The Italian Motocross Championship has begun

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The season has begun for team Aprilia Off Road. It happened in Tuscany at Montevarchi (Arezzo, Italy) on Sunday, February 17, at the first round of the Italian Motocross Championship. It was a much-awaited event, particularly Cedric Melotte’s official reentry into competition (atop an Aprilia MXV 4.5) after a long period of rest due to the knee injury that held him back last season. The strong Belgian rider demonstrated his recovery by coming out like a lion in both fractions (which had tough starts). In Race 1, he mounted a comeback from the penultimate position after being blocked by the bike of one of his fallen competitors. Cedric threw himself into a spectacular game of catch-up and battled back to 16th place. In the final fraction, he again took off slowly in the central group but made his way to 10th place before noticing a vibration in his posterior frame. He thus stopped in the box just a few laps from the finish to get to the root of the problem (likely the break-down of welding).

Aprilia was also satisfied by Fabien Izoird’s debut atop a twin MXV 4.5 with Team JK Racing. The Swiss rider was blocked in at both starts but was able to battle back to 12th and 10th place respectively.

The official Aprilia MXV 4.5s on the track at Montevarchi remain in the “Step 2” configuration. Technicians and test riders continue to work on the evolutionary “Step 3” that we will see in the first race of the international season.

Montevarchi (AR) - 1st round of the Italian Motocross Championship MX1 Class

Race 1:

• 1. Joshua Coppins (Yamaha);
• 2. David Philippaerts (Yamaha);
• 3. Antonio Cairoli (Yamaha);
• 12. Fabien Izoird (Aprilia MXV 4.5);
• 16. Cedric Melotte (Aprilia MXV 4.5).

Race 2:

• 1. Joshua Coppins (Yamaha);
• 2. David Philippaerts (Yamaha);
• 3. Antonio Cairoli (Yamaha);
• 10. Fabien Izoird (Aprilia MXV 4.5);
• Rit. Cedric Melotte (Aprilia MXV 4.5).