
On a day when Jeffrey Herlings kicked off celebrations in front of his home fans at the Grand Prix of the Netherlands to become the first Dutch premier class FIM Motocross World Champion this century, Yamaha’s Kiara Fontanesi took a massive stride in the Assen sand in a bid to become WMX No.1 for the sixth time.
The bumpy and slippery Assen sand completed a dress rehearsal for the 2019 Monster Energy Motocross of Nations by staging the penultimate meeting of 2018 MXGP and hosting the Dutch stop for the fourth time in a row. The vast grandstand that snakes from the Geert Timmer Chicane of the old, famous asphalt racetrack and runs all the way down the main straight was full of fans keen to see Herlings’ coronation but also one of the last episodes of MXGP this year.
Competing in the two FIM Women’s Motocross World Championship motos on Saturday and Sunday mornings Fontanesi produced the first show of competence in the meeting by running to a 1-1 scorecard. With main rival Courtney Duncan bitterly disappointed to be out of the series due to a foot injury, Fonta had to deal with Larissa Papenmeier and Nancy Van der Ven but again used her determination and ability to conjure the right result at the right time to forge an 8 point lead with just one round of the WMX contest to go.