Willoughby “Over The Moon” After UCI SX Finale/Series Win in France
The final installment of the 2009 UCI BMX Supercross World Cup saved the biggest for last. With 140 Elite men and 33 Women starting out, time trials proved to be a wild ride, with Quentin Caleyron of France getting the top time of 32.133 for the men, and Mariana Pajon of Columbia taking top
time for the ladies at 35.734.
Through qualifying on Saturday, Pajon was one of three ladies with only three points (Lauren Reynolds of Australia and Laëtitia le Corguillé was the other). Pajon and le Corguillé won their respective semis as well, and it was definitely going to be down to the main to see if Laëtitia could keep her SX winning streak in tact after topping the podium in Chula Vista last month. No doubt that Pajon was riding incredibly and was hoping for a special birthday present atop the Fréjus podium (Team USA’s Joey Bradford is also celebrating a B-Day today in France).
In the main, it was le Corguillé with the inside gate, Caroline Buchanan next to her. Despite the right-hand gate, however, it was Pajon into the first turn, and Laëtitia, with Arielle Martin (the sole Team USA Woman in the main) in the chase. Rounding the last turn, it looked like it was going to be all Co-LUM-biaaah, when le Corguillé mounted a last minute charge, egged on by her home country crowd, and slipped by Mariana about seven feet from the stripe (ending it up only 0.098 of a second ahead of Pajon). A very good main event, and one that also saw a series Winner crowned, as Laëtitia also locked the overall (which may have been in the bag before the gate dropped, we did not get the 411 on that). The Womens main was 1.419 seconds slower than Pajon’s time trial run.
The turns in Fréjus were dirt—not the normal asphalt many are used to running. Whether directly related to this, or owing to the overwhelming competition and speeds the guys were getting, the turns had claimed their share of podium pipedreams.
On the men’s side, all eyes were on Sam Willoughby, even as early as the first round, when a front wheel washout brought an in-the-lead Sam and, consequently, most of the pack, down in the first turn. Meanwhile, Khalen Young, Donny Robinson, Ivo ven der Putten of the Netherlands, and Maris Strombergs all had not lost a lap after three rounds of 1/8 final qualifying.
The quarterfinals claimed top Time Trial qualifyer Caleyron who, along with notables like Tyler Brown, Tory Nyhaug, Marcus Bloomfield of the UK and Carlos Oquendo of Columbia, were sidelined for the Semis. Your Quarterfinal winners were Willoughby (who had the fastest time of the four groups at 31.729), KY, Maris and David Herman (who won this SX last year).
Probably the most profound thing about watching a BMX Supercross race is the very real knowledge that, as the qualifying rounds progress, the amount of talent gets compressed, and compressed, and compressed, to the point where you are left asking yourself “HOW, in the world is this going to turn out?” With a traditional national, you can sometimes handicap the top three based on who is looking good in the motos, or who seems to like the track over the others. Not so in SX. Compress, compress, compress, till KABOOM!— that main event gate drops down.
Before we get to that, though, the Semis stepped off with maximum compression as well, with the first rack being stacked with the Team USA-funded Corben Sharrah, Jelle van Gorkom, Donny Robinson, Cristian
Becerine, Ivo van der Putten, French rider Vincent Pelluard, Khalen Young and Sam Willoughby on the far inside. Unfortunately, my Freecaster feed went wiggy just as the gate dropped, and came back just as dR was crossing the line in third and Becerine for that final qualifying spot, edging our Sharrah (first and second in that rack went to Sam and Khalen, respectively). With Sam’s win, and Ivo not making it, word was that the overall UCI SX title was locked up by Willoughby as of that moment (we’ll confirm that, just for the record).
The second rack of Men’s semis saw Nic Long and Joris Daudet tangle in the first turn (then shake hands before dusting off). Maris Strombergs was already way-clear of that carnage and he shuffled in for the win, followed by Bisseling of the Netherlands, Ramiro Marino and David Herman.
That left the main event set with (in order of gate position from outside to inside): Ramiro Marino, David Herman, Cristian Becerine, Sander Bisseling, Maris Strombergs, Donny Robinson, Khalen Young and Sam Willoughby.
Sam got a clean start, and it appeared KY cased the first jump, or got squeezed inside a bit, because he lost momentum and was unfortunately, more or less, out of podium contention from that point. The first turn was one place that could have tossed the deck in the air, making it any man’s race, but everyone’s line held, and Sam powered out of the pack, with dR, Cristian and Maris in pursuit. The balance was straightforward to the stripe, save for Maris shuttin it down in the depths of the last straight, thus allowing Marino slide by for the fourth.
Fastest laptime of the weekend (including time trials): Sam Willoughby in the Quarterfinals with 31.729.
ELITE MEN RESULTS
(FIRST | Last | country | time | behind winner)
WILLOUGHBY Sam AUS – 31.953
ROBINSON Donny USA – 32.252 (+0.299)
BECERINE Cristian ARG – 32.839 (+0.886)
MARINO Ramiro ARG – 33.493 (+1.540)
STROMBERGS Maris LAT – 33.600 (+1.647)
HERMAN David USA – 34.229 (+2.276)
YOUNG Khalen AUS – 34.364 (+2.411)
BISSELING Sander NED – 43.554 (+11.601)
ELITE WOMEN RESULTS
(FIRST | Last | country | time | behind winner)
le CORGUILLÉ Laëtitia FRA – 37.153
PAJON Mariana COL – 37.251 (+0.098)
MARTIN Arielle USA – 37.349 (+0.196)
AILLOUD Eva FRA – 37.739 (+0.586)
BUCHANAN Caroline AUS – 38.197 (+1.044)
REYNOLDS Lauren AUS – 38.445 (+1.292)
LABOUNKOVA Romana CZE – 38.815 (+1.662)
VALENTINO Manon FRA – 41.669 (+4.516)
Photo courtesy of UCI/Getty
