Czech motorcycle female rider Alexandra Pelikanova started the fourth race of this year's Women‘s European Cup from second place. After the start, however, she crashed and did not finish the race on the circuit in Imola.
Pelikanova has always been one of the fastest female riders in the previous race weekends of the renewed cup and fought for both pole position and podium places in each race. With the same goal, she started the race weekend in Imola.
„We worked well with the team all weekend. We found a good set up of the bike and I was one of the fastest riders," said Pelikanova, who took third place in the first and second free practice session. In the third practice she managed to improve even more and set the second fastest time. She secured second position in the qualifying session as well, finishing more than a second behind the dominant Beatriz Santos.
The 20-year-old native of Brno started the main race from the front row. „Unfortunately, a good weekend ended for me on the first lap of the race, when I lost the front of the bike and crashed. I am very sorry, because the whole team did a good job and we had the potential to achieve a good result in Imola. I would like to apologize to the team. I believe that I will make up for it with good performance and result in the next race. I would like to thank all partners and fans for their support,“ added Pelikanova.
The last race weekend of this year‘s Women's European Cup will take place on 17 and 18 October 2020 in Vallelunga, Italy.
Media Alexandra Pelikanova
Czech motorcycle female rider Alexandra Pelikanova took fourth place in both races of the Women's European Cup in Misano.
This year's season of the renewed Women's European Cup continued with the second race weekend. This time, the Italian CIV Championship, in which the Women's European Cup takes place, has moved to the Misano circuit. The track that twenty-year-old native of Brno knows from last year, when she competed in the Supersport 300 World Championship.
„The circuit in Misano is not one of my favorite tracks. At the beginning of the weekend, we also had to solve technical problems with my bike,“ Alexandra Pelikanova said. Despite technical difficulties, she took third place in Friday's free practice session. „We managed to eliminate the problems before the first qualifying session, but in the end I did not go on the track because it was raining and the conditions on the track were so unfavorable that it was not worth risking. Then we made a mistake in Saturday's qualifying. We decided to go on used tires, which I had already ridden in Friday’s free practice,“ continued Pelikánová, who competed in two races during one race weekend in Misano. „We wanted to save the tires for the races so that we could use a new set in each of them, but in qualifying it turned against us. The tires slipped a lot and I couldn't ride properly. In the end, it was the fourth place on the grid."
The start from the second row was not enough to get to the podium. „In the first race, after a successful start, I made a mistake in the sixth corner and I was overtaken by two other riders. Before I got back in front of them, the first three girls left me and I was not able to reduce my gap,“ said Pelikánová, who finished fourth with a total loss of 5.723 seconds to the winner. „In the second race I learned from a mistake from Saturday and after a good start I was second. We went in a group of four. It was a good battle. Unfortunately, I lacked luck and maybe a little bit of power at the exits from the corners, so I could not attack and fight for victory. In the end, it was the fourth place again," the twenty-year-old native of Brno continued as she lost only 0.270 seconds to the third place. In addition, she held the fastest lap for most of Sunday's race, but in the last lap she was beaten by 0.003 seconds by Beatriz Neila Santos, the winner of both races of the Women's European Cup in Misano. The Spaniard followed up on her victory from the inaugural race weekend of this cup and consolidated her first position in the overal standings. Alexandra Pelikanova is in fourth place. „I did not reach the podium this time, but I'm still satisfied. Next race weekend will take place in Imola. I know the track from last year and I like it a lot. Therefore I hope that I will be able to fight for the podium there as well. I would like to thank to all the sponsors and fans for their support,“ she added.
The next race weekend of the Women's European Cup will take place on 5 and 6 September 2020 in Imola, Italy.
Video of the 1st race of Women’s European Cup in Misano: https://elevensports.it/play/49946/Elfciv2020---Woman-European-Cup-Round-2-Misano-Gara-1/13/33/
Video of the 2nd race of Women’s European Cup in Misano:: https://elevensports.it/play/49955/Elfciv2020---Woman-European-Cup-Round-2-Misano-Gara-2/13/33/
Media Alexandra Pelikanova
Czech motorcycle female rider Alexandra Pelikanova finished on the podium in the opening race of the Women's European Cup. After starting from pole position and a thrilling battle for victory, she took third place.
The first race weekend of the renewed Women’s European Cup took place on the Mugello circuit as part of the Italian CIV Championship. Alexandra Pelikanova entered the series together with twelve other female competitors and was one of the fastest riders of the race weekend with her Yamaha YZF-R3.
„I am satisfied with the race weekend. I started from pole position, achieved the fastest lap of the race and ended up on the podium,“ Alexandra Pelikánová, who fought for the win for the whole 10-lap race, said. The race was won by the Spaniard Beatriz Neila Santos, followed by the Italian Roberta Ponziani and a twenty-year-old native of Brno, who was only 0.181 seconds apart from the victory. „I missed the first place by a small margin, which is a shame. But I felt good on the bike, I quickly got used to the new track, and in the end I finished on the podium, so I'm satisfied.“
For Pelikanova, the inaugural race weekend of the Women's European Cup in Mugello was the premiere on this circuit. The Czech motorcycle female rider will ride on other Italian tracks in the upcoming races. A total of five races will take place in this year's cup, divided into four race weekends. „I would like to build on a good performance from Mugello in other races and fight for victory again,“ continued Alexandra Pelikanova, who is in second place in the overall ranking of the series thanks to bonus points for gaining pole position and achieving the fastest lap. „I would like to thank all the partners and fans for the support they expressed to me both during the preparation for this season and during the race weekend,“ she added.
You can watch the race of the Women's European Cup from Mugello here: https://www.facebook.com/ElevenSportsItalia/videos/270464674217972/
(broadcast of the race (time in the video) from 1:13:30, last lap from 1:39:15, finish at 1:41:30, interview at the finish from 1:47:00, race highlights from 1:47:30 )
The next race weekend of the Women's European Cup will take place on 25 and 26 July 2020 in Misano, Italy.
Media Alexandra Pelikanova
Hi,
my name is Alexandra Pelikanova, but everybody calls me Sasha. I was born in Brno and in February I celebrated by 19th birthday. I started riding the bike in 2014, when I first started in the category of Mini Moto. In 2015 I became the Czech Republic champion in the Junior Open category and a year later I finished second in the Senior Open category. In 2017, I started riding a big bike and a year later I took part in the Czech championship as a part of the Alpe Adria European Championship. That year I also experienced the biggest sporting experience so far when I started as the wild card in the World Supersport 300 race at the Masaryk Circuit in Brno.
This year I will participate in the World Supersport 300 championship with the Kawasaki GP Project team. So keep your fingers crossed and watch me on the track, I'm the one with the long blonde hair, even if it can't be seen under the helmet. :-)