Prumm injures knee before first WMX-GP
By TMX Archives on 9th May 08
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 severalmeetings 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 meansshe will endeavour to compete at Sevlievo with a special brace and sufficienttaping.
"Everything had gone really well recently and I could not have beenbetter prepared for the first Grand Prix,” she said. "I was three laps away fromfinishing my practice moto when I lost traction on the ramp of a jump which putme at 90 degrees. I came down at strange angle and my right leg was off the pegsand took most of the impact. I felt something go ‘pop' and I knew pretty muchright away what had happened. I could ride back but when I stopped I had somepain and could not straighten the leg.”
"A scan revealed the broken ACL, thankfully it is not as bad as my leftknee which I injured in 2006 but at the end of the season I will need areconstruction,” she added. "Obviously it is not the way I wanted to start theworld championship but I will try and do my best at the weekend and see whathappens.”
The Yamaha Monster Motocross Team – currently holding 1st and 3rdpositions in the premier MX1-GP category thanks to their riders DavidPhilippaerts and Josh Coppins respectively – will travel to the venue where theysampled victory with Coppins in 2007 and will also be following the progress ofMX2-GP World Champion Antonio Cairoli after his dominant win in Portugal afortnight ago and now who leads the class.
World championship leaderPhilippaerts – the first Italian to head the MX1-GP series since its inceptionin 2004 – has been using the recent good weather in his native country tosteadily train through the hiatus and claims that he will enjoy wearing the ‘redplate' this weekend for the first time in his career.
"We are only threerounds into fifteen so it does not mean much to lead the championship at thisstage, but it does mean that we are competitive and it is always nice to look atthe bike with the red plate on!” he said. "I've been riding in Italy andphysically I feel fantastic, my confidence is good and I'm very pleased with howthings are going.”
Philippaerts finished 5th and 3rd last year atSevlievo, which was his first encounter with the track on a 450cc machine. "Ithas 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 inthe times; it should be a good GP.”
Coppins has spent the time after theGrand Prix of Portugal, where he seized third place and his first podium of theseason by passing world champion Steve Ramon on the last corner of the final lapof the second moto, at his Belgian base recovering from a bout of flu.
"Ifelt the flu coming thought it would disappear in a few days so I kept on ridingand doing some training, which perhaps wasn't the smartest move as the virusstuck 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 theresult, the progress of my race fitness; to be strong like that at the end ofthe motos was really encouraging.”
"I like the track, it's fast andjumpy; my kind of place,” he added about Sevlievo. "I won last year and havealso taken another podium a few years ago. The weather forecast is not the bestso I really hope the rain stays off for us.”
The impressive Sevlievocircuit has a copious hard-standing paddock, immaculate facilities andgrandstands within the natural amphitheatre. The government-backed racecourseprovides one of the premium examples of 21st century motocross. The track itselfhas a wide and fast layout with plenty of jumps and steep uphill and downhilldrags; forging a lap-time of almost two minutes. The hot and sunny conditions of2007 are likely to give way to a cooler Grand Prix for the 2008 edition (thethird year in succession the world championship has visited Bulgaria) with evenrainfall predicted on Saturday.