Defending Moto class champion Todd Kellett – Drag’on Yamaha stormed to victory on today’s opening day of action at the Bibione Sand Storm – round three of the 2025 FIM Sand Races World Championship.

Kiara Fontanesi on the GASGAS inflicted a rare defeat on reigning Moto Women champion Amandine Verstappen – Yamaha, but Quad champion Pablo Violet – Drag’on Yamaha failed to even make it to the finish of his race.

With a big turn-out of fans in attendance for the second edition of the event in the north-east of Italy on the Adriatic coast, clear skies greeted contestants in the Moto category who got the programme under way with a ninety-minute morning race on the six-kilometre course.

Kellett has earned an enviable reputation for his fast starts and ability to quickly slot into a high tempo and the twenty-eight-year-old British star, unbeaten in the series since the final event of 2023, pulled out a comfortable advantage at the front of the field after passing France’s Jeremy Hauquier – Yamaha who holeshot, but fell on lap two.

With a clear track in front of him, Kellett recorded the fastest lap of the race on his second lap to create a decisive gap ahead of his French team-mate Milko Potisek and he then managed this advantage, slowing extending his lead as the race progressed.

With Hauquier holding an early third ahead of last year’s Moto Junior 2 champion Paolo Maschio – Honda and Lars van Berkel – Honda from the Netherlands, Kellett was intent on showing his mastery of line choice and sand racing technique.

By half-distance his lead was almost a minute with Hauquier all over the rear of Potisek for second as Maschio lost fourth to Norwegian racer Hakon Fredriksen – Honda and by the time the chequered flag was unfurled Kellett was cruising, eventually taking victory by just over one-and-a-half minutes.

“I’m really, really enjoying it and I’ve had a really good season in France,” said Kellett. “The bike is absolutely incredible and that’s definitely helping the situation. What’s great about this FIM World Championship is that every race is so different and it really shows what great riders we’ve got.”

Potisek’s eventual second-placed finish almost half-a-minute ahead of Hauquier keeps him firmly in contention for the weekend’s overall victory as he attempts to reduce the ten-point deficit to Kellett while Hauquier, who was second last season and currently holds third in the points, will start tomorrow with every reason to feel confident. 

In the Moto Women class, Belgium’s Verstappen also started the day with an impressive win-streak that extended all the way back to 2023, but she faced determined opposition in the form of home favourite Kiara Fontanesi, the most successful competitor in the history of the FIM Women’s Motocross World Championship with six gold medals.

Verstappen is also a talented Motocross racer and the pair – Verstappen on a 450cc machine, Fontanesi on a 250 – went head-to-head for almost the full race duration with the defending champion initially running a handful of places ahead of the Italian, who she defeated at last year’s Bibione Sand Storm, before Fontanesi slipped ahead on their eighth lap.

The pair then circulated for the remainder of the race never more than one or two positions apart, but Verstappen was unable to get close enough to make a move and with her total of seventeen laps comparing favourably to Kellett’s nineteen, Fontanesi was an eventual sixteenth with Verstappen seventeenth. Champion in 2023, France’s Mathilde Denis – Fantic was third on fifteen laps.

“For me it was completely different this year because I know what’s going on,” said Fontanesi. “It is a bit of a challenge anyway, there are a lot of riders and it’s a long race, but I was confident I could ride at my potential. Amandine kept passing me on the straight, but I tried to push on the technical part – I saw I was faster there.”

The action at the Bibione Sand Storm continues tomorrow (26 October) with the opening Quad race scheduled for 10:00 (local time) followed by the Moto race at 13:30 (local time) before both days’ scores are combined to determine the weekend’s final finishing positions.

FULL RESULTS HERE