2023 FIM Youth Enduro World Champion
KING KEVIN!
Completing a season of almost total domination of the FIM Youth Enduro World Championship, Italy’s Kevin Cristino – Fantic secured the title on the opening day of competition at the EnduroGP of Portugal in early October.
Having already become a back-to-back Italian champion in the 125cc class, the then nineteen-year-old secured the first of what could be many FIM Enduro World Championship titles with a second-placed finish at St Andre/Santiago do Cacem.
Cristino was untouchable through the first eight scoring days of competition, maintaining an unbeaten win-streak that began with a double victory on home soil in Italy and continued to roll through Spain and the Scandinavian double-header in first Finland and then Sweden.
The only real test of his fortitude all season came at the EnduroGP of Slovakia at the start of July where, carrying a knee injury, he was forced to dig deep and show the fighting qualities all champions require. Gritting his teeth to ride through the discomfort and keep the damage to his championship aspirations to a minimum, Cristino came away with a pair of fifth place finishes that maintained his lead in the title race.
With the pressure firmly back on, Cristino headed to the penultimate round of the series at Valpaços in Portugal with a greatly reduced series advantage, but following a gap of almost three months between rounds he started the event fully recovered and a pair of wins ensured he re-established his control of the class and he was able to sew up the title on the opening day of the final round.
Of course, all champions like to sign off from a title-winning campaign on the top step of the podium and Cristino duly did this and his win on the second day by almost half-a-minute was a very fitting culmination to a stand-out season.
PALMARES
FIM Youth Enduro World Champion: 2023