Sixteen-year-old Lotte van Drunen swept to the maiden GP victory of her young career with a dominant maximum scoreline in the Dutch round of the FIM World WMX Women’s Motocross Championship at Arnhem.
Daniela Guillen keeps showing high standards as she kept her 100% podium record this season in front of Lynn Valk who clinched her second podium of the year with third.
Courtney Duncan missed the podium for the first time this season in fourth but the New Zealander dug deep all weekend in the rugged sand to maintain a sixteen-point advantage in the series standings heading to the final round in Turkey next month.
In Race One, it was Kiara Fontanesi who took the command of the race in front of home rider Lynn Valk. Still, in the opening lap, Fontanesi lost a bit of control and had to close the door in front of Valk to stay in front. Several corners later, Valk took the commanding line to overtake Fontanesi and take the lead.
Valk in the lead, it was the turn of another home rider Lotte Van Drunen to show great speed as she found herself in fifth position after lap one but incessantly charged forward to overtake lap after lap Daniela Guillen, Courtney Duncan and Fontanesi to get to second on lap four of eleven. Van Drunen took a few laps to reduce the gap with the excellent Valk. On lap eight, Van Drunen eventually started to put a great amount of pressure on Valk and both riders battled for a while until Van Drunen took her chance to pass Valk for the lead. Van Drunen kept racing forward and never looked back to win the race in a great fashion. Valk who rode superbly settled for a really good second place.
Behind them, Duncan was third but could not pull away from Fontanesi and Guillen. Guillen was the most incisive one as she overtook Fontanesi on lap five for fourth after Fontanesi made a mistake. Guillen then kept her speed up and was all over Duncan to finally overtake her on lap seven for third. Duncan came back charging but Guillen held her ground to finish third in the end. Duncan settled for fourth place while Fontanesi finished fifth after a few mistakes during the race that unfortunately cost her some positions.
Shana Van Der Vlist and Sara Adersen battled for sixth place from the beginning but the advantage went to Dutch rider Van Der Vlist who made a successful pass on lap six to finish sixth while Andersen settled for seventh.
In Race Two, Van Drunen got a great start and took the lead from the start this time. Van Drunen was simply the fastest by far as she quickly edged away at the lead. The young Dutch rider increased the gap at the lead to twenty seconds on Guillen. Van Drunen flew to victory to win in an emphatic way and go 1-1. First overall win for Van Drunen who managed to do it on home soil on a surface she loves. Guillen was the best of the rest as she rode the whole race in second place safe from any attack from the back. Guillen went 3-2 to clinch the second overall and reduced the gap with the Red Plate holder Duncan.
Duncan alternated between great racing and mistakes in race two as she started well in fourth place on lap one but quickly came under pressure from Britt Jans-Beken and Valk to drop down to sixth. However, Jans-Beken made a mistake which Duncan capitalised on along with a great pass on Andersen to move back up to fourth on lap six. Duncan found a second wind as she pushed forward this time to put pressure on Valk for third. Duncan made the pass stick on lap nine to finish third in the end while Valk settled for fourth. Valk went 2-4 to get on the podium with third overall on her home round. Duncan missed on the podium for the first time this season and narrowly as the Red Plate finished fourth overall.
Jans-Beken made a few mistakes to costed her several positions to finish eighth for eighth overall. Andersen on her side finished sixth after a solid start to go 7-6 for seventh overall. Fontanesi could not find the same flow as in race one and hovered around the eighth place for most of the race but got a last-lap pass on Jans-Beken to finish seventh for sixth overall. Van Der Vlist rode a superb race to go from ninth on the turn of lap one to finish at a good fifth and get the fifth overall.
“I knew already from yesterday that I was the fastest,” Van Drunen said. “Yesterday in race one I had a bad start but today I took the Holeshot and it made it a lot easier for me. It’s amazing to do it in front of my home crowd and to win with a 1-1 makes it even more special ad I’ll remember this one.”
WMX – Race 1 – Top 10 Classification:
1 Lotte Van Drunen (NED, Kawasaki), 24:16.405
2 Lynn Valk (NED, Fantic), +0:09.881
3 Daniela Guillen (ESP, GASGAS), +0:12.037
4 Courtney Duncan (NZL, Kawasaki), +0:12.897
5 Kiara Fontanesi (ITA, GASGAS), +0:35.915
6 Shana van der Vlist (NED, Yamaha), +0:37.967
7 Sara Andersen (DEN, KTM), +1:05.806
8 Martine Hughes (NOR, Husqvarna), +1:11.586
9 Britt Jans-Beken (NED, Yamaha), +1:27.281
10 Danee Gelissen (NED, KTM), +1:58.665
WMX – Race 2 – Top 10 Classification:
1 Lotte Van Drunen (NED, Kawasaki), 25:13.351
2 Daniela Guillen (ESP, GASGAS), +0:40.496
3 Courtney Duncan (NZL, Kawasaki), +0:46.873
4 Lynn Valk (NED, Fantic), +0:51.925
5 Shana van der Vlist (NED, Yamaha), +0:56.521
6 Sara Andersen (DEN, KTM), +1:10.843
7 Kiara Fontanesi (ITA, GASGAS), +1:12.059
8 Britt Jans-Beken (NED, Yamaha), +1:14.314
9 Danee Gelissen (NED, KTM), -1 lap(s)
10 Malou Jakobsen (DEN, KTM), -1 lap(s)
WMX – Overall Top 10 Classification:
1 Lotte Van Drunen (NED, KAW), 50 Points
2 Daniela Guillen (ESP, GAS), 42 Points
3 Lynn Valk (NED, FAN), 40 Points
4 Courtney Duncan (NZL, KAW), 38 Points
5 Shana van der Vlist (NED, YAM), 31 Points
6 Kiara Fontanesi (ITA, GAS), 30 Points
7 Sara Andersen (DEN, KTM), 29 Points
8 Britt Jans-Beken (NED, YAM), 25 Points
9 Danee Gelissen (NED, KTM), 23 Points
10 Malou Jakobsen (DEN, KTM), 21 Points
WMX – Championship Top 10 Classification:
1 Courtney Duncan (NZL, KAW), 223 Points
2 Daniela Guillen (ESP, GAS), 207 Points
3 Lotte Van Drunen (NED, KAW), 200 Points
4 Lynn Valk (NED, FAN), 168 Points
5 Kiara Fontanesi (ITA, GAS), 157 Points
6 Sara Andersen (DEN, KTM), 132 Points
7 Britt Jans-Beken (NED, YAM), 109 Points
8 Larissa Papenmeier (GER, YAM), 105 Points
9 Charli Cannon (AUS, YAM), 91 Points
10 Danee Gelissen (NED, KTM), 74 Points
