Lotte van Drunen of the Beurspro KTM team picked up a lot of extra experience during the second round of the Italian Championship qualifying series at Lovolo. Van Drunen finished 16th in the first race after a crash. She claimed ninth in the second heat after grabbing the holeshot.
The track at Lovolo is technical and hardpack, with many elevation changes. This is not a layout familiar to Dutch riders, and Lotte was forced into a quick learning curve, as she got into the qualifying session.
After using the free training session to get to know the track, Lotte still had difficulty with some sections of the track during qualifying. Despite not being entirely comfortable, she still qualified fifth in her group. Despite her strong showing, Lotte was not happy, and felt that there were still some improvements that could be made.
Lotte hesitated for a fraction of a second at the start of race one, which led to her being boxed in. She had to make her way forward from 30th position. She was coping well with this, working her way to ninth spot, and going into a clinch to take over eighth spot. She collided with the other rider, incurring a slight injury and some bike damage. Despite these impediments, she soldiered on, finishing 16th, and securing some points.
Lotte was keen to improve on this for the second race. After a good start, she took the initial lead. With a number of fast Italian riders behind her, she fended off all attacks for two laps. She lost her rhythm somewhat and finished ninth.
Lotte picked up a load of experience throughout the weekend, and finished fifth overall in the North Italian series. She has therefore comfortably qualified for the semi finals of the Italian championships in Savignano. The track is similar to the one she had just experienced, and this is all in keeping with her objective or gaining more experience on typical Italian hardpack tracks. The best riders out of the North – Central and South Italian regions will battle for one of the coveted 40 spots in the final events. The finals will consist of three events, after which the Italian champion will be crowned.