Kiara Fontanesi claims fifth WMX

Yamaha’s Kiara Fontanesi claimed her fifth FIM Women’s Motocross world title by just a single point at the weekend, after the season went down to the final race of the season.

It wasn’t all plain sailing at the Villars-sous-Ecot circuit in eastern France – heavy rain meant many riders struggled during the first race of the meeting, but Fontanesi managed to to stay upright and took the race win by 26 seconds from fellow Yamaha rider and championship rival Nancy van de Ven. But that wasn’t enough to secure the title for Fontanesi.

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More rain through the night meant some of the steepest sections of the track had to be removed. Van de Ven had the world title in her grasp, sitting in third place, before falling with just two laps remaining. The crash bumped Fontanesi up to third, which was enough for her to take the championship by just a single point. Fontanesi is now the successful female motocross rider ever.

What more can i say. 5x WORLD CHAMPION! Team work is Dream work ! Kept a cool head and strong heart. I love you @kiarafontanesi ❤️

A post shared by Reddingpower (@reddingpower) on Sep 17, 2017 at 11:05am PDT

Speaking after securing the title, Kiara said: “It has been such an incredible day. I still haven’t realised what has happened. I am extremely happy to have won the title this year, it has been the toughest of my career. There have been many ups and downs this season. It was always my dream to win the FIM Women’s Motocross World Championship, and my first one will always be the best but if I was to pick a second favourite, it would be this one. All of the best riders were here this year, and it was a hard fought victory.”

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