier (GER, HON), 193 p.; 7. Sara Andersen (DEN, KTM), 180 p.; 8. Danee Gelissen (NED, YAM), 142 p.; 9. Malou Jakobsen (DEN, KTM), 140 p.; 10. April Franzoni (FRA, HON), 115 p

WMX Manufacturers – Top 10 Classification: 1. Yamaha, 285 points; 2. GASGAS, 282 p.; 3. KTM, 236 p.; 4. Kawasaki, 211 p.; 5. Honda, 198 p.; 6. Husqvarna, 57 p.;

MXGP OF TURKIYE QUICK FACTS:

Circuit length: 1800m

Type of ground: Hard Pack

Temperature: 30°

Weather conditions: Sunny

LINKS

Infront Moto Racing

FIM

Afyonkarahisar
 

AFYON (Turkiye) 8 September 2024 – The penultimate round of the EMX250 in Afyon in Turkiye was going to be pivotal in the race for the Championship. The Turkish round was one that could be tricky with the 1000m elevation that made every team try to adapt to get the best setting possible and the best chance to win it.

With the Championship leader, Bud Racing Kawasaki’s Mathis Valin having an 11 points gap with Beddini GASGAS Factory Juniors’s Valerio Lata, the Turkish battle tilted towards the Frenchman who came out on top with a perfect 1-1 to insured a little bit more his chance to lift the trophy in the last round in Cozár, Spain.

On Saturday n Race 1, it was VRT Yamaha Racing’s Gavin Towers who took the holesot just to see his teammate VRT Yamaha Racing’s Ivano Van Erp going in front right after the holeshot but in the end it was the green livery of Mathis Valin who stormed at the front on the second turn.

The two teammates Van Erp and Towers who were fighting for the lead collided in the air with the American crashing and picking himself up in 13th positions. Van Erp stayed on two wheels and kept the 2nd place while Valerio Lata made his way to 3rd in the opening lap. With Gabriel SS24 KTM’s Cas Valk behind in 4th the top 4 in the championship occupied the top 4 positions.

Valin led Van Erp by 2 seconds on the opening lap with Lata right behind putting pressure on the Yamaha rider. Valk did well to place himself in 4th with the top 3 in the championship occupying the top 4 positions in lap 2. Valin pulled the fastest lap on lap 2 and created a 4 seconds gap with Van Erp who was holding Lata behind him.

On lap 5, Lata run on the inside and commit himself in the middle bank to pass Van Erp for 2nd clocking his fastest lap in the aftermath. Meanwhile Towers who crashed on the opening lap was up to 9th showing the speed he’s capable of.

While Valin was edging away on his way to a peaceful and control victory finding himself up to 10 seconds ahead, Lata thought he found his flow but it was without counting Van Erp determination.

Van Erp charged back on lap 10 and reconquered the 2nd place in one of the most intense battles of the season in EMX250. Lata wasn’t getting Valin getting more points on him in the championship as all points count, and attacked Van Erp who defended greatly but Lata managed to found a way to pass the Dutch firecracker on lap 10 of 14.

The battle intensified to the point that we were not sure if both of them will finish on two wheels as both riders pushed to the limits. Lata defensively and Van Erp trying everything possible. In the end Lata kept an excellent composure and showed he could deal with immense pressure with both riders jumping together on the finishing line.

In the end, Valin comfortably won with Lata gaining the 2nd position and Van Erp closing the top 3. Valk’s uneventful race assured him the 4th place and a good chance at the podium. The comeback of the day was of course for the American Towers and manage to unbelievably snatch the 5th place off Ghidinelli Racing Team’s Saad Soulimani who thought that the position was assured until a last move from Towers changed that.

In Race 2, JM Honda Racing’s Max Werner took the holeshot with Van Erp in 2nd and Valin 3rd. Van Erp quickly was on the attack as he charged in the outside of Werner in the opening lap to take the lead. Valin followed in the wake of Van Erp and leapt to take the 2nd position.

Lata crashed in the first few corners as he got clipped and had a lot to do to not lose the 2nd place in the championship to Valk who had a good start and was up to 4th in lap 1. Towers was 5th and had a better position to charge up the field following his impressive comeback in race 1.

Leader Van Erp and Valin were 2 seconds apart on lap 2 of 13. Lata was already up to 8th on lap 3 to gain precious points in the championship. Valk tried to push behind Werner, but the German was holding his position until he couldn’t no more and Valk went through after a move on the inside to go 3rd. Werner was then under pressure from the great pace of Towers. Towers quickly passed him to go 4th.

Meanwhile Lata was doing his climb up as he managed to find himself in 6th after passing his teammate Mads Fredsoe and Bud Racing Kawaski’s Benjamin Garib.

On lap 8, Towers made a mistake and saw Lata and Werner pass him by as he came back riding behind them the duo. Lata then passed Werner for 4th in what was a great comeback. Meanwhile, not much movement was happening at the top with Van Erp leading Valin by 2 seconds again and Valk in 3rd. And the top 4 in the championship again occupying the top 4 places in the race.

Valin probably fancied his chance to win the race and get a 1-1 but Van Erp was solid. However all turned upside down for Van Erp with 3 laps to go when stalled after a cross rut and saw Valin flying by to go and win the race for a perfect 1-1. Van Erp finished 2nd and had as consolation the 2nd place on the podium. Valk cruised to the end in 3rd but missed the podium for 2 point  as Lata comeback to 4th place in the end handed him the 3rd spot on the podium.

The American rider, Towers shone during the weekend despite some hardships and finished 5th overall, getting more and more involved in the fight for the top positions.

Mathis Valin: “It was really a good weekend. It’s been a long time since I do 1-1, so it was quite good. We worked a lot these last weeks to get there, so it was better this weekend. And we can see the work we do. Now we focus on the last round. We have the red plate, and we need the champion one now!”

EMX250 –  Race 1 – Top 10 Classification: 1. Mathis Valin (FRA, Kawasaki), 29:15.044; 2. Valerio Lata (ITA, GASGAS), +0:05.148; 3. Ivano Van Erp (NED, Yamaha), +0:05.304; 4. Cas Valk (NED, KTM), +0:18.883; 5. Gavin Towers (USA, Yamaha), +0:41.173; 6. Saad Soulimani (MAR, Yamaha), +0:41.446; 7. Mads Fredsoe (DEN, GASGAS), +0:45.166; 8. Elias Escandell (ESP, GASGAS), +0:46.334; 9. Maximilian Werner (GER, Honda), +0:50.020; 10. Benjamin Garib (CHI, Kawasaki), +0:55.035

EMX250 – Race 2 – Top 10 Classification: 1. Mathis Valin (FRA, Kawasaki), 29:20.974; 2. Ivano Van Erp (NED, Yamaha), +0:06.254; 3. Cas Valk (NED, KTM), +0:08.450; 4. Valerio Lata (ITA, GASGAS), +0:13.732; 5. Gavin Towers (USA, Yamaha), +0:38.588; 6. Maximilian Werner (GER, Honda), +0:42.227; 7. Benjamin Garib (CHI, Kawasaki), +0:46.279; 8. Mads Fredsoe (DEN, GASGAS), +0:48.738; 9. Elias Escandell (ESP, GASGAS), +1:09.382; 10. Ryan Alexanderson (AUS, KTM), +1:19.189

EMX250 Overall – Top 10 Classification: 1. Mathis Valin (FRA, KAW), 50 points; 2. Ivano Van Erp (NED, YAM), 42 p.; 3. Valerio Lata (ITA, GAS), 40 p.; 4. Cas Valk (NED, KTM), 38 p.; 5. Gavin Towers (USA, YAM), 32 p.; 6. Maximilian Werner (GER, HON), 27 p.; 7. Mads Fredsoe (DEN, GAS), 27 p.; 8. Benjamin Garib (CHI, KAW), 25 p.; 9. Elias Escandell (ESP, GAS), 25 p.; 10. Saad Soulimani (MAR, YAM), 25 p.

EMX250 Championship – Top 10 Classification: 1. Mathis Valin (FRA, KAW), 420 points; 2. Valerio Lata (ITA, GAS), 399 p.; 3. Cas Valk (NED, KTM), 389 p.; 4. Ivano Van Erp (NED, YAM), 313 p.; 5. Saad Soulimani (MAR, YAM), 223 p.; 6. Nico Greutmann (SUI, HUS), 191 p.; 7. Maximilian Werner (GER, HON), 176 p.; 8. Benjamin Garib (CHI, KAW), 170 p.; 9. Francisco Garcia (ESP, GAS), 150 p.; 10. Karlis Alberts Reisulis (LAT, YAM), 149 p

EMX250 Manufacturers – Top 10 Classification: 1. GASGAS, 422 points; 2. Kawasaki, 420 p.; 3. KTM, 417 p.; 4. Yamaha, 392 p.; 5. Husqvarna, 227 p.; 6. Honda, 186 p.; 7. Fantic, 112 p