Italy and Trentino

Italy is such an important part of our sport. Like Belgium, France, Great Britain, Holland and Germany, Italy is one of the centre pieces of our history. Back in 1957 in the very first year of the FIM Motocross World Championships when Swedish legend Bill Nilsson won at the Imola circuit, a circuit that would hold seven of the first eight 500cc Grand Prix’s.

Many great circuits have been a part of the GP scene, from Gallarate where Torsten Hallman won his first 250 GP in Italy, and would win five times in that country, at various circuits. Of course, Maggiora, which first appeared on the GP scene in 1966 when German legend Paul Friedrichs won a 500cc GP has a huge history, with the legendary 1986 Motocross des Nations, and that events return in 2016, not to mention a long list of Grand Prix’s held at that magnificent circuit on the hillside.

We could go on forever, but places like Cingoli, Fermo, Faenza, Montevarchi, and Arco Di Trento have been written in motocross folk-law and will remain great memories for those lucky enough to visit those old school circuits.

This weekend, the MXGP paddock heads to Trentino, a circuit that is rather new to the GP series, but an old school circuit if you ever saw one. Nestled up against the Dolomite Mountain range, the hard packed Crossodrome Ciclamino facility is just beautiful, and atmosphere at that place is just sensational.

Five-time World champion Tim Gajser loves the place and has won on five occasions, while nine-time world champion Antonio Cairoli, a big fan of racing in his homeland, has also won their five times. He also produced some of his own magic there in 2017 when he completely dominated everyone from the back of the pack.

Of course, Gajser won his first ever GP at Trentino in 2015, finishing with 2-1 results, giving Jeffrey Herlings one of his very few real beatings in the MX2 class (Herlings went 1-2). Gajser went on to win the MX2 World championship that year after Jeffrey Herlings crashed out of the series.

We had the triple header in 2021 and of course, drama, crashes and so much more exciting moments as the big three Herlings, Febvre and Gajser went head-to-head. Last year it was Tim Gajser who won in MXGP and Tom Vialle in MX2.

So, it will be interesting to see what we get at Trentino this year. Would Jorge Prado take it up a notch and grow his confidence. Or will it be five-time winner at this circuit Jeffrey Herlings stamping his mark on the event?