Kiara Fontanesi rolled back the years at the iconic Foxhill circuit with a flawless 1-1 performance to reclaim the WMX World Championship red plate. It marked the Italina’s first perfect weekend since Turkey in 2021, underlining that the Italian legend remains as competitive as ever despite now balancing racing with family life.
At 32 years of age and a mother of two, Fontanesi continues to defy expectations. After edging out Courtney Duncan in a tense opening moto before dominating race two, she admitted the achievement was difficult to put into words, describing it as a dream come true after years of hard work, belief and never giving up.
We caught up with the emotional Italian to discuss her return to the top step, reclaiming the championship lead and her thoughts ahead of the crucial sand race at Arnhem.
GateDrop: We were just talking there, you can’t even remember the last time you went 1-1. Just talk me through your emotions and how does it feel to go 1-1 again? Did you ever think this day would come? You’ve been away, had a few kids and you can still do this, pretty amazing…
Fontanesi: I mean I think there is a lot to say but I struggle to put everything into words because first of all for sure the feeling, the first feelings are, I mean feeling happy but at the same time like you said, if I think what I’m actually doing. I’m standing here now at 32 years with two kids. I always believed in this but it was something so difficult to reach and also sometimes even unimaginable so I feel like I’m dreaming. I don’t know how it’s that possible, I just think that it’s the consistent work I always put in and the fact that I never ever gave up on working but especially on believing in my potential and believing in what I can do on the bike.
For me riding a bike is just amazing and at the same time so simple, so easy. It feels just like normal being on a bike for me and it’s all my life, everything I always had until I had two kids and now being able to have two kids and have my dream on the bike, it’s just unbelievable. You will need some time to realise it but it’s crazy and thinking of going 1-1 in a world championship race, leading the world championship, it’s a big achievement itself yet so I don’t know how it’s going to end but until now – I’m just so proud of everything we’ve done.
GateDrop: You spoke there about never giving up, I think we’ve seen that in the first moto, fair play to Courtney, she’s had her issues as well and she was going really fast yesterday but you never give up. Maybe a few years ago she might have passed you and pulled away but you showed how tough you are around the track and you held on to take the win so that must have been good mentally…
Fontanesi: Yeah, yesterday I struggled a lot mentally because I was not free to ride the bike the way I wanted, I was just stressing too much because I didn’t want to make any mistakes but at the same time I wanted to push and improve the gap. I knew I could let Courtney pass but I didn’t want to because I wanted to gain more points on Daniela with a championship so short and so tight you cannot really enjoy racing like that. I stressed so much but like you said maybe some years ago I would have struggled more so I’m not saying I didn’t struggle but at the same time I feel like being 32 has some positives and negatives. For sure the positives are the experience both on the bike and mentally. I think this is something that it will for sure help and also the race itself yesterday will help me for the future races. At the end not giving up and putting in the best lap time at the last lap after seeing that I lost so much gap because of the lappers. These races are those where you learn, those where you improve and I’m so somehow happy to have struggled and be able to get out of that in the best way possible.
GateDrop: It’s an iconic Foxhill track, it’s my first time here and walking in on Friday, I mean wow! What did you think of the track and was it different both days yesterday the corners were really soft and quite rutty, it was maybe a bit more hard pack today?
Fontanesi: I was expecting to be racing the second moto in muddy condition because that’s what always happened. Also looking back to Saturday morning, it’s normal it was muddy, it was the kind of mud that I liked because I was feeling comfortable in free practice. I didn’t expect to find a track with such perfect grip, I’m so happy that it was like this because it was more about riding instead of being careful not to crash – we don’t usually get the perfect grip. As soon as I took the holeshot, I told myself okay now it’s time to really push and go away for the first two laps at least before we get to get into the lappers. The plan perfectly worked.
GateDrop: I mean to get the red plate back is amazing. How does it feel to have the red plate back and do you think that adds any pressure or for you is it just one race at a time?
Fontanesi: Like I said, it’s unbelievable. I feel like I’m dreaming now, I cannot realise what I actually did and where I’m standing now. It does not give pressure to me at all, I feel always more comfortable being first and being second – especially in such a short championship. It was always better having some points in advance than points from the lead so I’m super happy about that. I just want to enjoy this victory but having the red plate doesn’t mean you’re going to win the World Championship so until now I’m super happy and for the rest we wait and see.
GateDrop: Arnhem is going to be massive, have you got plans between now and Arnhem? Eat, sleep and breathe in sand?
Fontanesi: We for sure need to start riding a little bit on the sand. I haven’t ridden the sand since February probably but I also like the sand. I think I can be fast, Arnhem is more not my style because it’s not a real Italian style but at the same time I’ve won races in the sand and I think I can do a good weekend there. I just need to practice a little bit before Arnhem and if mentally I’m there then I can do a good race as well.
