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KAWASAKI KIWI PROVES SHE’S FASTEST WOMAN ON THE PLANET
MAY 22, 2006: New Zealand’s Katherine Prumm is the fastest woman on the planet but, for the time being at least, she’ll have to settle for being No.2 in the United States.
It’s a long way from Bombay to California and it may seem a longer and harder journey home again after the Kawasaki star crashed out at round two of the American motocross nationals on Sunday (NZ time).
The 17-year-old university student from Bombay, south of Auckland, is No.1 in Europe after winning the first of two rounds in this season’s women’s world championships in Germany and she had looked to be on course to double her glory when she comfortably won both races at the opening round of the American nationals a week ago.
But, at Hangtown, southern California, on Sunday, her campaign suffered a setback.
Clearly the fastest rider on the track, Prumm (Kawasaki KX250F) convincingly won the first of the day’s two races at Hangtown and, after a poor start in the second outing, was quickly catching the leader when she collided with a lapped rider who had suddenly changed direction and crossed underneath the flying Kiwi.
“All the riders were told at briefing about the huge step-up jump. They were told, if they weren’t going to attempt it, they should take the route to the right so that those that did jump would be safe,” said Prumm.
Prumm was one of only a few female riders attempting the steep uphill jump and, fast closing in on American No.1 Jessica Patterson, the gutsy Kiwi once again committed herself to the big leap.
“My pace was quick and I noted the slower rider had gone to the right, so I went for the jump on the left. When I was in mid-air the rider crossed to the left and I had nowhere to go,” Prumm said.
Prumm tumbled from her bike and wrenched her wrist. In pain, she managed to claw her way to the brow of the hill and then waited there for two laps until the race finished so that she could at least salvage some points. She was credited with 17th place.
With Patterson (from Tallahasse, Florida) unchallenged to the finish, she won the day and now has a four-point lead over Prumm at the top of the standings.
Patterson finished 7-2 at round one and 2-1 at Hangtown.
Before the crash, Prumm had been unbeaten in three races the United States and was threatening to run away with the championship, 17 points clear of Patterson.
Prumm’s wrist was x-rayed afterwards and she has a broken carpel bone. Katherine and her father Erich will visit a specialist surgeon in San Bernadino to have the wrist pinned before returning to New Zealand.
“The whole American experience was only ever meant to be a toe-dipping exercise,” said New Zealand Kawasaki Team green manager Mike Ramsey. “The original plan was for her to contest only these first two rounds in America anyway, just to see how she’d fare.
“You could say, from that point of view, it has been a huge success. She’s certainly opening a few eyes in American and Europe too. We’re very proud of what she has achieved and we’re confident she’ll bounce back stronger than ever.”
Kawasaki ace Prumm is already Australian and New Zealand women’s champion and will now have to wait and see if she can mend in time for the deciding second round of the world championship series at Uddevalla, Sweden, on July 1-2.
Another Kiwi Kawasaki rider was in action at Hangtown on Sunday too, former Taupo woman Tania Satchwell.
Former American champion Satchwell (Kawasaki KX250F) finished eighth and sixth in the two races and she is now 11th in the series standings.
