In near-perfect conditions at the TCS Racing Park near Bucharest in Romania, the Motocross of European Nations and the Women’s Motocross of European Nations saw a great day of action in all classes!
With a brilliant team effort, on top of individual brilliance for their 85cc rider Andrea Uccellini, Team Italy took the Motocross of European Nations trophy for a record fifth time, with just a three-point winning margin ahead of the reigning champions, Team France!
Words | Press release
In the Women’s Motocross of Nations, reigning Champions Team Spain defended their crown thanks to the sheer speed of Daniela Guillen, operating on her favourite hard-pack and working past Team Germany flyer Larissa Papenmeier on each occasion. She was backed up by solid performances from Jana Sanchez, as Germany took second place on a tie-break with Team France!
125/250 + 85cc
As with Saturday’s Qualification Race, the battle came down to a clash between Italian Francesco Bellei and French #1 plate holder Alexis Fueri. The French spearhead took the Holeshot but with a determined move, Bellei was able to take the lead on lap two and never looked back, except maybe to check on how his teammate Nicolo Alvisi was doing! The answer was very well, backing up Bellei with a great third place to instantly give Italy an early advantage. Team Slovenia were in the mix with their Monster Energy FIM Motocross of Nations MX2 rider Jaka Peklaj taking fourth and their 125cc rider Lukas Osek claiming seventh.
Team Spain took an early dent to their hopes with a big crash for 250 rider Elias Escandell, although Salvador Perez claimed sixth for them on his 125. Tom Brunet kept France in the hunt with fifth position.
Fueri fired to another holeshot in race two, as Bellei slipped off to cost him a chance of challenging. Fueri held the lead to the chequered flag as Bellei recovered to take second, and French 125 pilot Brunet claimed fifth to make it a solid race for the defending Champions. Alvisi also crashed but still finished sixth for Italy ahead of the battered Escandell, while Perez made up for his countryman’s difficult race by claiming fourth, the top 125cc rider.
Perez was the top 125 man on the day ahead of Alvisi and Brunet, but Fueri claimed the 250cc individual win over Bellei and Peklaj, whose teammate was only 16th in race two. Overall, the Italians won for a one-point advantage over the French team from these races.
In the 85cc class for 11- to 14-year-old riders, the first race holeshot went to Spain’s Jorge Salvador, but Italian sensation Uccellini stayed just behind him all race, before pouncing on the final lap to take the lead and the race victory by less than a second! Amazingly, the three leading teams all took seven points from the race, as David Cracco took sixth for Italy, Pau Caudet took fifth for Spain, and French pairing Kenzo Ferez and Leo Diss Fenard packed together in third and fourth!
Fenard claimed the holeshot in race two ahead of Salvador, but Uccellini was unstoppable and waltzed to the race win, as Cracco improved to fifth place to make the difference as Caudet backed up Salvador to put the Spaniards in third and fourth, but Ferez could only get sixth while Diss Fenard’s second position brought France a score two points worse in the race than Italy!
As the Italians celebrated their first win since 2019, France just held back Spain for second overall, with Poland claiming fourth overall ahead of home team Romania 1.
WMX: SPAIN CLAIM THE CHAMPIONSHIP
WMX veteran Larissa Papenmeier took a stunning holeshot in both races but was unable to hold back the unstoppable force that is twice WMX Vice-Champion Daniela Guillen, who powered to the race win by over ten seconds in both races.
Despite Guillen’s teammate Jana Sanchez suffering a crash in race one, the reigning Champions were able to keep their title due to Sanchez being able to keep Alessandra Massury of Germany behind her, and the French duo of April Franzoni and Jesse Joineau never being able to break the dominance of Guillen and Papenmeier at the front. The Germans claimed second, as they last did in 2019, and France’s third position was their first WMXoN podium for ten years, since the days of multiple champ Livia Lancelot leading their effort!
