WMX

DARWIN (Australia) 17 September 2025 – It all comes down to this! Round 20 of the FIM Motocross World Championships, the final round of the season, takes place this weekend to decide the fate of all three world titles at the brand-new Hidden Valley Motorsports Complex not far from the centre of the Northern Territory’s capital city of Darwin.  The 2025 MXGP, MX2, and WMX World Champions will all be crowned at the MXGP of Australia Presented by Sitzler!

This will be only the fifth time that World Championship Motocross will be run within the world’s biggest island nation, at adult level anyway, as the first event was held way back in 1992, when the Team USA line-up of Billy Liles, Mike LaRocco, and Jeff Emig won the Motocross des Nations at the south-eastern venue of Manjimup. The first GP was held at the same circuit a year later, and saw Dutchman Pedro Tragter clinch the 125cc World Championship with second overall behind Italian Andrea Bartolini. Eight years later and the 500cc class visited these shores, at the south-western venue of Broadford near Melbourne. Current Red Bull KTM Factory Racing Team Manager Joel Smets was victorious in Victoria that day, and he was back there the following year as the 2001 three-class format was run for the most recent Grand Prix in Australia. James Dobb, Mickael Pichon, and Stefan Everts took the single-race GP wins that weekend.

Australia also hosted a World Junior Motocross Championship event in 2018, at the Horsham venue, also in the southern state of Victoria.  Local riders Bailey Malkiewicz and Braden Plath took titles that day, as did American Caden Braswell.  Several riders who are lining up this weekend were also there at Horsham seven years ago, and will be hoping to take advantage of their southern hemisphere experience!

Fast forward to 2025, and Smets’ top rider Jeffrey Herlings brings a three-GP winning streak to the event down under for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing.  However, the Championship battle is between French veteran Romain Febvre, red plate holder for Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP, and the teenage Belgian tearaway Lucas Coenen for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing. For the second year running, Coenen heads to the final round with a mountain to climb if he is to come away with gold, but he also knows that nothing is over until the final chequered flag flies!

As per usual, things are much closer in MX2, with Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s red plate holder Simon Längenfelder holding a slim margin over reigning World Champion and Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing rider Kay de Wolf. The German is looking to end a run of three years of bronze medals by striking gold this weekend, and top three positions in all three races will do the job, even if his Dutch rival takes all three race wins. In the wild and unpredictable MX2 class, however, anything is possible with a hatful of contenders able to get amongst the title combatants!

In the Women’s World Motocross Championships, there’s another teenager versus veteran battle as reigning World Champion Lotte van Drunen leads the series for De Baets Yamaha by just 16 points from six-time WMX Champ Kiara Fontanesi on her MX FontaRacing GASGAS.  Just a point behind Fontanesi is the RFME Spain National Team rider Daniela Guillen, also in with a chance of depriving Van Drunen of her second straight world title. Amazingly, Lotte finished fourth in the 65cc class of the 2018 Junior World Championships in Australia, and will be looking to add to her good memories of life down under! With many fast Australian wildcards likely to get in the mix this weekend, the Championship finale might not be as straightforward as some would think!

As with last weekend’s event in Shanghai, the heat will be higher than most Europeans will be used to, so the physical challenge will be tangible for every competitor in the final Grand Prix of what has been an epic 2025 season!

With strong consistency over the last two Grands Prix, Romain Febvre has rebuilt his Championship lead to a mighty 47 points over Lucas Coenen, who struggled in the heat of Shanghai last weekend with 12^th place overall, his worst result of the entire season. After a second corner crash in race two, the young Belgian seemed resigned to his fate, and needs major issues for the red plate holder in order to deprive him of the title.

Febvre, aiming to take his second world crown, ten years and eight days (maybe seven!) after his first, could wrap things up in Saturday’s Qualifying Race if he scores four points more than Coenen.  He only needs to score 14 points across the whole weekend to be Champion even if the Belgian wins all three outings.

Behind them, Glenn Coldenhoff has wrapped up third place in the World Championship for Fantic Factory Racing MXGP.  It’s the second bronze medal of his distinguished 16-year GP career, and the 35-year-old Dutch veteran could well be lining up at a Grand Prix for the final time this weekend if some rumours are to be believed.

China saw a welcome return to form for Ruben Fernandez, taking his third podium of the year for Honda HRC, and he needs to stay on the gas this weekend as he holds just a 15-point advantage over Jeffrey Herlings for fourth in the Championship.  In the form Jeffrey’s in, he might need every point of that gap! The Bullet’s three-GP win streak has moved him past Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP rider Calvin Vlaanderen for fifth in the series, while Calvin’s teammate Maxime Renaux is a further 35 points back in seventh.  Both Yamaha riders will be looking to finish their season off with a podium result after looking strong in recent GPs.

Renaux has got to watch for Fantic Factory Racing MXGP’s Andrea Bonacorsi, who is only 17 points behind him in the series, but the final two spots in the top ten are virtually sealed. Tim Gajser looked strong in China for Honda HRC, and will be out for nothing less than a victorious end to the season after looking like the title favourite before his shoulder injury.  Jeremy Seewer is pretty secure in tenth for Aruba.it Ducati Factory MX Team, which is a fine result for the Italian brand in their first full year of competition at the very top of the sport.

Jeremy’s Aruba.it Ducati Factory MX Team rider Mattia Guadagnini actually finished second in the 125cc Junior World Championship in Australia in 2018, to Bailey Malkiewicz in the 125cc class, while Aussie wildcard Zac Watson competed in the 85cc class that day too!

It will be a landmark day for many in the MXGP World Championship, with stories of many top riders likely to change teams after this race, so this might be the last time they run with the colours that we are very used to seeing many of them in! As the world title gets decided this weekend, watch for some major celebrations as history will be made, whichever way the gold medal goes!

MXGP - World Championship Top 10 Classification: 1. Romain Febvre (FRA, KAW), 929 Points; 2. Lucas Coenen (BEL, KTM), 882 Pts; 3. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, FAN), 665 Pts; 4. Ruben Fernandez (ESP, HON), 599 Pts; 5. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 582 Pts; 6. Calvin Vlaanderen (NED, YAM) 560 Pts; 7. Maxime Renaux (FRA, YAM), 525 Pts; 8. Andrea Bonacorsi (ITA, FAN), 508 Pts; 9. Tim Gajser (SLO, HON), 464 Pts; 10. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, DUC), 368 Pts.

Main Photo: 2025 MXGP start

Bottom photos: 1.Romain Febvre ; 2. Lucas Coenen

The MX2 World Championship has been incredibly entertaining all season long, with 11 different riders winning either a Qualifying Race, a GP Race, or both since the start of the campaign in Argentina!  Such has been the diversity of the results, that not one rider has taken back-to-back GP victories all year long in the class!

Simon Längenfelder nudged slightly further ahead of Kay de Wolf with his performances in China, but 16 points is not a massive gap at all over the defending World Champion, who will be hoping that the new circuit, which is described as “Sand/Clay”, will be on the softer side of that description, playing to the strengths that he has shown all year long. The Dutchman has to go all-out for three race wins, and hope that a few of the many other contenders can hold back the German, who basically needs to score 45 points across the three races, even if De Wolf takes a maximum points haul.  De Wolf also has history in Australia, finishing second overall in the 2018 85cc World Juniors at Horsham!

Other riders who raced that event include Bike-It Kawasaki’s Kay Karssemakers, who was third in the 85cc class, Camden McLellan who took fifth, and Liam Everts, who won race one but suffered a DNF in race two due to damage from a crash! Rick Elzinga, now with Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MX2, finished sixth overall in the 125cc class that day.  It will be Rick’s last ride in MX2 this weekend.

As for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing riders Andrea Adamo and Sacha Coenen, they are pretty much set in their current Championship positions of third and fourth, although Adamo has an extremely thin chance of catching De Wolf for second.  Coenen will be going all out to become the only winner of back-to-back GPs after his victory in China.

With Thibault Benistant out for the year, he is now guaranteed to finish seventh in the Championship for Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MX2. Camden McLellan has moved up to fifth for Monster Energy Triumph Racing, with Liam Everts just six points behind the South African for Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing, so it could be tasty between those two if they get together on track!

Behind Benistant is the second Monster Energy Triumph Racing rider, Guillem Farres, who sits 14 points ahead of Honda HRC’s rookie Valerio Lata for eighth in the standings, while Kawasaki Racing Team MX2’s French whizz-kid Mathis Valin is just 13 further back from Lata, with no-one able to knock him out of the top ten in his first World Championship campaign.

The battle for the world MX2 crown is enthralling and could go right to the very end of the final race, and what should be a memorable first MXGP event in Australia for 24 years is not one to be missed! Get a shrimp on the barbie for breakfast and tune in to the MXGP of Australia Presented by Sitzler! It could be one for the ages!

MX2 - World Championship Top 10 Classification: 1. Simon Längenfelder (GER, KTM), 884 Points; 2. Kay de Wolf (NED, HUS), 868 Pts; 3. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), 817 Pts; 4. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), 756 Pts; 5. Camden McLellan (RSA, TRI), 612 Pts; 6. Liam Everts (BEL, HUS), 606 Pts; 7. Thibault Benistant (FRA, YAM), 603 Pts; 8. Guillem Farres (ESP, TRI), 461 Pts; 9. Valerio Lata (ITA, HON), 447 Pts; 10. Mathis Valin (FRA, KAW), 434 Pts.

Main Photo: 2025 MX2 start

Bottom photos: 1. Simon Längenfelder ; 2. Kay de Wolf

Don’t miss your chance to watch the MXGP of Australia presented by Sitzler this weekend if you're around. Get your tickets HERE!

All the photos from the MXGP of Australia presented by Sitzler will be available HERE

You can find the complete results HERE.

TIMETABLE

SATURDAY: 08:25: Blåkläder Start Practice MX2, 08:55 Blåkläder Start Practice MXGP, 09:45 WMX Free practice, 10:15 MX2 Free practice, 10:45 MXGP Free practice, 12:10 WMX Qualifying practice, 12:50 MX2 Time practice, 13:30 MXGP Time practice, 14:40 WMX Race 1, 15:25 MX2 Qualifying Race, 16:10 MXGP Qualifying Race

SUNDAY: 09:45 WMX Race 2, 10:25 MX2 Warm-up, 10:45 MXGP Warm-up, 12:15 MX2 Race 1, 13:15 MXGP Race 1, 15:10 MX2 Race 2, 16:10 MXGP Race 2.

LINKS

Infront Moto Racing

FIM

MXGP Australia

MONACO (Principality of Monaco) 16 September 2025 – The final round of the 2025 FIM Motocross World Championships is coming on 20th and 21st of September in Darwin at Hidden Valley Raceway which marks the return on the Australian soil for the first time since 24 years! All MXGP, MX2 and WMX World Champions will be crowned this weekend in Northen Territory!

Checkout the Timetable and Entry Lists for the MXGP of Australia presented by Sitzler below:

TIMETABLE

MXGP ENTRY LIST

MX2 ENTRY LIST

WMX ENTRY LIST

A little-known statistic, although hardly surprising if you consider the 68-year history of Motocross World Championship, is that Belgium has won by far the most world titles and Grand Prix victories of any nation, weighing in with 591 victories, at the time of writing, through a bumper crop of 40 winners, since the first World Championship season begin in 1957.

As with Great Britain and Sweden, Belgium was helped by having a few manufacturers, in their case FN and Sarolea, who were able to supply their riders with decent machinery in the 1950s, although that wasn’t the case as the 1960s began and the sport started to see much more specialised off-road motorcycles.

It took until 1977 for France to celebrate their first GP winner, but since then “La Marseillaise” has rung out for 35 different riders, taking 289 GP wins between them, to sit second all-time in GP wins.

However, this post is all about the two nations who now sit in equal third place in the all-time lists.  With Jeffrey Herlings and Kay de Wolf adding 10 GP wins between them, The Netherlands have now jumped up to 236 all-time victories, tying with Italy on that tally despite Andrea Adamo adding four of his own for the Latin legends.  Italy have had their wins from 22 riders compared to 19 for the Dutch.

Stereotypically specialising in one form of circuit or another, sand of course for the Dutch and hardpack for the Italians, they have both had recent Motocross titans that have cleaned up on all surfaces, to the point where Sicilian master Antonio Cairoli actually claims to prefer the softer circuits!  Herlings, and more recently De Wolf, are known to be just as much of a threat when there aren’t big sandy waves to contend with, but for sure they are both near unbeatable in their native domain.

The two big hitters of Cairoli and Herlings, who account for 40% (TC) and 47% (JH) of their nation’s tallies, have seen these two countries surpass the totals from the two original big hitters of Sweden (195 from 21 riders), and Great Britain (153 from 29 riders), both of whom have had minimal success in the 21^st century, where of course there have been a few more chances to build up the numbers.  Although we now have two classes, accounting for around 40 GPs per year, whereas in the 1980s & 90s there were three classes which raced around a dozen times a year. 

These numbers, by the way, are purely in the traditional world of men’s Motocross.  If you add WMX into the equation, then it’s looking better for the Latinos with Kiara Fontanesi alone leading the way all-time with 24 wins, although she is the only Italian lady in that list. The Dutch have won 15 with four women, led by 6 for Nancy van de Ven and 5 for Lotte van Drunen.

From here, while both Italy and the Netherlands have promising riders in the wings, you have to say that the immediate prospects are stronger for the Dutch, with Herlings far from finished, and De Wolf maybe only just getting started.  Although Adamo could add to his tally on any given weekend, and the likes of Andrea Bonacorsi and Valerio Lata seem to be on the cusp of breaking into the ranks of the GP winners.

In the meantime though, let’s take a snapshot to see the breakdown of all of those Grand Prix winners.

Italy:

Netherlands

Full Table

Looking for your country?  Here they are then…

AFYON (Turkiye) 7 September 2025 – The penultimate round of the 2025 FIM Women’s Motocross World Championship in Afyon promised to be a huge decider in the title chase, with everything still to play for before the grand finale in Australia. Just 20 points separated red plate holder De Baets MX-Yamaha Team's Lotte van Drunen from the resurgent RFME Spain National Team's Daniela Guillén, while MX FontaRacing's Kiara Fontanesi remained firmly in contention, sitting only a single point behind the Spaniard. With the stakes so high and the pressure mounting, the Turkish round was set to shape the destiny of this thrilling championship battle.

The WMX served up plenty of performance in Race 1 at the MXGP of Türkiye. Martine Hughes got the jump out of the gate on her Kawasaki and briefly led the opening lap after capitalising on a small mistake from Fontanesi. But it didn’t take long for the championship contenders to make their presence felt, with Guillén and Fontanesi both charging past Hughes, while red plate holder van Drunen quickly slotted into third.

With the top three separated by only 20 points in the standings coming into Afyon, the tension was high. Fontanesi took over the lead early on, but Guillén refused to let her go, probing lap after lap with aggressive moves down the inside. On lap five, the Spaniard finally made her pass stick, pulling away steadily as Fontanesi lost ground before regrouping to maintain second. Van Drunen kept her composure to finish third, limiting the damage in the championship battle.

Behind the leading trio, Hughes held on for fourth ahead of Amandine Verstappen in fifth, while Lucy Barker, Team Honda Motoblouz SR's April Franzoni and SYE Racing Team 423's Larissa Papenmeier completed the next group of riders. KL Racing Team's Malou Jakobsen and Shana van der Vlist rounded out the top ten.

At the flag, it was Guillén who celebrated her third race victory of the season, crossing the line five seconds clear of Fontanesi, with Van Drunen securing third to keep her championship lead cushion still manageable

Race 2 produced another thrilling showdown. Papenmeier made the best jump out of the gate, but it was Fontanesi who quickly asserted herself at the front, taking the lead after a couple of turns. Guillén started further back in fifth and had to push hard through the first lap, climbing into third position in quick succession. Meanwhile, red plate holder van Drunen was caught in the chaos of the first corners and found herself outside the top ten, leaving her with a big effort to produce to climb up the ranks.

Fontanesi set a fast pace at the head of the field, building a cushion over Papenmeier while Guillén started to reel back the german. By lap five the Spaniard had moved past Papenmeier to go second, opening the door for a head-to-head with Fontanesi that would decide not only the race but the overall classification. Behind them, Martine Hughes was enjoying one of her strongest rides in recent years, running solidly in third and on course for a first podium since 2022.

While Fontanesi maintained the lead, Guillén was the quickest rider on track, cutting the gap down to just a couple of seconds in the closing stages. Van Drunen, after a nervous moment where she almost lost control in a corner, regrouped to fight her way through the field, eventually salvaging fourth place to minimise the cost in the championship.

At the checkered flag, Fontanesi crossed the line first after a stella last lap which was the fastest of the race to take the Race 2 win ahead of Guillén, with Hughes securing a strong third-place finish and Van Drunen in fourth after passing several riderslike Franzoni and Papenmeier. Papenmeier in the end completed the top five, followed by Barker in sixth and De Baets MX-Yamaha Team's Danee Gelissen in seventh.

However, late in the race Fontanesi and Guillen were handed a penalty for failing to respect a waved yellow flag, costing them five points in the championship standings. Crucially, the sanction did not affect their race results or the Grand Prix overall, as they respectively claimed a 2-1 and 1-2 score to tie on points. Fontanesi took the victory thanks to her race win in the second one.

In the championship fight, van Drunen leaves Türkiye with a 16-point advantage over  Fontanesi and 17 over Guillén. With one round to go in Australia, the title battle is not over.

Kiara Fontanesi: “I felt amazing the whole weekend here. I liked the track and I knew I could feel pretty comfortable here, and that’s the result of enjoying riding. I took two good starts, two good races, found a good rhythm. It was definitely a big pressure with Daniela (Guillen) behind me for basically all the race, but it’s where we improve, it’s where we learn, it’s where we get better, and races like this are just amazing. I’m pretty happy to win three GPs out of five, it’s just an amazing season for me.”

Main Photo: Kiara Fontanesi 

Top Photo: WMX Start Afyon 2025 

Bottom Photos: 1. Daniela Guillen; 2. Martine Hughes

WMX -  Race 1 - Top 10 Classification: 1. Daniela Guillen (ESP, GASGAS), 24:28.129; 2. Kiara Fontanesi (ITA, GASGAS), +0:05.606; 3. Lotte Van Drunen (NED, Yamaha), +0:12.133; 4. Martine Hughes (NOR, Kawasaki), +0:51.820; 5. Amandine Verstappen (BEL, Yamaha), +0:54.694; 6. Lucy Barker (GBR, KTM), +0:57.347; 7. April Franzoni (FRA, Honda), +0:58.052; 8. Larissa Papenmeier (GER, Honda), +1:07.862; 9. Malou Jakobsen (DEN, KTM), +1:30.781; 10. Shana van der Vlist (NED, Yamaha), +1:36.848

WMX – Race 2 - Top 10 Classification: 1. Kiara Fontanesi (ITA, GASGAS), 25:58.767; 2. Daniela Guillen (ESP, GASGAS), +0:02.293; 3. Martine Hughes (NOR, Kawasaki), +0:36.501; 4. Lotte Van Drunen (NED, Yamaha), +0:36.836; 5. Larissa Papenmeier (GER, Honda), +0:59.280; 6. Lucy Barker (GBR, KTM), +1:19.927; 7. Danee Gelissen (NED, Yamaha), +1:23.055; 8. Shana van der Vlist (NED, Yamaha), +1:23.182; 9. Amandine Verstappen (BEL, Yamaha), +1:32.569; 10. Malou Jakobsen (DEN, KTM), +1:38.084

WMX Overall - Top 10 Classification: 1. Kiara Fontanesi (ITA, GAS), 47 points; 2. Daniela Guillen (ESP, GAS), 47 p.; 3. Martine Hughes (NOR, KAW), 38 p.; 4. Lotte Van Drunen (NED, YAM), 38 p.; 5. Lucy Barker (GBR, KTM), 30 p.; 6. Larissa Papenmeier (GER, HON), 29 p.; 7. Amandine Verstappen (BEL, YAM), 28 p.; 8. Shana van der Vlist (NED, YAM), 24 p.; 9. Danee Gelissen (NED, YAM), 23 p.; 10. Malou Jakobsen (DEN, KTM), 23 p.

WMX World Championship - Top 10 Classification: 1. Lotte Van Drunen (NED, YAM), 218 points; 2. Kiara Fontanesi (ITA, GAS), 202 p.; 3. Daniela Guillen (ESP, GAS), 201 p.; 4. Shana van der Vlist (NED, YAM), 147 p.; 5. Larissa Papenmeier (GER, HON), 137 p.; 6. Amandine Verstappen (BEL, YAM), 136 p.; 7. Martine Hughes (NOR, KAW), 133 p.; 8. Danee Gelissen (NED, YAM), 129 p.; 9. Lynn Valk (NED, KTM), 118 p.; 10. April Franzoni (FRA, HON), 106 p

WMX Manufacturers - Top 10 Classification: 1. GASGAS, 228 points; 2. Yamaha, 220 p.; 3. KTM, 181 p.; 4. Honda, 142 p.; 5. Kawasaki, 133 p.; 6. Fantic, 63 p.; 7. Triumph, 40 p

All the photos from the MXGP of Turkiye will be available HERE.

You can find the complete results HERE.

MXGP OF TURKIYE QUICK FACTS:

Circuit length: 1800m

Type of ground: Hard Pack

Temperature: 25°/20°

Weather conditions: Cloudy

LINKS

Infront Moto Racing

FIM