2009 sees the fourth year for Davide Guarneri as part of the Yamaha Ricci Racing team and with the YZ250F in the MX2-GP world championship. The last twelve months provided more ups and downs in the career of the likeable Italian as he clinched victory against the odds in the mud-bath of the Grand Prix of Spain for round two of the series, but an innocuous crash during practice at the fifth event at Mantova left him with broken knee ligaments. He defiantly completed the season and scored points along the way but was not fully fit.

2007 was the year in which Guarneri first joined the winner’s circle in the MX2 world championship with his determined triumph at Namur for the Grand Prix of Belgium. If it hadn’t have been for some bad luck with injuries since his breakthrough in 2005 that celebration undoubtedly would have happened sooner.

Guarneri came to prominence for the Ricci Racing team during ’05 as early as round five at Teutschenthal for the Grand Prix of Europe where he achieved a second moto win in wet and difficult conditions. The 20 year old then continued his GP apprenticeship with some tough outings and finally finished eleventh.

Facing a very competitive class for 2006 Guarneri slipped back to sixteenth in the final classification but was dogged by fitness problems that saw him drop away from the point scorers in the second half of the fifteen race series. Highlights included a fourth position at the British Grand Prix, a ninth overall in South Africa and a vibrant performance at his home event, unfortunately the last five rounds of the Championship were largely forgettable with a virus leaving him unable to compete.

After misfortune in 2007, in which a pre-season ankle break and groin ailment late in the campaign were the low moments against his Namur success, and in 2008, Guarneri has had to mature as a racer in the fleeting moments when he has been at peak physical condition and on-form. 2009 should be his season to defy the injury demons and get back on winning track.