FIM Women's MX World Championship Starts this Weekend

May 7, 2008, 2:18pm

FUNCHAL (PORTUGAL), 7 May 2008 – After the quick development of the FIM Women’s Motocross World Cup throughout the years following the first edition in 2005, the series was upgraded to World Championship at the end of 2007. It will see its first World Championship round get underway this weekend at Sevlievo, Bulgaria, representing a brand new course for the women riders.

Katherine Prumm enters Sevlievo holding the red plate but will face a strong opposition in the likes of arch rival Livia Lancelot, Maria Franke, Larissa Papenmeier and lots more.

Kiwi Katherine Prumm will hold the red plate in Sevlievo

After winning the 2006 and 2007 World Cups onboard a Kawasaki machine, Kiwi Katherine Prumm is ready to start the 2008 season inside the Yamaha Van Beers Racing Team. Having completed a solid winter of preparation in Europe, Prumm is fit and looking forward to Sevlievo.

Prumm’s arch rival Livia Lancelot will ride her second season with the Kawasaki satellite team GPKR and is extremely hungry for success. The French rider held the red plate in 2007 but lost to Prumm at the final round in Lierop, collecting the runner up spot in the Championship after ending third both in 2005 and 2006.

Livia Lancelot had a fantastic debut with Kawasaki last year, ending second in the Cup

Kawasaki Elf Pfeil’s Maria Franke was one of the talents coming out in 2007; the rock solid German ended third in the Cup, being level in points with Lancelot, and will be back with Title ambitions this year.

Compatriot Larissa Papenmeier won the opening round in Teutschenthal, Germany, last year, to finish a solid fourth in the points standings; during the winter Papenmeier has moved into the Suzuki Inotec team after racing the previous three seasons onboard a Honda.

Swedish Marie Romlin completed the 2007 Cup’s top five and will be aiming higher for 2008, facing also the opposition of American Ashley Fiolek, Czech Jana Bartova, Dutch Marianne Veenstra, Irish Natalie Kane, Kiwi Nikki Scott, Italian Stefania Padrini and 2005 World Cup winner Stephanie Laier from Germany, to race onboard KTM machinery.

Maria Franke completed the top three of last year’s World Cup

GORNA ROSITZA AND SEVLIEVO

The Gorna Rositza race track was built in 1959 and reconstructed in 2000; it is a top motocross facility, being a reason of pride in Bulgaria, which won the 2006 and 2007 Best Organizer Awards at Monte Carlo’s FIM Off Road Awards. The course has the shape of an amphitheatre, offering a spectacular view to the spectators attending the Grand Prix in crowds. With a strong support from the political authorities, the Bulgarian Grand Prix is one of the most important worldwide events happening in the country. The hard pack ground of Sevlievo hosted a very dry race in 2007. Coppins and Cairoli survived the heat to win the MX1 and MX2 class respectively at the end of an eventful day, as everyone expected it to be a wet GP after the muddy 2007 edition. The weather forecast predicts a cloudy weekend hit by rain on Saturday, which will probably make it a tough first time in Sevlievo for the women riders.

The area of the Gorna Rositza track

This track is located only a few kilometers outside Sevlievo, with the town being situated in northern Bulgaria close to the geographical center of the country, 178 km from the country’s capital Sofia and 283 km away from sea resort Varna and the Black Sea. Sevlievo was funded at the end of the 10th century and has a history over ten centuries old, which is evident throughout the town in its buildings, churches and fortified walls. Nowadays the town has developed its industrial side and enjoys to be part of the European community as the whole country entered the EU on the 1st of January 2007.

THE EVENT’S SCHEDULE

Saturday May 10: Women’s World Championship Free Practice 1 at 9:00 am; MX2 Free Practice at 10:00 am; MX1 Free Practice 1 at 11:00 am; MX2 Pre-Qualifying Practice at 12:00 am; Women’s World Championship Free Practice 2 at 1:15 pm; MX1 Free Practice 2 at 2:00 pm; MX2 Qualifying Race 1 at 3:00 pm; MX2 Qualifying Race 2 at 3:45 pm; MX1 Time Practice at 4:30 pm; MX2 Last Chance Qualifying Practice at 5:15 pm; Women’s World Championship Time Practice at 6:00 pm (local time).

Sunday May 11: Women’s World Championship Warm-up at 9:00 am; MX2 Warm-up at 9:30 am; MX1 Warm-up at 10:00 am; Women’s World Championship Race 1 at 11:10 am; MX2 Grand Prix Race 1 at 12:10 am; MX1 Grand Prix Race 1 at 1:10 pm; Women’s World Championship Race 2 at 2:10 pm; MX2 Grand Prix Race 2 at 3:03 pm; MX1 Grand Prix Race 2 at 4:03 pm (local time).

LINKS

Youthstream

FIM

BMF- Bulgarian Motorcycle Federation

Information, photos and results are online at http://www.motocrossMX1.com, the official website of the FIM Motocross World Championships.