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.

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.

The FIM Women World Championship riders in Sevlievo

THE EVENT’S SCHEDULE

The Grand Prix was broadcast live on:

EUROSPORT 2 (Pan Europe) : MX1 Race 1 at 12:00 CET

MOTORS TV (Pan Europe): MX2 Race 1 at 11:00 and Race 2 at 14:00 CET

SPORT ITALIA (Italy): MX2 Race 1 at 11:00 CET

BNT (Bulgaria): MX1 Race 1 at 12:00 and Race 2 at 15:00 CET

GALAXIE SPORT (Czech Republic): MX2 Race 2 at 14:00 CET

ART (Pan Middle East): MX1 Race 2 at 15:00 CET

SPORT TV (Slovenia): MX2 Race 1 at 11:00 and Race 2 at 14:00 CET

EUROSPORT WORLD (Pan Asia): MX1 Race 1 at 10:00 GMT

MEDIAZONE (Worldwide): MX2 Race 1 at 11:00 and Race 2 at 14:00; MX1 Race 1 at 12:00 and Race 2 at 15:00 CET

TRANS 7 (Indonesia): MX2 Race 1 at 11:00 and Race 2 at 14:00; MX1 Race 1 at 12:00 and Race 2 at 15:00 CET


The Grand Prix will be broadcast delayed on:

EUROSPORT 2 (Pan Europe) : Sunday May 11; MX1 Race 2 at 17:45; Monday May 12, MX2 class at 17:00 CET

SPORT ITALIA (Italy): Sunday May 11; MX2 Race 2 at 16:30, MX1 Race 1 and Race 2 N/A CET

BNT (Bulgaria): Sunday May 11; MX2 Race 1 (summary) at 16:00 and Race 2 (summary) at 16:10, Women World Championship Round 1 (summary) at 16:20 CET

VRT (Belgium): Sunday May 11; MX1 Race 1 at 13:00 and Race 2 at 16:15 CET

EUROSPORT WORLD (Pan Asia): Sunday May 11; MX1 Race 2 at 18:30; Monday May 12, MX2 class at 17:00 and at 21:00 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

LINKS
Youthstream
FIM
BMF- Bulgarian Motorcycle Federation

Information, photos and results are online at www.motocrossMX1.com, the official website of the FIM Motocross World Championships.

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