The De Baets Yamaha AIT Racing team secured a fourth-place finish with Lotte van Drunen during the opening round of the Women’s Motocross World Championship in Lacapelle-Marival, France. Torre van Mechgelen also managed to score points in the EMX125 class during the second race, while Dex Kooiker unfortunately remained point-less in the extremely hot conditions.

Van Drunen started the WMX weekend strongly by qualifying in third place. In the opening race, the two-time world champion grabbed the holeshot and led the field early on. During the first lap she dropped back to third position and, to make matters worse, lost control on the finish jump, crashing heavily and losing a significant amount of time. She then produced an impressive comeback ride and fought her way back to ninth place.

In the second race, Van Drunen once again showed strong pace. Starting from seventh place, she quickly moved up into third position, which she managed to hold until the finish. With those results, she secured fourth overall during the opening round of the WMX World Championship season.

In the EMX125 class, Dex Kooiker posted the seventeenth fastest time in practice group one.

The opening race proved difficult for Kooiker, who completed the first lap in 31st place. He then made good progress through the field and recovered to 22nd position, just outside the points.

In the second race, he enjoyed a better start and was running around eighteenth place midway through the race. Unfortunately, Kooiker crashed and rejoined the race in 25th position. Shortly afterwards, he was forced to retire from the race.

Teammate Torre van Mechgelen set the fifteenth fastest time in practice group two.

The first race was a difficult one for the Belgian, who returned to the paddock early. However, Van Mechgelen showed resilience in the second race. After starting only 29th, he fought his way back to twentieth place, earning one European Championship point.

Next weekend, the De Baets Yamaha AIT Racing team will line up for the second round of the WMX Championship in Teutschenthal, Germany. Vencislav Toshev will also compete there in the EMX250 class.

Photocredits – Full Spectrum Media