Belgium’s Cyril Genot (Honda) raced to victory in the Moto class at the the Bibione Sand Storm \u2013 round two of the FIM Sand Races World Championship \u2013 to secure the overall decision as his fellow countryman Randy Naveaux \u2013 Yamaha repeated his win yesterday in the Quad class and Mathilde Martinez \u2013 Honda from France ensured she left Italy with another maximum score in Moto Women.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Moto Veteran overall was claimed by Belgian series leader Daniel Drooghaag \u2013 KTM and his compatriot Dirk Schelfhout (Honda) once again dominated the Quad Veteran class. In the closely-contested Moto Juniors Goncalo Cardoso (KTM) from Portugal came out on top on Sunday, but the overall win went to Israeli racer Ben Almagor (KTM) who added a second-place finish to his day one win, while Moto Vintage pace-setter Pablo Henouille \u2013 Honda from France made it four wins from four starts this season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On a brighter day on the Adriatic coast, the Moto race was led around the sweeping first turn and down the long main straight by Dutch racer Damien Knuiman (Yamaha) chased by defending champion Todd Kellett (Honda) from Great Britain, Saturday winner and series leader H\u00e5kon Fredriksen (Yamaha Monster Drag’on Tek) from Norway, France’s Adrien Petit (Honda) and Genot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With the track rutted following the morning’s Quad race, conditions were challenging from the get-go, but Fredriksen was in no mood to settle for his current position as he swept by Kellett before charging ahead of Knuiman to take the lead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kellett, who was sixth on Saturday following an early fall, was lucky to stay upright after making an unsuccessful challenge for the lead as the top five quickly started to distance the chasing pack with Fredriksen two seconds up on the champion after two laps as Genot sat third ahead of Petit and Knuiman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fredriksen continued to control the race from the front as he carved his way through back-markers, but just over halfway through the ninety-minute race he had still not shaken off Genot who was circulating four seconds behind with Knuiman holding third another fifty seconds back, only eight seconds ahead of Petit, but Kellett had slipped to fifth after a slow pitstop to refuel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After nine laps Genot \u2013 who was second on Saturday \u2013 had found a way around Fredriksen, but his lead was less than a second before a gap of over a minute to Knuiman and the leaderboard changed again on lap ten when Fredriksen out-braked Genot into the left-hand turn following the straight and slipped up the inside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kellett picked off Petit before moving ahead of Knuiman on lap eleven, but with twenty minutes left on the clock he was almost two minutes behind Fredriksen whose lead over Genot was just over one-and-a-half seconds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On lap twelve the lead changed again when Fredriksen fell and with the Norwegian struggling to get back into a rhythm, Genot checked out to win by almost thirty-eight seconds. Kellett finished twenty seconds ahead of fourth-placed Knuiman, but two minutes and fifteen seconds down on the winner, with Petit the final rider to complete sixteen laps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With both days’ scores combined the overall went to Genot, but following his DNF at round one in Morocco the twenty-seven-year-old is not currently a threat to the series lead as Fredriksen extended his advantage with second overall from Knuiman and Kellett.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Following Saturday’s close battle for supremacy in the Moto Women class between wild card Kiara Fontanesi (GASGAS) and series leader Martinez, a big turn-out of spectators were treated to more of the same with the Italian fan favourite circulating a few positions ahead of the French racer until she retired around half-distance with a suspected mechanical issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With the six-time FIM Women’s Motocross World Champion out, Martinez claimed a comfortable win to go with her second-placed finish on Saturday with her total of thirteen laps one clear of defending champion Mathilde Denis (Yamaha) from France and good enough for fifteenth overall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After finishing second yesterday, Drooghaag returned to the top of the Moto Veteran class chased by the French pairing of Mathieu Reine (Yamaha) and Raphael Loridan (Yamaha) and with race one winner Maxime Jeanne (Yamaha) retiring on lap seven the Belgian extended his series lead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With the top nine riders in the Quad class all finishing on ten laps, the action was even closer on Sunday for much of the sixty-minute race, but after Great Britain’s Harry Walker (Yamaha), who was second on Saturday, retired after seven laps it was Naveaux who ran out winner by almost two-and-a-half minutes ahead of Belgian Oliver Vandendijck (Honda) with his compatriot Gleen De Swarte (Honda) over fifty seconds further back in third.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Schelfhout was fourth, ten seconds down on De Swarte, with France’s Alois Waloszek (Yamaha) completing the top five less than a second behind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Schelfhout’s heroics extended his unbeaten run in the Quad Veteran class to four wins from four starts with Portugal’s Nuno Goncalves (Yamaha) matching his second-placed finish on Saturday, less than a second ahead of France’s Axel Dutrie (Drag’on Yamaha) who recorded three-three scores over the weekend. However, it was a tough day for defending champion Benoit Sebert (Yamaha) with the Frenchman ending the race one lap down and eighth in class.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Moto Junior and Moto Vintage classes once again raced with the main Moto competitors before pulling off after forty-five minutes and this time around Cardoso, who was third on Saturday, led the entry home by seven seconds from Almagor on a total of seven laps with defending champion Matheo Gerat (Husqvarna) almost forty seconds further adrift in third.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the Moto Vintage class Henouille tightened his grip with his total of seven laps putting him one clear of French racers Sebastien Antony (KTM) and Anthony Golleau (Honda).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The action in the 2026 FIM Sand Races World Championship resumes on 7-8 November with the Ronde des Sables \u2013 Loon Plage on the northern coast of France.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Belgium’s Cyril Genot (Honda) raced to victory in the Moto class at the the Bibione Sand Storm \u2013<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17092,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[311,505],"class_list":["post-17091","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","tag-motorsports","tag-sand-races"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t