Nancy van de Ven of the No Fear Energy Yamaha team came close to the GP victory in the second round of the Women’s world championship series at Arco di Trento in Italy. After finishing third in the first heat, Nancy fought like a tigress in heat two and held the lead until the penultimate lap. A crash regrettably dropped her to fourth and that held her to fourth in the overall result for the day as well.
After the drama at the Indonesian GP, Van der Ven was burning to make her make in Italy. She qualified third, and was ready for action. A sharp start launched her into the early lead in race one, which immediately resulted in a fierce battle for the top position. Nancy at one stage dropped to third spot, but maintained a competitive pace. When Courtney Duncan crashed, she could move to second, but eventually lost a spot again. She fought hard to regain her second spot, but could just not succeed.
Some heavy rain on Saturday night turned the track muddy in places. A good start was important, and Nancy got the memo. She claimed another holeshot on her Yamaha YZ-F250 and again fought off all comers to hold the lead until the penultimate lap. When getting to a group of lappers, she lost control over the bike and crashed. She lost a few places, and was disappointed with fourth. Has she won the heat, the GP victory would have gone her way.
Despite her disappointment, Nancy scored well with her fourth place overall. The next round of the series is at Ernee in France on the weekend of 27-28 May.
Overall Grand Prix Italy:
1 Kiara Fontanesi 47
2 Courtney Duncan 42
3 Livia Lancelot 41
4 Nancy van de Ven 38
5 Larissa Papenmeijer 33
