The third round of the 2021 FIM Motocross World Championship was run at the old-school Italian track of Maggiora this past weekend – the event marked the first time that the venue has hosted a Grand Prix since 2015. The Hitachi KTM fuelled by Milwaukee team travelled to the scenic track with Conrad Mewse, Ashton Dickinson, and Adam Sterry.

Conrad Mewse had an encouraging start to the Grand Prix of Italy, as he qualified in eighth and then ended the first lap of MX2 moto one in ninth. Mewse swapped positions with those riders around him throughout the moto, before eventually crossing the finish line in tenth. The second moto was harder on him, as he started outside of the top 20 and had to charge all the way up to fifteenth at the chequered flag. That put him in thirteenth overall on the day and helped him climb to eighteenth in the championship standings.

Misfortune followed Ashton Dickinson, the second MX2 rider on Hitachi KTM fuelled by Milwaukee, during the Grand Prix, as he was caught up in a crash on lap one of the first MX2 moto and then fell again a couple of laps later. Dickinson eventually withdrew from the stint prematurely, but he returned for moto two and chased some points. Although he started way down the order in thirty-second, he made it to twenty-fourth at the chequered flag. Dickinson currently runs twenty-fourth in the championship standings.
 
Adam Sterry showed potential in the extremely stacked MXGP class once again, as he slotted into fifteenth in time practice and posted a similar result (sixteenth) in the first moto. A thunderstorm caused heavy rain to fall just moments before the final premier-class moto though, which turned it into a game of survival. A crash in turn two forced Sterry to push forward from the back, which he did well, but a second fall left him with a twisted bike and unable to continue. Twentieth overall was his final ranking at the Grand Prix of Italy – he occupies the same position in the championship standings.
 
Attention now turns to the fourth stop of the 2021 FIM Motocross World Championship in The Netherlands later this month. Oss will host the Dutch Grand Prix on July 18.

Conrad Mewse: "An up-and-down day in Italy. It was good to run inside of the top ten in the first moto and see what the pace is like towards the front. A bad start hurt me in moto two though, so I had to charge up to fifteenth. Looking forward to getting back in the sand for Oss!"

Ashton Dickinson: "Tough day for me in Italy. I struggled in qualifying, which then set me up to get a poor gate pick. I got banged up in moto one and did not finish – I crashed twice and tweaked my ankle in one of them. Moto two was a bit better. My riding was good and lap times were good, but the track was tough to pass on and I only managed P24. Some things to work on in this break and then we go again at Oss!

Adam Sterry: "I feel like we are there in that bunch now, where the top ten is possible. From ninth to sixteenth, we are all in a train every race. I feel like we are in that group – it depends on the start. I struggled a bit in the first moto today, then the rain came for moto two. I went down in the second turn and was slipping on the hill trying to pick my bike up. I got back to eighteenth, but just made a small mistake over the back and my bars were twisted. I feel like I am getting better at each GP."

Roger Magee (Hitachi KTM fuelled by Milwaukee Team Owner): "Another difficult day for the team's riders at Maggiora. Conrad made a good start in moto one, in P6, but some small mistakes on the opening lap dropped him down the leaderboard coming home with P10 at the finish. In the second moto he started in the mid-twenties and was only able to come back to P15. Ashton had a day of really just bad luck being involved in multiple rider pile-ups on the opening laps of both motos, leaving him on the back foot for scoring points.

"In MXGP, Adam had a good start in the first moto but faded to P16 at the end. The torrential downpour that was forecast arrived just before the second moto and made the race a bit of a lottery – he crashed on lap one. However, he regrouped well and made it up to P18 from dead last only to have a big crash on one of the many steep hills of the iconic Italian circuit leaving his bike unrideable to finish."