News

Kiwi Prumm leads the Women's World Cup (May 11)
After a first edition last year in Sweden, the Women’s Motocross World Cup started last weekend in Germany. New Zealander Katherine Prumm (Kawasaki) and French Livia Lancelot (Yamaha) shared the first positions and will arrived in Uddevalla (Sweden) for the second and last round of the series equal in the standings.
Only 30of the 50 women involved qualified for the Grand Prix on Saturday, and on Sunday the first race of the women was the most exciting of the weekend as Lancelot and Prumm battled during most of the race and started the last lap side by side on the final jump!
German Stephanie Laier (KTM) got the holeshot in the first heat, but Lancelot passed her promptly to lead the entire race. In fourth position at the start Prumm came back second at mid race, and then reduced the gap with Lancelot. They did the last four laps together, and Lancelot just kept an advantage of 1.7 second over her rival! Laier grabbed another holeshot in the next race, but Prumm was right behind and took the lead in the second circulation. Lancelot also passed Laier in the fourth lap to finish second. These three ladies were far from the rest of the pack, and will battle for the World Cup beginning of July in Sweden.
“In the first race I struggled a little bit, I was only sixth at the start. The track was quite difficult to pass but I kept on working hard, I was a little bit nervous and had pumped arms," said Prumm. "When I came second I tried several times to pass Lancelot for the win, but at the end it was not easy with the lappers.
"My second start was awesome, thanks to my powerfull Molson Kawasaki! I’m of course happy to lead the Cup, I’ve been working so hard since two or three years to come at this level. The GP riders were really friendly with us, especially Tyla Rattray, Gareth Swanepoel and Josh Coppins.
"I was a few days in his house and was able to practice in Belgium, now I will fly to the US for two races at Glenn Helen and Hangton, and will be back for Sweden.”
Heat one: 1.Lancelot (FRA, Yamaha); 2.Prumm (NZL, Kawasaki); 3.Laier (GER, KTM); 4.De Winter (BEL, Yamaha); 5.Papenmeier (GER, Honda); 6.Haupt (GER, Kawasaki); 7.Karlsson (SWE, Yamaha); 8.Veenstra (NED, Suzuki); 9.Lemp (GER, KTM); 10.Mann (SWE, KTM); etc...
Heat two: 1.Prumm; 2.Lancelot; 3.Laier; 4.Papenmeier; 5.Mann; 6.Haupt; 7.De Winter; 8.Williams (GBR, Honda); 9.Veenstra; 10.Karlsson; etc...
World Cup standings: 1.Prumm, 47 pts; 2.Lancelot, 47; 3.Laier, 40; 4.Papenmeier, 32; 5.De Winter, 32; 6.Haupt, 30; 7.Mann, 29; 8.Karlsson, 25; 9.Veenstra, 25; 10.Lemp, 21. (Source: Motorcycling Australia)

Women's only Motocross school (May 4)
Glenn MacDonald, Director and Head Coach of the Motocross Advanced Coaching Academy (MACA) has just announced that he will be running a Women's Only Motocross School at the Wonthaggi Motorcycle Complex in Victoria on May 28, 2006.
MacDonald is a Level 2 Accredited Coach is a multiple State and National Title holder in numerous facets of the sport including Motocross, Supercross, Supermotard and more.
Glenn's involvement as Coach and Team Manager of the highly regarded and successful Yamaha Junior Development Team attests to the strength in skill and teaching principles of MACA Coaching.
MACA is supported by accredited coaches who are successful racers with a wealth of experience to share. Glenn Macdonald will be on duty for the Women’s Only Motocross School with Assistant Coach Mark Willingham (Level 2 coach, multiple State MX tile holder and National MX/SX competitor), as well as accredited Level 1 coach and Women’s National Championship competitor Kristy Gillespie.
“MACA is keen to further develop their Women’s Only MX Schools and running such a school at a circuit like Wonthaggi is an unbelievable opportunity. There is a huge population of female riders in the Gippsland area and given the quality of the circuit, I am sure that female riders will travel the distance to experience a tailored coaching school at a fantastic venue. Our school is enhanced by the level of coaching skills and qualifications of each coach, as well as having one of the best female riders in Motocross on board with us. Not only do I enjoy assisting in the development of riders, but also new coaches and Kristy is certainly flourishing into an excellent coach.” says MacDonald.
Places are strictly limited and it is imperative that you register your interest by contacting Glenn MacDonald on 0418 872 103 or by e-mail at info@macacoaching.com.
MX academy; Motorcycling Australia

Patrick scores hard-won IndyCar 6th (April 6)
Rahal Letterman Racing's Danica Patrick claimed a sixth place finish at last weekend’s St Pete IndyCar round in Florida, USA.
Patrick ran a solid and steady race in the No. 16 Argent Mortgage Honda/Panoz. She started 14th and maximized her fuel mileage and pit strategy to move through the field to collect her highest non-oval IndyCar Series result.
"We gambled on a two pit strategy and the key for us today was our fuel mileage," said Patrick. "We had to make sure that we got good fuel mileage. We ran pretty conservatively the first half to three-quarters of the race. We really made sure that we were getting good mileage, especially under the yellows, and that enabled us to do the race in two stops. It made all the difference. I said it earlier to the Argent group, our team is pretty good when it comes to strategy and that was something they should watch for today. The experience we have gained over the last year really helped today. I really had a feel for when I could push the Argent Honda and when I needed to be patient and not make mistakes. We just need to build on this momentum. It was really important for us to place well since we didn't run last week. It doesn't matter if it was a DNF or a withdraw last week, we just had to score points in St Pete. With 14 races on the schedule anytime you don't finish the race it is going to loom large."
The next series event is on April 22, at Motegi, Japan. Patrick is currently in 12th position in the series. However the real focus is likely to be on the 90th running of the big Indianapolis 500 race on May 28. Last year she lead the event for a while (the first woman to do so) and finished fourth.
Rahal Letterman Racing; IndyCar series; Danica Patrick web

First women's MX (Feb 13)
It's official - the first-ever Australian Women's Motocross Championship will be held in 2006.
The board of Motorcycling Australia has approved the elevation in status for Australia's female motocrossers, with the title set to be held alongside the final two rounds of the Australian Motocross Championship - in Newcastle (NSW) on July 15-16, and Coolum (Qld) on July 22-23.
The women's championship will be promoted by Williams Event Management (WEM), which first started hosting women's support events during the now-defunct Thumper Nats natural terrain motocross series in 2000.
“I am ecstatic that women have finally been granted a championship in their own right,” said WEM principal Kevin Williams. “I now look forward to further developing the class into something special, because Australia has some world-class riders in its own right.
“While this year's championship will only be held over two rounds, WEM is certainly looking at expanding it in 2007 and beyond. I fully expect that we will have packed grids in Newcastle and Coolum, so there's no reason why it cannot be a big multi-round championship in years to come.”
The Horsham (Vic)-hosted Women's National Motocross Cup will now go down as the final women's event with non-championship standing, which saw New Zealand's world No 2, Katherine Prumm, win from Australian star Kristy Gillespie.
For more information on the Australian Women's Motocross Championship, contact WEM, tel (03) 5622 2332, email wem1@bigpond.net.au, or visit http://www.ozmotox.com. (Pic: Suzuki Racing)
Plus…
Motorcycling Australia (MA) is now accepting applications from female motocross and moto trials competitors for a five-day training camp at the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra from April 24-28.
Open to senior national competition licence holders, three days of the camp will be set aside for general sports science (nutrition, sports psychology, exercise physiology, strength & conditioning, etc), with the balance on motorcycle-specific training. The latter will see participants receive personalised tuition from some of Australia's leading coaches.
There is financial assistance available for travel and bike freight to the camp.
Applications are open forthwith, and close on Monday, March 13. For more information, contact Daniel Hutchinson at MA, tel (03) 9684 0500, or email daniel@ma.org.au.
Australian Institute of Sport -- http://www.ais.org.au/
Australian Sports Commission -- http://www.ausport.gov.au/
Motorcycling Australia -- http://www.ma.org.au

British driver to test drive for F1 team Minardi (Oct 20)
British racing driver Katherine Legge is geared up to test drive for Minardi in November, after a spectacular season at the Toyota Atlantic Series in the United States. She finished third in her debut season and won three races for the series.
Legge, who turned 25 in July, has been racing for over ten years. As only the second woman to test drive an F1 car since Italian Giovanna Amati tested for Brabham in 1992, she is sure to cause a stir in the male dominated racing world, when she get behind an F1 wheel for the first time. The test drive takes place in Italy on November 21 and depending on how fast her lap times are, she may have other opportunities to get behind the wheel.
On November 1, Minardi changes hands to Red Bull which is renaming the team SquadroToro Rosso, after it bought out Australian Paul Stoddart.
Minardi is excited about the prospect of Legge testing. Team boss Stoddart said, “We have been watching Katherine's progress for some while now, and with her outstanding performances in the Toyota Atlantic Championship this season, we felt she was clearly deserving of a chance to experience a Formula 1 car”.
By Antonia Magee

Features

Links

CAMS (car governing body) http://www.cams.com.au/
Danica Patrick web http://www.danicaracing.com/
Formula Woman web (UK) http://www.formulawoman.com/
Katherine Legge web http://www.gokatherine.com/
MA (bike governing body) http://www.ma.org.au
Online mag 1 http://www.awmn.com.au/
Online mag 2 http://www.motorsport.com/
UK women race club http://www.bwrdc.co.uk/