Ashley Fiolek Finishes Third in Bulgaria

LANCELOT TAKES FIRST CAREER WIN AT WOMEN’S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND ONE

SEVLIEVO (BULGARIA), 11 May 2008 – Livia Lancelot took her first ever victory today at Sevlievo, under mixed weather conditions which made the second moto a lot harder than the first, as the course got more slippery.

27000 spectators attended this opening round of the FIM Women’s Motocross World Championship which will move to Italy next week for the second of five rounds.

Today’s podium saw (from left to right) Maria Franke, Livia Lancelot and Ashley Fiolek celebrate

Having started the FIM Women’s World Cup in 2005 as a privateer, current GPKR rider Livia Lancelot took her first overall win today, at round one of the first edition of the FIM Women’s Motocross World Championship. Ending runner up to Suzuki Inotec’s Larissa Papenmeier in the first moto, Livia took victory in heat two as her rival crashed and injured her right foot. Kawasaki Elf Pfeil’s Maria Franke was second on the podium with American Ashley Fiolek rounding off the rostrum at her first ever appearance in the FIM series. Injured Yamaha Van Beers Racing’s Katherine Prumm and West Coast KTM Scandinavia’s Elin Mann rounded off the top five.

Today’s podium saw (from left to right) Maria Franke, Livia Lancelot and Ashley Fiolek celebrate

Livia Lancelot took today’s overall

MOTO 1

Papenmeier took the holeshot and lead for the first two laps, then Lancelot moved up to first and tried to open up a gap from her German rival. The latter came back up to Lancelot’s tail to move past with four laps to go; Lancelot kept following Papenmeier who eventually won from last year’s runner up. The leading duo ran away from the rest of the field and left Fiolek battle with Franke for the third place. Franke came back up after a troubled start, moving in front of Fiolek for a lap. The American fought back to secure the third place ahead of Franke, while Prumm came back strong after a crash to round off the top five.

MOTO 2

Once again Papenmeier took a superb start but the slippery conditions saw the first moto winner let Lancelot by. Livia rode an incredible heat to take a start to flag victory but Papenmeier could not even finish the opening lap; the German crashed with Fiolek and injured her right foot. Fiolek was on fire after the crash and started to work her way up to an eventual fourth place, sandwiched in between two time World Cup winner Prumm (third) and Mann (fifth). Franke ended second after a decent start.

Ashley Fiolek was on fire today

IN THE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS STANDINGS

Livia Lancelot holds the red plate with Maria Franke and Ashley Fiolek completing the top three. Despite her right knee injury, Prumm is fourth in the Championship ahead of Elin Mann.

WHAT’S NEXT

There is not much time to move from Bulgaria to Mantova, Italy, where the second round of the Women World Championship will take place next weekend (May 17-18) inside the Lovemytime Grand Prix of Italy.