Photo: CDS
This weekend’s French motocross GP in Ernée will be the fourth round of the WMX, The Women’s MX World championship. Twenty year old Elien Dewinter who hails from Denderleeuw in Belgium is with a provisional ninth in the standings, the best Belgian rider in the WMX. After suffering from an heavy injury (a complex pelvis fracture) things have been on the up for Elien. She aims to improve further in Ernée. The French GP being the first in a crucial series of three in one month’s time.
On the French GP I regularly compete in France but strange enough I have never ridden in Ernée. It’s the first time they hold a WMX GP as well. From what I gather it’s a typical French track: located on the side of an hill, hard pack and very technical! I don’t know if we will be able to jump all obstacles because some pretty heavy rain is expected towards the end of the week. Let’s hope things won’t be too bad. As far as the GP goes, everybody will be expecting Livia Lancelot. Especially because its her home race. It will be hard for her to deal with that pressure. Last year her race in Saint-Jean-d’Angely was her worst performance. Personally I feel pretty fit, last week I did a fitness test with my trainer, Yves Demeulemeester. The test was quite positive. But at the end of the day you just have to perform on the bike!
MX as a distraction Right now I’m in the middle of my exams (Elien is studying Physiotherapy at the Brussels University). It’s a good thing that I don’t have to do all of my exams this month. After the French GP we’ll have the German GP in two weeks time and early July the Swedish GP. Because the way my exams are spread I have to do some of them in July and August. That way it looks a bit like I’m constantly in the middle of my exams.
WMX level is rising Sometimes it annoys me to get passed by girls I used to beat on a regular basis earlier on. But it means the level is just getting better and better. Besides that, the top girls are totally committed to racing. They have been living like Total pros for quite some time now. Because of their higher training intensity they sometimes seem to be in a league of their own. I’m pretty realistic about that. My goal is making the top 10, if I’m doing better I just take that as an added bonus. Because female riders hardly make any money at all, I find it a bit strange to commit solely to racing. My study prepares me for a professional career besides motocross.
