WMX

Van de Ven's journey to her maiden world title was not an easy one, in fact, the Dutch rider finished as runner-up a total of five times, four of which were consecutive times in 2018 2019, 2020, and 2021.

For the last several seasons, Van de Ven was among the title favorites and despite falling short numerous times, her resilience and perseverance is the perfect example of good things that come to those who wait no matter how hard the losses may be. 

For 2023, Van de Ven will return to defend her WMX title with the same team Ceres 71 Racing and we are sure that the title battle between her, Courtney Duncan, and Lynn Valk will be exciting and the title battle will end up, a tradition now, at the last race of the Championship.

Read more on the feature from the Issue 111 HERE

Fantic Racing is extremely happy to announce the 2023 lineup. 

Tom Guyon will lead the team in the FIM Motocross World Championship MX2; Hakon Osterhagen, Cas Valk and Alexis Fueri will race in the FIM Europe Motocross Championship EMX250, while Elias Escandell and Maximilian Werner in the EMX125.

The cherry on the cake is Lynn Valk riding the FIM Women’s Motocross World Championship.

The Team looks very strong and motivated with the same goal and vision: giving their best every day.

Before the start of the season the Fantic Team will work to be ready and sharp for the first gate to drop.

Photo copyrights: Fantic Racing

Yamaha celebrates the success of an incredible 2022 Motocross season, in which the Japanese brand won the Manufacturer’s World Championship in all three FIM Motocross World Championship classes, MXGP, MX2 and WMX.  

Thanks to the excellence of the YZ450F and YZ250F, both production and Factory versions of the bike, and the skill and determination of riders Jeremy Seewer, Maxime Renaux, Glenn Coldenhoff, Jago Geerts, Thibault Benistant, Calvin Vlaanderen, Nancy van de Ven and Lynn Valk, all of whom stood on the top step of the podium this year, Yamaha dominated the 2022 FIM Manufacturer’s World Championships. 

In 2022, the premier class was spearheaded by the Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP team with its riders Seewer, Renaux and Coldenhoff, and strengthened by Gebben van Venrooy Yamaha Supported team’s Vlaanderen. Between the four MXGP stars, Yamaha celebrated 16 race wins, 24 podium finishes and six Grand Prix victories on its way to celebrating the MXGP Manufacturer’s World Championship title for the first time since 2015.  

In MX2, Yamaha successfully defended the crown for a third consecutive season thanks to the efforts of Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MX2’s Geerts and Benistant, who celebrated a combined total of 16 race wins and 22 podium finishes, culminating in seven Grand Prix victories. The achievement marks Yamaha's fifth Manufacturer's crown since the class was reinvented as MX2 in 2004, taking its first two titles in 2005 and 2007.

Proving the dominance of the YZ250F across the board and adding to a memorable off-road campaign for those dressed in blue, Yamaha also won its seventh WMX Manufacturer’s title with Van de Ven, Valk and Larissa Papenmeier awarded the top-three championship medals.

Throughout the five rounds of the FIM Women’s World Championship in 2022, Van de Ven won three races and mounted the podium four times on the way to her first-ever world title. She was joined on the podium by Dutch compatriot Valk, who scored three race victories and two Grands Prix to end the season as the silver medalist. 

Increasing Yamaha’s presence and adding to its success in WMX, Yamaha Germany’s Papenmeier collected one piece of podium silverware and secured her fifth championship bronze medal, making it a “blue-wash” of the top-three positions for Yamaha.

Alexandre Kowalski, Yamaha Motor Europe Off-Road Racing Manger:

“We have enjoyed an incredible season this year in all classes. To win the Manufacturer’s World Championship in all three FIM Motocross World Championship classes is proof of our efforts and our strength as a manufacturer competing at such a high level. I believe this year was Yamaha’s best in MXGP in terms of race wins and podiums across the board, and it is something we are very proud of. We have a strong strategy for success, evidenced by the podiums we celebrated with all our riders in all classes. I would like to congratulate Nancy van de Ven on the world title in WMX and Lynn Valk and Larissa Papenmeier on their fantastic seasons. To have Yamaha riders on all three steps of the podium in any of the championships is always something special, so congratulations to them. And also to both of our Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP and MX2 teams. MXGP was brilliant with all of our riders, Jeremy Seewer, Maxime Renaux and Glenn Coldenhoff showing they have what it takes to win, along with the incredible race wins we celebrated with Gebben Van Venrooy’s Calvin Vlaanderen. At the same time, MX2 produced one of the most memorable seasons in history, with the title fight between Jago Geerts taking the title fight right down to the wire and with Thibault Benistant celebrating his first Grand Prix win. Although we won the manufacturer’s crown in all classes, it was not without some ups and downs, but we always pushed forward and focused on the positives. This is something that I, and Yamaha, are very proud of, and it excites us for the future.”

As is tradition in MXGP, the 2022 FIM Motocross World Champions, Tim Gajser of Team HRC and Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Tom Vialle were presented with rings to celebrate their world titles in MXGP and MX2. Additionally Ceres 71 Racing’s Nancy Van de Ven also received her WMX Champion Ring for the very first time.

The 2022 World Champions received their unique jewellery during the annual MXGP Awards on Sunday evening, following the last races of the BitCi MXGP of Turkiye which saw the crowning of the final champions of the season and concluded this year’s championship.

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Bottom photos 1. from left to right: Infront Moto Racing CEO David Luongo, Tom Vialle, Tim Gajser, FIM President Jorge Viegas, 2.Nancy Van de Ven

These one-off silver jewels are custom made to symbolise victory, each engraved with the year and the names of the Champions to further personalise the ring. The rings are designed and produced by the Italian company PR Model which is headed by Mr. Telemaco Cane, a huge fan of motocross himself.

The ring presentation is the final step to seal the championships and conclude another successful season of the FIM Motocross World Championship.

AFYONKARAHISAR (Turkey) 4^th September 2022 – The annual MXGP Awards celebrated yet another successful season of the FIM Motocross World Championship at the final round at the Bitci MXGP of Turkiye!

Once the chequered flag had fallen for the final time this season and the 2022 World Champions were officially confirmed with gold medals, it was time to begin the festivities with the annual ceremony.

The awards took place in the Moto Festival area at the Afyon circuit, in front of a huge crowd of fans and paddock personnel who joined in on the celebrations, which was the perfect end to a thrilling season of racing.

The MXGP Awards were hosted by the MXGP-TV Commentator Paul Malin and MXGP-TV Presenter Lisa Leyland with the entire event live-streamed worldwide on www.MXGP-TV.com, as well as MXGP’s YouTube channel.

The evening kicked off with a special message from Infront Moto Racing’s CEO David Luongo and FIM President Jorge Viegas who shared a few words about the 2022 season and took the opportunity to congratulate everyone for their efforts.

Infront Moto Racing CEO David Luongo: “First of all, Thank you all for coming to this fantastic Gran Prix here in Turkiye. Big thanks to the Governor, the Mayor, the Turkish Motorcycling Federation, the Organizer and everybody who made this event possible. This season has been a challenging one, being the first one post-covid. It was amazing to have the overseas back, with Argentina the first one, which was a big symbol and then Indonesia and other events that were missing during the previous two years, like Sweden and Finland. And also having the public back at the races was a very big and important moment. In MXGP, we have a great Champion as Tim Gajser who did not have it easy, with plenty of fast guys behind him pushing to win. And MX2… What can I say? It was incredible. Big Congratulations to Tom but also Jago who pushed hard and gave it his all. This evening it’s great to have all of the Champions with us, including the Junior and European champions, really it’s a full package here to celebrate. Thank you to all of the teams and riders for the support, motocross is a big family and everyone involved works incredibly hard to deliver a great championship like the one we saw again this year. Thank you all, enjoy your evening”.

FIM President Jorge Viegas: “Thank you so much to everyone in Turkiye, my friends, the riders, teams and special thanks to the public. What a better scenery than here, beautiful place and people. We had a wonderful championship which was decided today. We look forward to coming back even better next year. Enjoy your evening with the best riders in the world”.

The Awards ceremony officially began, as the winning teams and manufacturers were presented with their awards. Team HRC and Red Bull KTM Factory Racing received their winners’ plaques for securing the MXGP and MX2 titles, while Yamaha swept the manufacturer titles in MXGP, MX2 and WMX.

This year’s champions received their prizes next, with Timoteï Cez being the first to collect his award for winning the Junior e-Motocross series, followed by Ricardo Bauer the EMX65 Champion, Vitezslav Marek who won the EMX85 title, EMX125 Presented by FMF Racing Champion Cas Valk, EMX250 Champion Rick Elzinga, as well as the WMX, EMX2t and EMX Open Champions, Nancy Van de Ven, Toms Macuks and Jose Butron.

We also celebrated the FIM Junior World Champions in 125cc (Ivano Van Erp), 85cc (Gyan Doensen) and Lucas Leok who was the 2022 65cc World Cup Winner.

This year, Red Bull GasGas Factory Racing’s Simon Längenfelder was the recipient of the Jan de Groot Award that honours the most promising young talent. Längenfelder was impressive this season as he ended the year third in the MX2 standings with 2 race wins, five podiums, including his Grand Prix win in Great Britain!

Additionally, Tom Vialle and Jorge Prado were presented with the Fox Holeshot Award, for their incredible starts this season. For Prado, this was his fifth consecutive Fox Holeshot Award, while for Vialle it was his third.

And then it was time to find out which MXGP rider was the winner of the Best Rider of the Year Sponsored by Athena prize! The newly crowned MXGP World Champion Tim Gajser was declared winner, having received the most fans’ votes in total throughout the 2022 season.

The evening then concluded with the awards for the two FIM Motocross World Champions, Tim Gajser and Tom Vialle who each received their championship plates, along with their champions rings as part of their prizes for this season.

Here is the complete list of winners, below:

MXGP Manufacturer World Champion: Yamaha

MXGP Winning Team: Team HRC

MX2 Manufacturer World Champion: Yamaha

MX2 Winning Team: Red Bull KTM Factory Racing

WMX Manufacturer World Champion: Yamaha

WMX Winning Team: Ceres 71 Racing

“Jan De Groot” Award (cheque €5.000): Simon Längenfelder

Junior e-Motocross Series: Timoteï Cez

EMX65 European Champion: Ricardo Bauer

EMX85 European Champion: Vitezslav Marek

EMX125 Presented by FMF Racing European Champion: Cas Valk

EMX250 European Champion: Rick Elzinga

EMX2T European Champion: Toms Macuks

EMX Open European Champion: Jose Butron

65cc Junior World Cup Winner: Lucas Leok

85cc Junior World Champion: Gyan Doensen

125cc Junior World Champion: Ivano Van Erp

Women’s Champion: Nancy Van de Ven

MXGP Best Media Opportunity: Indonesia

MXGP Best Promotion: Turkiye

Best Rider of the Year, Sponsored by Athena: Tim Gajser

Fox Holeshot Award MXGP and MX2: Jorge Prado & Tom Vialle

MXGP Best Organizer: France, Ernée

MX2 World Champion: Tom Vialle

MXGP World Champion: Tim Gajser

All the photos from the MXGP Awards will be available HERE.

Missed the MXGP Awards? Watch the replay HERE!

LINKS

Infront Moto Racing

FIM

FIM Europe

Afyonkarahisar

AFYONKARAHISAR (Turkiye) 4 September 2022 – The final round of the FIM Women’s Motocross World Championship was a big one for Ceres 71 Racing’s Nancy Van De Ven who finally got her hands on the gold medal and became the 2022 WMX World Champion!

It was not an easy one for Van De Ven, who was feeling the nerves and the pressure throughout the weekend and missed out on a podium finish after placing eighth overall. But this did not matter as the Dutchman became the very first WMX Champion from Holland and only the fifth Women’s World Champion, joining the likes of Livia Lancelot, Stephanie Laier, Kiara Fontanesi and Courtney Duncan since the series officially became recognised as a World Championship 13 years ago.

In race one, it was Big Van World MTX Kawasaki’s Courtney Duncan who took the holeshot thought got caught up with another rider by the second corner and dropped back to around fifth. This allowed Larissa Papenmeier of Yamaha Racing 423 to take over first place, as JK Yamaha Racing’s Lynn Valk, Amadine Verstappen and Sara Andersen rounded out the top four.

Championship leader, Nancy Van De Ven of Ceres 71 Racing struggled down in ninth after her start device came out before the gate drop, which made it tough for her to get a good drive down the start straight.

By the end of the opening lap, Duncan was already up into second place, as Van De Ven moved up to seventh.

It then took Duncan a lap to catch and pass Papenmeier, who was not looking to back down, as she pushed the New Zealander until the end, as the pair finished first and second and were separated by 4.187 seconds.

Rookie, Lotte Van Drunen had a very impressive first race in the Women’s Motocross World Championship, as she finished seventh behind Van De Ven who fought her way up to sixth.

In the second heat, it was again Duncan with the holeshot as he led the way in front of Elisa Galvagno, Papenmeier, Shana Van der Vlist and Charli Cannon of JK Yamaha Racing.

Van De Ven started in seventh, while Valk was down in 14^th on the first lap.

By the end of the first lap, Van der Vlist found her way into second, as Cannon got around Papenmeier for fourth. She then quickly got around Galvagno for third and began to focus on the two leaders in front. The Australian set the fastest lap of the race and was charging hard but a small mistake saw her crash out of third and she eventually re-joined in 10^th. This allowed Andersen into third.

Van Drunen was having another impressive race. The youngster started in 18^th position and by lap six was already in seventh behind Valk and Verstappen.

A couple of laps later, both Valk and Van Drunen got around Van De Ven, as Verstappen made a mistake which allowed Valk to close in on the fifth-place rider.

Duncan was comfortably leading, with Van der Vlist second ahead of Andersen and in the second part of the race, there were not many changes inside the top 10 as Duncan went on to win her third race of the season.

The podium for the final round included Duncan on the top step with the perfect 1-1 score card ahead of Papenmeier who was second, while Andersen made her first podium visit of 2022!

In terms of the WMX Championship standings, Nancy Van De Ven finally became the World Champion after finishing second for the last four years in a row. Meanwhile, the fight for the silver and bronze medals was very close, but in the end, Valk secured second, while Papenmeier took third – rounding out the perfect podium for Yamaha who also top the manufacturer's standings.

Nancy Van De Ven: “Finally, after so many years of being second, it feels so great, maybe even better than winning it in one of your first years. I have had so many troubles in the past and to finally win it, is incredible! I just cruised this weekend to avoid any mistakes and keep the bike on two wheels. Finally, finally, finally, I have done it. I am so incredibly happy!”.

Main Photo: WMX Championship Top 3 Pictured with FIM/CMS Director Antonio Alia Protela, FIM President Jorge Viegas and Infront Moto Racing CEO David Luongo.

Bottom Photos: 1. Courtney Duncan 2. WMX Bitci Round of Turkiye Top 3

WMX - Race 1 – Top 10 Classification: 1. Courtney Duncan (NZL, Kawasaki), 25:50.372; 2. Larissa Papenmeier (GER, Yamaha), +0:04.187; 3. Lynn Valk (NED, Yamaha), +0:19.706; 4. Sara Andersen (DEN, KTM), +0:28.122; 5. Amandine Verstappen (BEL, Kawasaki), +0:31.813; 6. Nancy Van De Ven (NED, Yamaha), +0:32.612; 7. Lotte Van Drunen (NED, KTM), +0:34.088; 8. Charli Cannon (AUS, Yamaha), +0:36.062; 9. Martine Hughes (NOR, Honda), +0:44.305; 10. Shana van der Vlist (NED, KTM), +0:51.330;

WMX - Race 2 – Top 10 Classification: 1. Courtney Duncan (NZL, Kawasaki), 25:11.376; 2. Shana van der Vlist (NED, KTM), +0:04.502; 3. Sara Andersen (DEN, KTM), +0:12.989; 4. Larissa Papenmeier (GER, Yamaha), +0:14.077; 5. Amandine Verstappen (BEL, Kawasaki), +0:16.209; 6. Lynn Valk (NED, Yamaha), +0:18.403; 7. Lotte Van Drunen (NED, KTM), +0:19.024; 8. Nancy Van De Ven (NED, Yamaha), +0:33.242; 9. Elisa Galvagno (ITA, Husqvarna), +0:47.982; 10. Tahlia Jade O'Hare (AUS, Honda), +0:54.561;

WMX - Overall Top 10 Classification: 1. Courtney Duncan (NZL, KAW), 50 points; 2. Larissa Papenmeier (GER, YAM), 40 p.; 3. Sara Andersen (DEN, KTM), 38 p.; 4. Lynn Valk (NED, YAM), 35 p.; 5. Shana van der Vlist (NED, KTM), 33 p.; 6. Amandine Verstappen (BEL, KAW), 32 p.; 7. Lotte Van Drunen (NED, KTM), 28 p.; 8. Nancy Van De Ven (NED, YAM), 28 p.; 9. Malou Jakobsen (DEN, KTM), 20 p.; 10. Tahlia Jade O'Hare (AUS, HON), 19 p.;

WMX - Championship Top 10 Classification: 1. Nancy Van De Ven (NED, YAM), 201 points; 2. Lynn Valk (NED, YAM), 183 p.; 3. Larissa Papenmeier (GER, YAM), 172 p.; 4. Shana van der Vlist (NED, KTM), 168 p.; 5. Sara Andersen (DEN, KTM), 138 p.; 6. Amandine Verstappen (BEL, KAW), 134 p.; 7. Courtney Duncan (NZL, KAW), 129 p.; 8. Martine Hughes (NOR, HON), 114 p.; 9. Giorgia Blasigh (ITA, YAM), 110 p.; 10. Tahlia Jade O'Hare (AUS, HON), 102 p.;

WMX - Manufacturers Classification: 1. Yamaha, 229 points; 2. KTM, 203 p.; 3. Kawasaki, 178 p.; 4. Honda, 147 p.; 5. Husqvarna, 44 p.; 6. Fantic, 35 p.; 7. GASGAS, 7 p.;

BITCI MXGP OF TURKIYE – QUICK FACTS:

Circuit length: 1725m

Type of ground: Hard Pack

Temperature: 31

Weather conditions: Sunny

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

You can find the complete results HERE.

LINKS

Infront Moto Racing

FIM

Afyonkarahisar