After their latest appearance in St. Jean d’Angely, the FIM Women’s Motocross World Championship riders are back to action in Germany for the penultimate round of the series. The latest news is that series leader Katherine Prumm of Yamaha Van Beers will sit out of this weekend’s German round as she broke her left collarbone; the two time World Cup winner’s 2008 season started with a broken right ACL but Prumm could ride through the pain to collect the red plate at round three in St. Jean. With the Kiwi out, current runner up Livia Lancelot of GPKR is looking forward to taking back the red plate which she was snatched by Prumm at St. Jean, which was a bitter home event for Lancelot.
While the latter will try to make up for that, KTM Germany’s Steffi Laier hopes to continue her winning streak at home in Teutschenthal. After missing round one because of a shoulder injury, Laier came back to action at Mantova and since then she has taken victory in each of the latest four heats. With third placed in the Championship Ashley Fiolek also sitting out of this round, the German trio made of Kawasaki Elf Pfeil’s Maria Franke, Laier and Suzuki Inotec’s Larissa Papenmeier, winner in Teutschenthal last year, might see their situation change dramatically at the end of this penultimate race weekend of the season. Currently the three round off the top six. For the second time in 2008 the media training for the Women’s World Championship riders was carried out today in the Ristorante Italiano structure. This second meeting, which was sponsored by Myspace.com, focused on the riders’ presentation and the exploitation of media opportunities.
TALKESSEL AND TEUTSCHENTHAL
The Talkessel race track in Teutschenthal is one of the most important courses in the country; this hard pack circuit underwent a few changes last year, with the ground becoming slightly softer as sand was added to the hard base. The twisty layout features many undulations which make it very spectacular from a racing point of view. Last year some showers affected the whole Sunday.
Teutschenthal is a small town located in the heart of Germany, actually in the State of Saxony-Anhalt which hosts part of the river Elbe’s course, the low mountains of Harz and the fertile Magdeburger plain. Germany’s capital Berlin is only 200 kilometres South as the closest main city is Leipzig, less than an hour drive away.
THE EVENT’S SCHEDULE
Saturday June 28:
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 June 29:
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)
