Sunday, April 27th — Under the red dirt skies of Lonigo, the 2025 Italian Flat Track season officially kicked off. The opening round combined the national championship with the Dust & Fun Trophy, bringing together the best sideways action in the country. On track: Italian Championship riders in the single 450cc Pro class, lining up alongside Dust & Fun racers in Modern, Rookies, Thunderbike, and Sunday Cup categories.
A key storyline for 2025: several riders have made the leap from Dust & Fun to the Italian Championship — a natural progression that significantly boosted the Pro class, which saw 19 entries on the Lonigo oval, nearly double compared to just a couple of years ago. On the flip side, the Dust & Fun Modern class — essentially an intermediate 450cc category — was nearly empty. Still, the Rookie and Thunderbike classes saw strong turnouts.
The opening round ended with Daniele Tonelli (TM) on top form, grabbing the holeshot and staying ahead throughout the final, keeping a safe gap between himself and the chasing pack. That chasing pack is where the action really was — an intense three-way battle for the podium between local hero Emanuele Marzotto (riding a VFR KTM), Tati Mercado on Honda, and former world champ Gerard Bailo on the Zaeta. In the end, Marzotto edged out Mercado by inches, with Bailo just missing the podium.
Giacomo Bossetti came in fifth but was classified fourth for championship points, as Bailo — being a foreign rider — is ineligible for the Italian standings. Behind him, Kevin Corradetti had a tough debut on the Yamaha fielded by Marco Belli’s Di Traverso team. Fast as always, the rider from the Marche region struggled with a poor start and a few mistakes in the final. Completing the top 10 were Michele Guerra (7th), rookie Daniele Tuzi (8th), Stefano Casiraghi (9th), and Alex Dalla Valle (10th), who even snagged a heat win over both Tonelli and Bailo.
In the Dust & Fun classes, the Thunderbike category stole the spotlight with a day-long duel between the Rotax-powered bikes of Sami Panseri and Carlo Pettinato. The two split the heat wins — two each — and fought side by side for all 8 laps of the final. It was only on the penultimate lap that Panseri made the decisive pass, securing the win. Pettinato, riding a machine built over winter by Mark Racing, was still happy with second place. Third went to Simone Zani on a Honda Dominator.
The Modern class saw only three riders line up: Davide Maran, Gioele Compri, and Alessandro Giuzio — finishing in that order. Due to low entry numbers, Modern and Street Legal (Royal Enfield’s one-make class) raced together. Pettinato had worked his way up to third overall on the underpowered Scram 411 before running out of gas halfway through the final.
Much more heat came from the Rookie class, with 8 riders on the grid. Alessandro Mantia (KTM 450) took the win ahead of Alessandro Zappi (on a twin-cylinder Ducati) and Simone Zanchetta, riding a rare flat-track-prepped BMW G 450 X. In the Sunday Cup, Nicola Ruggiero came out on top.
Next stop: Sunday, June 22nd — Round two of the Italian Flat Track series heads to the Tre Ponti oval in Ravenna, hosted by the legendary Moto Club Ravenna.
