The fourth round of the FIM Motocross World Championship will take place at one of the best circuits on the calendar this weekend as the visit to Sevlievo not only kicks the series back into life after a two week break but also initiates the first meeting of five in the first ever Women’s World Championship. Van Beers Yamaha’s Katherine Prumm, a double Women’s World Cup winner, is struggling for full fitness after rupturing her right ACL (Anterior Cruciate Ligament) while practicing this week.
Prumm has been based in Holland since mid-March and even attempted several meetings against male opposition as part of her preparation for this weekend. The news is a bitter blow to her ambitions although the lack of swelling means she will endeavour to compete at Sevlievo with a special brace and sufficient taping.
“Everything had gone really well recently and I could not have been better prepared for the first Grand Prix,” she said. “I was three laps away from finishing my practice moto when I lost traction on the ramp of a jump which put me at 90 degrees. I came down at strange angle and my right leg was off the pegs and took most of the impact. I felt something go ‘pop’ and I knew pretty much right away what had happened. I could ride back but when I stopped I had some pain and could not straighten the leg.”
“A scan revealed the broken ACL, thankfully it is not as bad as my left knee which I injured in 2006 but at the end of the season I will need a reconstruction,” she added. “Obviously it is not the way I wanted to start the world championship but I will try and do my best at the weekend and see what happens.”
The Yamaha Monster Motocross Team – currently holding 1st and 3rd positions in the premier MX1-GP category thanks to their riders David Philippaerts and Josh Coppins respectively – will travel to the venue where they sampled victory with Coppins in 2007 and will also be following the progress of MX2-GP World Champion Antonio Cairoli after his dominant win in Portugal a fortnight ago and now who leads the class.
World championship leader Philippaerts – the first Italian to head the MX1-GP series since its inception in 2004 – has been using the recent good weather in his native country to steadily train through the hiatus and claims that he will enjoy wearing the ‘red plate’ this weekend for the first time in his career.
“We are only three rounds into fifteen so it does not mean much to lead the championship at this stage, but it does mean that we are competitive and it is always nice to look at the bike with the red plate on!” he said. “I’ve been riding in Italy and physically I feel fantastic, my confidence is good and I’m very pleased with how things are going.”
Philippaerts finished 5th and 3rd last year at Sevlievo, which was his first encounter with the track on a 450cc machine. “It has similarities to some Italian tracks and has been hard and dry in the past,” he remarked “normally it is quite fun to race there and the riders are close in the times; it should be a good GP.”
Josh Coppins
Coppins has spent the time after the Grand Prix of Portugal, where he seized third place and his first podium of the season by passing world champion Steve Ramon on the last corner of the final lap of the second moto, at his Belgian base recovering from a bout of flu.
“I felt the flu coming thought it would disappear in a few days so I kept on riding and doing some training, which perhaps wasn’t the smartest move as the virus stuck around a bit longer, but I am more or less back to normal now,” he said. “Obviously I’m happy after the podium in Portugal and, more than just the result, the progress of my race fitness; to be strong like that at the end of the motos was really encouraging.”
“I like the track, it’s fast and jumpy; my kind of place,” he added about Sevlievo. “I won last year and have also taken another podium a few years ago. The weather forecast is not the best so I really hope the rain stays off for us.”
The impressive Sevlievo circuit has a copious hard-standing paddock, immaculate facilities and grandstands within the natural amphitheatre. The government-backed racecourse provides one of the premium examples of 21st century motocross. The track itself has a wide and fast layout with plenty of jumps and steep uphill and downhill drags; forging a lap-time of almost two minutes. The hot and sunny conditions of 2007 are likely to give way to a cooler Grand Prix for the 2008 edition (the third year in succession the world championship has visited Bulgaria) with even rainfall predicted on Saturday.
