Kawasaki Women's GP: Third Consecutive Podium for Lancelot

MX Women, Bellpuig, Spain, 18 May 2009

Livia Lancelot clinched her third consecutive podium this season in Bellpuig (Spain), but stood on the third step this time as the French woman crashed during the opening race on Saturday.

The fastest Motocross women discovered another unseen track in Catalunya, only one week after Portugal and surprisingly the fastest rider during the first practice sessions on a partly wet track due to an intensive watering was not a member of the ‘winners circle’. The timed practice session was more along the usual lines with Livia in second position behind her main rival Steffie Laier, two positions ahead of German Maria Franke.

On Saturday afternoon Laier grabbed the holeshot in the first moto, and immediately pulled away while Livia struggled in fourth position behind Larissa Papenmeier and Elin Mann. The reigning champion had trouble to find a good rhythm and finally crashed when she landed on a haybale after a big jump. Fortunately Livia was not injured and just lost one place as she finished fifth, close to Maria Franke.

The KRT technical staff spent time to work on Livia’s set-up, and on Sunday morning she had a better feeling with her machine during the warm-up session. Third at the start, Lancelot promptly passed Laier and one lap later Papenmeier to lead the pack, showing the way to her rivals and opening doors among the lappers. The gap between Livia and Steffie went from one to five seconds, but the Frenchwoman never gave up and finally took an advantage of six seconds over her rival to win her third heat this season. Maria Franke had a tougher race, coming back from tenth to fourth and missing by five points her first podium of the season.

Livia Lancelot: ‘Yesterday I had a bad start in the first race, the bike was not running so well and I crashed on a haybale when I was fourth. It was a big crash and I was lucky not to get injured or damage the bike, after that I could finish fifth. Our mechanics worked late in the night and the second heat was much better; I was third at the start, passed Laier and then it was difficult to ride among the lappers. I didn’t lose too much time and as I promised to the team I offered them a moto win; my third one this season.’

Roger Pourcel ‘Livia has had two GP wins so far, and this weekend was not as good but it’s also our fault as we had a technical problem on her bike for the first race. The mechanics solved the problem and she was able to win the second moto, she regained some of the points that she lost earlier this weekend and she is again confident in her potential before the three week break.’