Katherine Prumm

RACING UPDATE  Event: 2005 Ssang Yong Motocross Champs – Round 3  Date: 15-16 October 2005 Class: National 125 Overall position in championship standings: 23 We arrived on Sunday morning at 7am to find the track in awesome condition with the soil being really tacky compared to the previous day of qualifying where I found the track really difficult and slippery. Race 1: I took the 4th gate from the inside and had a terrific jump off the line and when I looked across I noticed that I was running up front alongside Barry Morris. I got squeezed out at the first turn as the outside riders had a more flowing line and had dropped to outside of the top 20. I picked off riders one by one and felt that my fitness was an advantage to me as I was able to continue a gradual speed. I had really bad arm pump but kept on pushing to the end and finished 18th. I was really happy with my ride. Race 2: it rained heavily before the race and the track was slippery asweel as the concrete being really slippery. I had a muddy gate and the tyre just spun on the wet film of mud on the concrete. I was near the back of the pack and had to fight to catch the riders in front. The track had become really rough on the fast straight and developed square edge bumps and the corners were very slippery. Once again I suffered from severe arm pump and I finished 21st and was disappointed as I had just missed out on points. Race 3: I had a great start off the inside gates and was squeezed a little at the corner but managed to get to 15th around the turn. I was trying to make head way through the field on the first lap, so I tried to pull a pass on the group of riders in front of me on the corner by the start when I felt the back end sliding. I thought I had saved it when the tyre gripped hard in to the dirt and I high sided. Luckily the bike kept running and I picked it up quickly but the bars where twisted badly, so I stopped on the next turn and pulled them back into place. They were still twisted badly but I just kept going and was now in 29th place. I pushed hard and could see a group not too far in front of me. The track was rough and I had a close call as I tried to make a pass stick over some rough downhill braking bumps. I kept fighting and picked off rider after rider. At the end of the race I had worked my way up to 16th behind Damon Smith and this was my best race finish so far. Overall for the weekend I was 19th and was very happy with my riding and the performance of the 2006 KX250f. The team did really well and I am proud to be a part of it.   Nickname: Budgie   Age: 17   Date of birth: 4 June 1988   Parents: Eric & Helen Prumm   Race team: Kamat Racing Team – Brother and sister. This racing team is currently making waves on the motorcross circuit. Katherine is the current New Zealand Woman’s Champion and Matthew is the 2004 New Zealand Supercross Champion.   Sponsors: Go Fast!, Kawasaki New Zealand, Mr Motorcycles, Silkolene Oils, RK Chains, Fly Racewear, Scott goggles, MNZ HPP, Lifestyle vehicles, Pro Circuit Pipes, EVS Knee braces, GENERICimage. Read more Overseas: Read more Dream: Read more Katherines Goal: Read more Exercise: Read more Results: View Katherines Results General Katherine Prumm, born in Johannesburg South Africa on 4 June 1988, moved to New Zealand in 1995 at the age of 7. She began riding bikes when she was 9 years old and started competing the following year. From an early age, Katherine discovered that she was able to keep up with boys because she was quick off the start line and loved competition. She attended her first woman’s training camp in 1998 and had her first taste of a motocross track with jumps. From then on she has strived to be the top woman rider and to compete at the top level in all the open classes. Katherine’s first taste of success came in 1999, when she won the North Island Mini Championships, on a 1982 Honda. Since then, Katherine has gone on to win the New Zealand Junior Women’s title twice, The North Island Junior Women’s title 3 times and the New Zealand Senior Women’s title for the first time in 2004, her first year of entering the competition. Overseas In 2002, fourteen year old Katherine eagerly took up an opportunity to travel overseas to Japan to enter the 40th All Japan Motocross Grand Prix, an international women’s event. Top riders representing 5 different countries competed. She finished an outstanding 3rd place in a field of woman ranging from 14 to 40. In 2004, Katherine entered the last round of the Australian women’s Nationals in Wonthaggi, Victoria. She won both races on the day and secured a ride at the 2005 Nationals for the Kawasaki Australia team. Motocross is a sport which requires self discipline, preparation, technical skills and the ability to conquer fear and anxiety. These qualities assist Katherine in her daily life and help her to maintain top grades at school and achieve success in other curricular activities too. As with many other sports in New Zealand, it is vital to participate in overseas events to pit one’s ability against the world’s best. Dream Katherine’s dream is to become the Women’s World Champion before she reaches the age of 20, and continue a proud tradition of New Zealand producing World Motorcycling champions. Under the auspices of MNZ there have been an astonishing 27 world titles, more than any other sporting body in NZ! Riders in NZ have an enviable international reputation. No longer do we only go overseas to ride, we now have a number of Australians attending both Junior and Senior National Events in New Zealand, the breeding ground of world champs. Katherine’s goal Katherine’s goal is to be the World Women’s champion by the age of 20. She is well down the path to establish her goals. To further them she would like to race firstly in Australia and when successful there, America. At the same time she intends to continue her academic studies through correspondence. Exercise She exercises 6 days a week irrespective of weather on a program which includes cycling, swimming, running and racing on the weekends. Katherine is one of only 2 Motocross riders who are part of the Motorcycling New Zealand High Performance squad and trains regularly with top riders and coaches. She follows a healthy nutritional diet and reads different psychology books and practices affirmations, visualizations and imprinting. These may all sound like hard work, but Katherine enjoys it. She has a great deal of support from her family and friends. Her brother Matthew (also a New Zealand Champion in Motocross and Supacross) trains with Katherine, both on and off the bike. Some of her training has helped her to achieve success at running at school and she was a member of the cross country team which won the National Cross Country Champs in Wellington last year. This camaraderie with the school teams as well as her motocross friends more than make up the sacrifices she makes (such as a reduced social life). This allows her to focus and get closer to her dream of being the Women’s World Motocross Champion by the age of 20.