By Michael Gougis
Aldi Mahendra and Nahuel Santamaria split the Supersport 300 wins in the FIM Intercontinental Games at the Circuito de Jerez – Angel Nieto, while Humberto Maier Neto and Elia Bartolini won the Supersport races.
Max Toth was the highest-placed American rider, finishing fourth in Supersport 300 Race One. Matthew Chapin finished seventh, Mikayla Moore 15th and Avery Dreher crashed and DNF. In Race Two, Toth crashed, pushing Chapin wide. Toth DNF, Chapin finished 12th and Moore 14th after serving a double long lap penalty for a jump start. Dreher crashed and DNF.
In Supersport, Hayden Schultz took 10th in Race One, ahead of Andrew Lee in 12th, Mallory Dobbs in 13th and Blake Davis, who crashed and DNF. In Race Two, which was stopped due to a rain shower and then re-started as a 10-lap sprint, Davis was the highest-placed American in 11th, just ahead of Schultz in 12th and Dobbs in 13th. Lee finished 19th.
More, from Sean Bice/MotoAmerica.com:
FIM North America Team Finishes Fourth Overall At Intercontinental Games, Mallory Dobbs Wins Top Female Rider Honors
The 2024 City of Jerez FIM Intercontinental Games concluded on Sunday at Circuito de Jerez-Ángel Nieto with a total of four final events consisting of two 14-lap Supersport 300 races and two 16-lap Supersport races (Supersport race two was shortened to 10 laps due to rain).
The North America Continental Union, consisting of American riders Avery Dreher, Mikayla Moore, Max Toth, and Matthew Chapin in Supersport 300, as well as Hayden Schultz, Mallory Dobbs, Andrew Lee, and Blake Davis in Supersport, finished fourth overall in the team competition and just off the podium.
Top finisher for the Americans was Toth, who raced his Yamaha YZF-R3 to fourth place in Supersport 300 race one. Chapin was seventh, Moore was 15th, and Avery Dreher crashed out unhurt and did not finish. In race two, Toth crashed out and ran Chapin wide, but Chapin ultimately finished 12th. Moore was 14th after having to serve a double long-lap penalty for jumping the start, and Dreher crashed out again unhurt and did not finish.
Schultz was the top-finishing rider in the Supersport class, with a result of 10th place in race one aboard his Yamaha YZF-R7. Lee was 12th, Dobbs was 13th, and Davis did not finish due to a crash in which he was unhurt. In the rain-shortened 10-lap race two, Davis finished 11th with Schultz 12th and Dobbs 13th, while Lee finished 19th.
Of special note, Dobbs was awarded a gold Airoh helmet as the top-finishing female Supersport rider at the Intercontinental Games. The Washington state rider participated in this past season’s FIM Women’s Circuit Racing World Championship (WorldWCR), and she plans to also compete in the 2025 WorldWCR, so Dobbs is building quite a name for herself in international motorcycle road racing.
“The FIM Intercontinental Games was an amazing experience,” Dobbs said. “I’m so honored that I got to be a part of it, with so many talented riders both on our team and on the other teams. Our North America team worked together so well and just had a couple mishaps that made it so we couldn’t quite get on the podium.
“I am beyond excited to be the best-finishing female in the Supersport class! It rained in our second race, which made it interesting, but I’m coming home with a custom gold Airoh helmet. What a way to end the season! To everyone on our team, thank you for never giving up and working hard to make this possible for all of us!”
More, from a press release issued by FIM Europe:
FIM Europe strikes gold at inaugural FIM Intercontinental Games
FIM Europe is the first-ever winner of the inaugural FIM Intercontinental Games (ICG) following an action-packed, drama-filled weekend of racing at the fabled Circuito de Jerez – Ángel Nieto in southern Spain.
Bringing together the FIM’s six Continental Unions (CONU) of Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, North America and Oceania, and the City of Jerez FIM Intercontinental Games was contested across Supersport (SSP) and Supersport 300 (SSP300) classes, with other disciplines scheduled to be introduced as this biennial event becomes more established.
Each CONU was represented by an eight-rider team split equally between the two classes with R7 and R3 machines provided by ICG Official Partner Yamaha Motor Europe. In keeping with the FIM’s ongoing commitment to diversity, each CONU fielded two female racers with one in each class.
Following Saturday’s four Qualifying sessions, FIM Europe and FIM Oceania were very evenly matched in SSP300 with both CONUs boasting three riders in the top nine that made up the first three rows of the grid with Spanish sixteen-year-old Gonzalo Sanchez in pole ahead of Australian teenagers Archie McDonald and Cameron Swain.
Sanchez led away the opening fourteen-lap SSP300 race with eighteen-year-old FIM Asia rider Aldi Mahendra getting a great jump to go from sixth to second before moving ahead through the second corner. With twenty-four riders in action the opening laps were close and at times chaotic as the sport’s brightest young talents fought for position and after three laps and multiple changes of lead the top eighteen riders were all within two seconds of each other.
Another rider showing great form was FIM North America’s Maxwell Toth. Based in Barcelona for much of 2024, the eighteen-year-old Californian had only qualified eleventh, but he also took a turn in the lead.
With six laps to go Sanchez slid off and out of the race, although two laps later the main group was still comprised of nine riders with no clear favourite until Mahendra – who this year clinched the FIM WorldSSP300 World Championship at Jerez – finally managed to make a pass for the lead stick and he won by just 0.047 from FIM Europe’s Portuguese rider Tomás Alonso.
McDonald was third ahead of Toth with FIM Europe’s seventeen-year-old SSP300 Captain Alessandro Di Persio from Italy taking fifth chased by FIM Latin America’s Argentinian racer Nahuel Santamaria. First female to cross the line was Italian Josephine ‘Joy’ Bruno in eleventh representing FIM Europe.
Next up was the SSP class with twenty-three-year-old Dino Iozzo starting from pole for FIM Africa ahead of FIM Latin America’s talented Brazilian nineteen-year-old Humberto Cezar Maier Neto and Elia Bartolini, FIM Europe’s SSP Captain.
As was the case with the opening SSP300 race, it was incredibly evenly matched at the front of the field with the lead constantly changing hands and no single rider or CONU able to seize control.
With the sixteen-lap race moving into the final stages, rain started to fall and after thirteen laps the red flags came out to signal a premature end with Maier Neto taking the victory just 0.082 ahead of Iozzo and 0.122 in front of Bartolini.
FIM Europe strengthened its position in the overall competition with twenty-five-year-old Frenchman Enzo De La Vega taking fourth chased by FIM Oceania’s thirty-year-old SSP Captain Mike Jones and Indonesian racer Daniel Kasma representing FIM Asia. First female at the flag was Roberta Ponziani from Italy who was a late replacement for FIM Europe.
After the disappointment of crashing out of the first SSP300 race, Sanchez was determined to make amends and he started race two well from the front of the grid, but it was Swain who took an early lead as Toth enjoyed another great opening lap before his challenge ended early when he fell on lap three with FIM Oceania’s New Zealand racer Jesse Stroud. Also making an early exit was FIM Africa’s Kgopotso Mononyane who had shown impressive form throughout the weekend.
With no single rider able to exert control as the race entered its closing stages, the lead group was still made up of eight riders despite having been thinned out following falls by McDonald, who was able to remount, Swain and FIM North America’s Avery Dreher.
On the last lap it was still too close to call until Mahendra exited the final turn ahead and won the drag to the line in a photo-finish with Santamaria, only to be penalised two positions with an irresponsible riding penalty that put him behind Sanchez.
Mahendra’s penalty for pushing Santamaria wide in the final corner strengthened FIM Europe’s ICG lead over FIM Asia, although the Indonesian still won the AIROH Golden Helmet for best individual performance in the SSP300 class while Bruno was once again the highest-placed female finisher in ninth to claim her own AIROH Golden Helmet.
With overall victory in the ICG resting on the deciding SSP race, there were more than a few nerves on display, but just two laps in more rain began to fall and the race was red-flagged.
Restarted over a reduced duration of ten laps, the conditions resulted in more cautious racing with riders unwilling to push too hard. Maier Neto’s hopes of a second victory ended at half-distance when he went out, however as the laps ticked by it was impossible to pick a winner out of the leading group of ten riders until Bartolini made his move with two to go.
So evenly matched were the front-runners that the Italian could not break clear, and his charge proved to be decisive as he took the flag 0.612 ahead of Jones to secure an AIROH Golden Helmet. Iozzo was third from Thailand’s Apiwat Wongthananon, FIM Asia’s SSP Captain, making it four different CONUs in the top four and demonstrating just how close the competition was. Dobbs won an AIROH Golden Helmet as the highest-placed female SSP competitor in thirteenth.
With the celebrations expected to continue long into the night, Josephine Bruno was clearly delighted by FIM Europe’s performance. “It’s been a fantastic weekend,” she said. “The team and the mechanics have worked together perfectly and history was made here. I am very proud to have taken part and it’s been an honour to have represented FIM Europe.”
Her comments were echoed by her team-mate Roberta Ponziani. “We did a great job all together,” said the twenty-eight-year-old. “In wet conditions it is easy to make a mistake, so we did very well and I am very happy!”
FIM Europe’s SSP300 Captain Alexandro Di Persio was over the moon to have helped steer his CONU to victory, saying: “It is impossible to explain the feeling. Wonderful! It’s incredible to be here and I am grateful to FIM Europe to have been selected as a Captain. I thank all the team members – riders, mechanics, all the people who work for us. We made history and I am super-motivated now to kick-off a new season.”
Elia Bartolini, FIM Europe’s SSP Captain, played a vital role in his CONU’s win. “It’s been fantastic and I am so happy we won the title and I won the men’s AIROH Golden Helmet,” he said. “I want to thank my team-mates – we struggled a bit at times but never gave up.”
Alessandro Sambucco, FIM Europe Team Manager, said: “We have reached the goal! It was difficult because the level of rider was really high, but this is the proof that you can reach the goal as a team!”
Jorge Viegas, FIM President, stated: “This was in all aspects better than everybody expected. There was an incredible atmosphere of friendship between all the riders – win or lose it didn’t matter, they were all together – and I think there was a team spirit that I have never seen before in circuit racing.
“On behalf of the FIM I would like to thank everyone who has come together to make the first-ever FIM Intercontinental Games such a success including the City of Jerez, the Circuito de Jerez – Ángel Nieto, Dorna and Warner Bros Discovery Sports along with our ICG Official Partners Yamaha, Dunlop, SPIDI, XPD, AIROH, Beta Tools and Panta Racing Fuel. Also, I must say a heartfelt thank you to all the CONUs, FIM officials, the riders, volunteers, the media and the fans for all their support and commitment.”
