Women taking part in the FIM WMX World Championship pose for a group photo along with Nasser bin Khalifa Al Attiyah, President of Qatar Motor and Motorcycle Federation yesterday.
DOHA: Australian teen rider Meghan Kat Rutledge led a Kawasaki 1-2 in the opening qualifying of the new season, finishing with a better time than that of Livia Lancelo on the dirt track inside Losail International Circuit.
Yamaha rider and reigning FIM WMX World Champion Chiara Fontanesi finished third-fastest, just a notch behind Lancelo of France.
Rutledge, the 19-year-old Australian, posted the fastest time 1:57.881 which she recorded on the seventh lap.
Last year’s WMX runner-up Rutledge has signed up for the entire season thanks to the support of Bud Racing Kawasaki and will be looking for nothing less than WMX glory in the seven races for female riders in 2014.
Lancelot, who also completed the maximum allowed eight laps, was just 0.975 seconds slower than Rutledge.
Fontanesi - who just completed five laps - clocked 1:58.935 to finish as the third fastest rider among a group of 22.
The two-time FIM WMX World Champion dominated the last two years and it will be interesting to see how the talented Italian wonder lady handles the pressure from old rivals today.
Irish rider Natalie Kane (KTM) was fourth fastest (2:00.241) while a notch below was Dutch champion Nancy van de Ven (2:01.115) who was riding a Yamaha.
Meanwhile, after the success of last year, the television coverage of the FIM Motocross World Championship has increased and existing relationships have been extended, according to details.
The first round of the 2014 FIM Motocross World Championship in Qatar are being broadcast on new TV channels such as Mediaset Italia 2 in Italy, Eurosport in Europe, while CBS Sports Network is covering North American (the US and Canada).
BEIN Sports MENA is also attending round one of MXGP in Qatar today and will be airing a 6 hours live programme with races and studio shows starting today evening at 6:00pm local time.
The Peninsula
