The final round of this first Women’s Motocross World Championship season kicked off today with Larissa Papenmeier’s pole.
Entering this fifth round on top of the standings GPKR’s Livia Lancelot took second while Championship runner up Steffi Laier completed the top three.
Suzuki Inotec’s Larissa Papenmeier took her second season’s Circuiti Gioielli Women’s Pole Position Award in this final round of the series courtesy of a late fast lap.
The German snatched the quickest time from Championship leader Livia Lancelot of GPKR as the latter found herself in second place by 0.403 seconds. Today in a special press conference Kawasaki announced that Lancelot will be part of next year’s factory squad.
KTM Germany’s Steffi Laier took third which was her best season’s qualifying result; the 2005 World Cup Winner missed the opening round in Bulgaria and her only racing strategy for tomorrow will be winning both heats.
Elin Mann was fourth quickest ahead of Maria Franke with Ashley Fiolek having a tough time and finishing 13th.
Top ten: 1. Larissa Papenmeier (GER, Suzuki), 2:29.565; 2. Livia Lancelot (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:00.403; 3. Stephanie Laier (GER, KTM), +0:01.000; 4. Elin Mann (SWE, KTM), +0:01.132; 5. Maria Franke (GER, Kawasaki), +0:01.784; 6. Elien De Winter (BEL, KTM), +0:04.117; 7. Brenda Wagemans (BEL, KTM), +0:04.671; 8. Marielle De Mol (NED, Yamaha), +0:05.230; 9. Marianne Veenstra (NED, Suzuki), +0:05.836; 10. Aubriana Dunn (USA, Honda), +0:05.838
NEWS OF THE DAY: MX ROOKIE PRIZE GIVING
The maiden edition of the MX Rookie, a motocross tournament dedicated to young talents, was held in Lommel during the GP weekend and winner Mike Vanderstraeten was awarded today with a brand new Yamaha YZ250F handed directly by Yamaha’s Michele Rinaldi.
MX Rookie organizer Eric Geboers introduced the event and Vanderstraeten to the press who got to know more closely this 16 year old Belgian talent. Before leaving the event the MX Rookie winner was also handed a special racing shirt by his official fans’ club.
NEWS OF THE DAY: AXO KTM SILVER ACTION ANNOUNCES 2009 LINEUP
The Italy based squad AXO KTM Silver Action headed by Fulvio Crippa announced its 2009 line up today together with KTM’s Off Road Director Pit Beirer and Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s team manager Stefan Everts.
The riders will be Spaniard Jonathan Barragan, who won four GP’s so far this season (his first with the team), and Estonian Gert Krestinov, who took his maiden GP win at Lommel this year. Both will be on MX1 machinery as Barragan will have a full factory bike.
NEWS OF THE DAY: KAWASAKI RACING TEAM IN 2009
The Kawasaki Racing Team will change ownership in 2009 with Frenchmen Roger Pourcel (current team manager of GPKR) and Thierry Chizat Suzzoni (currently co-owner of the CLS Kawasaki team) joining forces to head the squad.
Current KRT Team Manager Martin van Genderen will continue to manage the KRT team and its members from the current base in Schijndel, The Netherlands.
The squad will line up three riders in the World Championship scene; GP winner Sebastien Pourcel and Gareth Swanepoel will race the MX1 class with the fuel injection KX450F-SR with current Women’s World Championship leader Livia Lancelot completing the factory Kawasaki team.
DE HERSELSE BOSSEN AND LIEROP
After Valkenswaard and Lommel, the De Herselse Bossen track is another sandy venue in the World Motocross calendar. The venue hosted its first Grand Prix back in 1996 (500cc class) and it is more than a classical Dutch sandy course; the start straight is always covered in grass while there is a part of the track going into a forest.
The whole layout and the ground are very demanding as a good physical challenge will add to the mounting mental pressure of the final round of the series. Among last year’s winners are Kevin Strijbos (MX1), Antonio Cairoli (MX2) and Katherine Prumm (Women).
Lierop is one of four community villages that form the municipality of Someren, a sort of natural paradise with its 1.615 hectares of woods, natural grounds and plantation landscape on which windmills, chapels and several other monuments are part of the beautiful Dutch scenery. Lierop is a quiet town at 20 kilometres from Eindhoven and 150 kilometres North of lively Amsterdam.
THE EVENT’S SCHEDULE
Sunday September 7: 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).
The Grand Prix will be broadcast live on:
EUROSPORT 2 (Pan Europe) : MX1 Race 1 at 13:00 and Race 2 at 16:00 CET
MOTORS TV (Pan Europe): MX2 Race 1 at 12:00 and Race 2 at 15:00 CET
SPORT ITALIA (Italy): MX2 Race 1 at 12:00 and Race 2 at 15:00 CET
VRT (Belgium): MX1 Race 1 at 13:00 and Race 2 at 16:00 CET
GALAXIE SPORT (Czech Republic): MX2 Race 1 at 12:00 and Race 2 at 15:00 CET
ART (Pan Middle East): MX1 Race 2 at 16:00 CET
SPORT TV (Slovenia): MX2 Race 1 at 12:00 and Race 2 at 15:00 CET
EUROSPORT WORLD (PAN ASIA): MX1 Race 1 at 11:00 GMT
RED BULL TV (Austria): MX2 Race 1 at 12:00 and Race 2 at 15:00; MX1 Race 1 at 13:00 and Race 2 at 16:00 CET
MEDIAZONE (Worldwide): MX2 Race 1 at 12:00 and Race 2 at 15:00; MX1 Race 1 at 13:00 and Race 2 at 16:00 CET
TRANS 7 (Indonesia): MX2 Race 1 at 12:00 and Race 2 at 15:00; MX1 Race 1 at 13:00 and Race 2 at 16:00 CET
SPORT TV (Portugal): MX2 Race 1 at 12:00 and Race 2 at 15:00 CET
The Grand Prix will be broadcast delayed on:
EUROSPORT 2 (Pan Europe): Monday September 8; MX1 Race 1 at 10:00, Race 2 at 15:00 and at 17:00 CET
MOTORS TV (Pan Europe): Sunday September 7; MX2 Race 1 at 21:00 and Race 2 at 21:55. Monday September 8; MX 2 Race 1 at 05:00 and Race 2 at 05:50. Tuesday September 9; MX1 Race 1 at 21:00 and Race 2 at 21:55. Wednesday September 10; MX2 Race 1 at 01:00 and Race 2 at 01:50, MX1 Race 1 at 07:00 and Race 2 at 07:50; MX2 Race 1 at 14:00 and Race 2 at 15:50; MX1 Race 1 at 14:55 and Race 2 at 16:40 CET
SPORT ITALIA (Italy): Sunday September 7; MX1 Race 1 at 23:30. Monday September 8; MX1 Race 2 at 00:30 CET
EUROSPORT WORLD (Pan Asia): Sunday September 7; MX1 Race 1 at 15:30 and at 21:00; MX1 Race 2 at 17:30 and at 21:45. Monday September 8; MX1 Race 1 at 03:00 and at 08:00, Race 2 at 08:45 and at 23:15; MX2 Race 2 at 18:15. Tuesday September 9; MX2 Race 2 at 00:00, at 08:15 and at 21:30; MX1 Race 2 at 07:30 and at 20:45. Wednesday September 10; MX1 Race 2 at 04:30 and at 10:30; MX2 Race 2 at 05:15, at 11:15 and at 19:00 GMT
AMERICA ONE SPORTS (USA): Second Tuesday after the GP; MX2 Race 2 at 21:00; MX1 Race 2 at 22:00 USA Eastern Time
GAORA (Japan): MX2 Race 1 and Race 2; MX1 Race 1 and Race 2 N/A CET
Information, photos and results are online at http://www.motocrossMX1.com, the official website of the FIM Motocross World Championships.
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- Daniele RIZZI-
