Italian MX Prestige: Ducati roars in MX2 but is shaken by Lupino; Lata and Adamo superb

Ducati’s ups and downs in the Italian Motocross round at Maggiora: podiums for Zanchi and Mancini in MX2, huge crash for Lupino in MX1... Lata and Adamo excellent—here’s how it went.

A subdued start to the season between MotoGP and Motocross, but Ducati raises its head at least in the top national series. Last weekend Maggiora Park hosted the second round of the Italian Motocross Pro Prestige Championship, with the Borgo Panigale brand making its mark particularly in MX2 both with Ferruccio Zanchi, its reference rider in the World Championship, and with Simone Mancini, the red-liveried rider in the European 250 and the very one who replaced the Florentine at the start of the year on the international stage. A nasty crash instead for Alessandro Lupino in the second MX1 race, with some consequences but fortunately nothing too serious. We’ve talked Ducati, but in MX2 it was Valerio Lata who shone, a solid points leader with two wins in two rounds (a much-needed boost after struggles in the World Championship), while in MX1 Andrea Adamo came really within a whisker of victory, which ultimately went to Jan Pancar, level on points but winner of Sunday’s Race 2, which therefore earned him the overall success.

Alessandro Lupino summed up the end of the second Motocross Prestige round held on the track in the province of Novara with these words. A video also appeared on his social channels in which, during the crash, he plows into a photographer and a track marshal, who fortunately are unhurt. "I’ve only got a severe neck trauma and a small nose fracture", Lupino wrote. "I didn’t want to end the day like this after a nice moto in P3… I’ll be back soon". Given the dynamics, it actually turned out quite well. Priority clearly goes to his recovery, but yesterday Ducati lost its benchmark in the premier class of the Italian championship, now down to 4th in the standings, and consequently also the red plate, which has now passed into the hands of Ivo Monticelli (Kawasaki), followed by Pancar and Adamo. A pity, since Lupino was having another standout weekend, with 3rd place in the day’s first moto and an unfortunately curtailed Race 2.

Encouraging signs from the riders competing in the World Championship. Valerio Lata, remember the reigning Italian MX2 champion, also won at Maggiora and now leads the standings with a wide margin over the Maddii team riders, Maxime Grau and Niccolò Alvisi. He had to fight for it though against the Ducati boys, Ferruccio Zanchi in particular: first he took pole position, then in the two races he logged a 3rd place in the first moto (coming back after a terrible start and with a final mistake that cost him P2), while in the last race came the roar in the tricolore, the victory that allows him to close 2nd overall in this Maggiora round. Simone Mancini also showed his claws, taking 2nd in Race 1 just ahead of Zanchi, then 5th in Race 2 and ultimately a strong third overall on the day, thus bringing double satisfaction to Ducati. In MX1, excellent news arrived from Andrea Adamo instead: pole position, victory in Race 1 and second place in Race 2, for P2 on the day tied on points with Pancar, which leaves a slight bitter taste, but above all we must highlight the Sicilian’s steps forward, as he’s continually progressing on the KTM 450, which he is debuting on this 2026.