KRAMER SNATCHES 2007 FIM SPEA WOMEN’S WORLD TITLE
 Germany’s
Iris Kramer - Scorpa finally prised the FIM SPEA Women’s
Trial World Championship away from her great rival Laia Sanz
– Repsol Montesa HRC with a determined ride in the Isle
of Man on Friday.
The Scorpa rider produced laps of two and three for a final
tally of five marks to finish one clear of six-times champion
Sanz. It was the first occasion the Repsol Honda HRC rider
had lost a single round in the seven year history of the event,
and defeat on the day proved doubly costly for the Spanish
woman who lost the title on a tie-break.
With Kramer and Sanz each scoring a win and a second place
in the shortened two-round championship, the decider went
in Kramer’s favour on the last round ruling.
British riders Becky Cook – Gas Gas , Donna Fox - Sherco
and Maria Conway - Beta gave the home crowd great hope for
the following day’s Women’s Trial des Nations
by filling third, fourth and fifth places, with Sandrine Juffet
– Gas Gas of France completing the top six.
The Peveril Motor Cycle Club event, the first women’s
World round to take place in the British Isles, attracted
an entry of twenty seven riders and involved two laps of fourteen
sections in and around the peripherals of the island’s
capital town Douglas.
In cool, breezy conditions, last rider away Sanz suffered
an early fatal blow when she went over the tape on a craggy
rock climb at Groudle Beach. That five was the only blemish
on an otherwise flawless opening lap, but it was sufficient
enough to demote her to third, with Kramer leading the way
on two and Cook second on three.
A brilliant second lap of one by Sanz promoted her ahead
of Cook, who added a two and three ones to her opening tally,
but with Kramer completing the course for a two and a one
on consecutive sections at Groudle Glen and Beach it was enough
to see the German rider home in first place, with her first
World title in the bag.
A delighted Kramer stated: “I saw Laia take the five
as we were riding together, but at that point there was still
a lot of sections to ride. I knew I was in front going into
the second lap, but the real pressure only came right at the
end. I was so nervous in the last section, but finally I did
it, it seems unbelievable. However we can’t celebrate
yet, as we want to win tomorrow too.”
“I made a bad mistake on section four,” admitted
Sanz. “I didn’t want to dab but in trying to go
clean my front wheel went outside the tape. I thought I could
recover as normally the other girls make more mistakes than
me, but that wasn’t the case today. really needed the
dab on section three on lap two, but it wasn’t what
cost me the trial.”
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