Nancy van de Ven runner up in the WMX World Championship.

The 2020 WMX World Championship went right down to the wire. Ghidinelli Yamaha Racing’s Nancy van de Ven secured the silver medal with an emphatic race win in the final race of the season. The young Dutch rider finished on the same points as the eventual World Champion, but when two riders are tied on points, the overall is determined by race wins. Van de Ven won three races this season, while the gold medalist, Courtney Duncan, won five.

Two action-packed races were guaranteed with only 10-points separating the top-four riders. Van de Ven had the initial advantage as the Championship Leader going into the fifth and final round of the series and as the morning mist lifted over the stunning Ciclamino Circuit in Pietramurata, Italy, excitement quickly started to mound. Van de Ven carried a 4-point advantage over Duncan before Race 1 with Papenmeier a further 2-points back, in third.

A dramatic opening race saw three of the four title contenders crash within the first three turns. Duncan fell going into turn-one, van de Ven fell at turn-two and Kiara Fontanesi fell at turn-three. As Van de Ven bounced back and carved her way through the field, Papenmeier impressively stretched out a 20-second lead. With 2-laps to go, the German crashed out of first position on the final turn, allowing Duncan to win. Papenmeier finished second while van de Ven put in an incredible charge from last to finish fifth.

Fired up by the result of the first race, no-one could catch van de Ven in Race 2. The ‘85’ was flawless. She led every lap from start to finish to end her season in the best possible way – with a race victory.

Van de Ven finished second overall to claim the silver WMX World Championship medal in 2020.

Nancy van de Ven 2nd WMX World Championship Overall: “The crash in the first race and some mistakes at the beginning of the year made it hard for me, I can’t tell you if there is anything worse than getting second in the championship while finishing on the same points.”

Overall WMX Arco di Trento:
1 Courtney Duncan 45 Pnt
2 Nancy van de Ven 41 Pnt
3 Larissa Papenmeier 40 Pnt
4 Kiara Fontanesi 37 Pnt
5 Lynn Valk 36 Pnt

Final World Championship Standings:
1 Courtney Duncan 207 Pnt
2 Nancy van de Ven 207 Pnt
3 Larissa Papenmeier 200 Pnt
4 Kiara Fontanesi 193 Pnt
5 Lynn Valk 164 Pnt

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