Italian racer says 'ciao' to the competition

Chiara Fontanesi came to America to race amateur motocross with a winning attitude and the promise of former women's motocross star Stefi Bau to coach her.

Fontanesi's attitude, and Bau's coaching, is paying off for the 13-year-old from Parma, Italy, at the Air Nautiques AMA Amateur National Motocross Championships being held at Loretta Lynn's in Hurricane, Mills, Tennessee. Fontanesi has raced two motos in the Girls (9-13) class and has won them both.

 In her moto Wednesday, Fontanesi got away from the pack early and built a gigantic lead that she kept to the checkered flag. Fontanesi's mom, Roberta, gave her daughter a big kiss on the victory stand, and Bau smiled with pride.

"We discussed this," said Bau, who also is from Italy and serves not only as Fontanesi's coach, but as her translator as well. "We discussed that she had to put her head down and get away the first couple of laps."

That's exactly what she did.

Fontanesi said that she didn't get a very good start but was able to make up for that in the first couple of turns before pulling away.

The Loretta Lynn's track is much more difficult than the Italian tracks she rides, she said, because her home tracks don't have double jumps or whoops.

But she said that she is learning how to handle those, and she is having fun doing it.

Shelby Dorsey of Cummings, Georgia, who finished second, said her bike wasn't running right -- "It was cutting out" -- but she was confident the bike would be ready for the third and final moto in the Girls (9-13) class on Friday.

Third-place finisher Brittney Endsley of Maryville, Tennessee, said that the track was pretty rough compared to the moto held a day earlier. Rain during the race also made the track pretty slick in places, she said.

Following her first moto win on Tuesday, Fontanesi showed all the confidence of a true racer.

"I expected to win," she said.