Daniela Guillén beat the reigning world champion in the first race of the season to take the lead in the championship ahead of three other Galfer riders for a total of four top tens and one first place in the first race of the WMX 2023.
The first WMX race was held on 26 March at the mythical “Le Dune” race track in Riola Sardo on the island of Sardinia. Good weather during the whole weekend and a sandy track with deep ruts made for a very technical circuit: the perfect scenario for the LastLap GAS GAS team and their prodigious rider, Daniela Guillén, to achieve the sought results.
The Spanish rider stood out all weekend with a strong second place in the qualifying rounds. She was then involved in a terrific battle during the first race, where she managed to take 2nd place after a great start, finishing ahead of three times world champion Courtney Duncan, who was unable to overtake her. In the second race, she made another great start and gained positions quickly, again overtaking Duncan and the current champion Nancy Van de Ven (Ceres 71 Yamaha Team) to move into 1st position, defending it tooth and nail to take the chequered flag and become the new undisputed leader. Her victory was achieved with DF606RW-DF607RW fixed grooved “Disc Wave®” brakes, together with Racing G1396R sintered brake pads.
Meanwhile, Charli Cannon, the Australian rider of the Yamaha JK Racing team, had a very steady weekend. She managed to take 7th and 8th places in the two races, finishing 7th overall, ahead of Kiara Fontanesi, who did not race last season due to her pregnancy and the birth of her daughter. On her return to the track, the Italian rider was not intimidated by her rivals and finished in the top ten, taking 8th place.
Reigning world champion Nancy Van de Ven from the Netherlands suffered a minor crash in the first lap on Saturday which prevented her from continuing in the race, but this had no effect on her desire to win and in Sunday’s race she managed to achieve an excellent podium finish, taking 2nd place.
Other Galfer riders finished outside the top ten: Giorgia Blasigh (KTM Beddini Racing) managed to finish in eleventh position overall after coming 11th in both races, Larissa Papenmeier was 13th after two very steady races, Malou Jakobsen was 17th and Guillén’s teammate Gabriela Seisdedos finished in 18th position.
The next race will take place in Switzerland on 10 April.
