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Jessica Patterson Crowned WMA Cup Champion
Photo is of; Whitmore (2nd), Patterson (1st), and Florentino (3rd), Phototaken by: Steve Bonnau
270 Women Entries at Z1R Helmets WMA Cup Breaks Records.
Bend, OR - AMA/WMA National Champion, Jessica Patterson, picked up another title this past weekend at the Z1R Helmets WMA Cup presented by Hitachi, at the Cycle Ranch MX Park. The women’s racing at the event broke all attendance records with an impressive total of nearly 270 women entries in the 15 women’s classes.
The WMA Pro race on Sunday was the finale of exceptional women’s motocross racing. The first FIM Women’s World Cup Champion and former WMA Cup Champion Steffi Laier came from Germany to race the WMA Champion for the first time this year. The track was in perfect condition at the beginning of moto one, despite Saturday’s rain. Team Green’s Elizabeth Bash got the Sick Racing holeshot with Ashley Boham and Tania Satchwell close behind. In the second turn Bash went down taking Boham and Satchwell with her. Laier, Patterson, and newcomer - Vanessa Florentino, took over the top positions. The race for first was on between Laier and Patterson. Patterson stayed within a second of Laier for three laps. On lap four, she passed Laier in the whoops for the lead, but Laier was on her rear wheel. Just after coming through the mechanics area, Patterson tipped over in a tight slow turn around a tree surrendering the lead to Laier. She started back in about 6th position.
Meanwhile Sarah Whitmore had chased down Florentino and was gaining on Laier, cutting Laier’s lead from about 8 secs to 4 secs. On the white flag lap Whitmore came around in first place. The track had gotten rough and Laier had endowed over a tabletop and crashed hard. She was air lifted from the track to a near by hospital, but released later that evening with a chipped femur and other injuries. Patterson finished in 2nd and Bash moved up to 6th from about 19th position getting the EMA Racing Hard Charger. Elin Mann of Sweden had put in notable ride staying in 5th place until last lap when her engine blew. She unfortunately could not race the second moto.
In moto two, Florentino proved her worth in the pro class with the holeshot followed by Satchwell. Patterson moved quickly into second with Satchwell in 3rd, maintaining the position for the rest of the moto. Patterson went 2-1 for the overall, with Whitmore going 1-2 for second and Florentino 3-3 for third. The young racer from Germany, Larissa Papenmier made a great debut in the WMA Pro class with a forth overall.
The 2005 Z1R Helmets WMA Cup presented by Hitachi, was also sponsored by Kawasaki, Honda, VP Fuels, Scott USA, Sick Racing, Dunlop Tires, Alpinestars, Thor MX, Mirage Trailers, Pro Clean 1000/Motobloc, Champion Beadlock, Northwest Motorsports, and Ready Filter. 2 Wheel Tuesday covered the event for a feature to air on Speed Channel in the next few weeks, and ESPN filmed for a upcoming documentary on women’ pro motocross.
