Steffi Laier above the weather

Red Bull Teka KTM factory rider Stephanie Laier won the only race held at the Megalopolis circuit in Greece after the heavy rain that came down for most of the day forced the cancellation of the second moto.

The second round of the season wasn’t meant to be easy for the FIM Women’s Motocross World Championship having to deal with a soggy and slippery track, the conditions were so tricky that that the event management had no other solution than to cancel the second race of the day.

Nevertheless, there was still some good competition on the first moto with the so far usual trio Laier-Papenmeier-Fontanesi at the front of the pack. German ‘light-weight’ Larissa Papenmeier grabbed the holeshot although Steffi soon imposed herself taking the lead followed by Chiara Fontanesi who was determined to not let go the reigning World Champion.

Papenmeier kept on the same pace as the first two eventually finishing second to Laier after the Italian Yamaha rider crashed and got stuck on the mud which was the complication of the day for all the participants. As the conditions got worse during the race with the mud getting stickier, the rhythm slowed down and the girls were themselves an obstacle on the track when caught.

Another German rider trying to catch-up with the first three is Anne Borchers who was third for some laps after Chiara’s crash followed by Sara Pettersson and Marianne Veenstra both riding consistently for fifth and sixth positions in the end.

After dealing with such nasty weather conditions on the first two rounds of the season, the FIM Women’s Motocross World Championship riders are now having a deserved break coming back to Vantaa, Finland, in the June 11th weekend.

Laier: "When I arrived on Friday I just thought that the track looked nice but too easy and I was actually hoping for some rain but this was a bit too much… I liked the race even like this; it was just difficult to keep my feet on the foot-pegs because the mud is so sticky but I survived and won, so I’m happy about that.”

Papenmeier: "At the beginning I had some problems with the track, I had to get used to it better. I enjoyed my riding this weekend even being tough at the end. I know there’s a big gap between top-three and the rest but they’re getting faster and they’ll be catching up soon.”

Chiara Fontanesi: "My speed was good, I wanted to try and catch Steffi but I crashed and went back to fifth or sixth and then recovered until third. Yesterday was really good, I’m getting better step-by-step.”

WMX Race Top-10: 1. Stephanie Laier (GER, KTM), 27:00.607; 2. Larissa Papenmeier (GER, KTM), +1:39.635; 3. Chiara Fontanesi (ITA, Yamaha), +3:07.461; 4. Anne Borchers (GER, Suzuki), +3:26.517; 5. Sara Pettersson (SWE, KTM), -1 lap(s); 6. Marianne Veenstra (NED, Suzuki), -1 lap(s); 7. Britt van der Wekken (NED, Honda), -1 lap(s); 8. Joanna Miller (POL, KTM), -3 lap(s); 9. Virginie Germond (SUI, Suzuki), -3 lap(s); 10. Marielle De Mol (NED, TM), -4 lap(s);

WMX Championship Top-10: 1. Stephanie Laier (GER, KTM), 75 points; 2. Larissa Papenmeier (GER, KTM), 62 p.; 3. Chiara Fontanesi (ITA, Yamaha), 60 p.; 4. Francesca Nocera (ITA, KTM), 44 p.; 5. Britt van der Wekken (NED, Honda), 43 p.; 6. Marianne Veenstra (NED, Suzuki), 42 p.; 7. Sara Pettersson (SWE, KTM), 41 p.; 8. Marielle De Mol (NED, TM), 41 p.; 9. Anne Borchers (GER, Suzuki), 35 p.; 10. Joanna Miller (POL, KTM), 27 p.;