The final round of the racing season did not start in the best way for the Fantic Factory Team Maddii. Hakon Osterhagen injured himself and this will keep him far away from the racing scene for a while; furthermore, while training for Fermo, Lapucci badly hurt his ankle. Lapucci’s presence at the final round was not confirmed until one day before the race, but it was made possible thanks to a thorough work of both fitness coach and team. Nicholas bit the bullet and got on track.
Despite the pain, Nicholas felt comfortable on the hard pack ground of Fermo since the free practice and even conquered the pole position in the qualifying. Great outcome also for Federico Tuani, whose race pace was solid enough to guarantee him the seventh fastest time.
At the start of race1 Lapucci did not take advantage of the pole position, in fact he was second after the first corner, but after a couple of rounds useful to understand his rival’s strategy he took the lead back. Nicholas pulled away and won the race with a good margin over his main rival. Federico’s start was really good too and after a solid race classified seventh.
Lapucci was perfect in race2. He took the lead right after the start and held it for all the 17 laps without even worrying about rivals. Lapucci won the race with a good margin over the other riders. Tuani was the author of another consistent heat and classified seventh once again.
Thanks to both victories Lapucci was the overall winner and came home with the Italian title.
The weekend also marked the debut of Nicola Salvini in the Junior Italian Championship, where thanks to two solid heats classified second overall with his Fantic XX 125.
Marco Maddii stated: “It was an excellent day, but it’s been tough because after Lapucci’s injury we weren’t sure we could have disputed the race. Mario Resti, our fitness coach, did a great job so he could face this round. We did a great job also as a team and Nicholas did his part with two victories which allowed us to grab the title. It was a hard-earned victory because of the little problems we had, but we never gave up and this allowed us to succeed. Salvini’s performance was excellent considering the fact it was his first race with a Fantic machinery; Nicola will finish the season with us both in the Italian as the European Championship. I want to thank everybody for this amazing triumph”.
Words and pic: Fantic