Willy and Shinny Top Test Event Podiums
The BMX Supercross test event for the 2012 London games offered a compelling glimpse into what fans and athletes alike will encounter when the first gate drops on August 8 next year–a mere 354 days from now.
For the athletes, it was a chance to feel a sample of the rush they will feel if they make their respective Olympic team. In his Freecaster commentary, Pete Dylewski said that, talking to veterans of the 2008 Beijing games, “The excitement and butterflies are the same.”
It was a great opportunity to underscore what all the training, all the sacrifice and all the commitment is truly all about. We are quite sure that each of the 165 riders from 27 countries will take back a turbo-boost of motivation when they suit up for training on Tuesday.
The event battled weather from the get-go, with rain, or threat of rain each day. But the track seemed to hold together quite well, even when the skies opened up minutes before today’s event was scheduled to start. By the end of the day, the sun was shining bright on the Swatch start ramp, and the stormy lead-up was all-but-forgotten.
Speaking of the track, it was said to be a “toned-down” (or as toned-down as an Olympic Supercross track can be) version of the Papendal track the Athletes raced a few months back. You may remember that the unorthodox S turn and box-jump on the men’s side were both sources of contention in the athlete community, sparking a rare “activist” moment, (via a BMX News article).
In the initial practice laps, riders who had been to Papendal were said to be over-clearing many of the jumps, when their “loaded-for-bear” power was calibrated more for the Holland track.
The “Red Bull Wings” section–a jump-on-jump-off box that was more akin to last year’s Madrid track than Papendal’s sheer-faced container obstacle seemed to be a happy medium among the athletes, and more than one rider put their stamp of approval on the London track, calling it their “new favorite.”
On the ladies’ side, London introduced a new feature, the “Oakley Underground” (a tip of the bowler to London’s famous mass transit system), which was a jump-in, jump out tunnel that went under the Men’s “S” turn. The tunnel was said to give tall gals like Sarah Walker some initial pause, afraid she was going to clip her head on the top of it. But, didn’t happen, and surely didn’t seem to slow Sarah down when the Saturday sun rose.
In Friday’s Time Trial SuperFinal, 16 of the 35 womens starters did battle against the clock. France’s Magalie Pottier logged the top time, and Friday honors, with a 40.126 second lap. Australia’s pink-shoed princess, Lauren Reynolds was .044 seconds off the pace with a 40.170, and UK hero, Shanaze Reade, was back from Pottier’s time by .183 seconds for a third place lap of 40.309.
In the time trials, four of the first six gals to ride in the SuperFinal did not boost the first straight sets, and it was awesome to see the air war begin as the program made it down the start order.
The third straight rhythm was intensely technical, and scrubbed a lot of speed off otherwise perfect laps to that point.
In the Men’s SuperFinal, France’s Sylvain Andre sat on the hot seat for a long stretch, before fellow-Frenchman Joris Daudet parked his W1 there…ultimately unseated by Sam Willoughby’s beastly lap at the end of the order, with a 42.625–besting Joris by .142/sec, and earning him the Friday flowers. Andre ended up with the third spot, with a 43.317–.692 off Sam’s winning time.
As previously mentioned, Saturday’s warmup was interrupted by a Mother Nature-sponsored watering of the track. There were standing puddles, especially on the inside line of the exit to the first turn, but all that was dispensed with by race time, after a 10-15 minute warmup for the women and men.
Due to the rain delay, the normal three-round qualifying was trimmed to a “one-lap, no crap” qualifying format, first four to the semis (women) or quarters (men). Because the race was intended to run, in its entirety, in daylight, the track had no lights to take it past sundown.
In the qualifying round, Team USA’s Amanda Carr had a great trip for the first half of the track. She had a commanding lead on the others, until the third straight sapped a lot of her speed, and Magalie Pottier came a callin’ and grabbed the top spot. Carr stayed in there for the deuce, and Teagan O’Keeffe of South Africa got there just ahead of USA’s Amanda Geving for the final qual spot.
In the second rack, Lieke Klaus of the Netherlands exercised some top-drawer defense of her fourth-place qualifying spot, when she pinched off the line of Belgian Elke van Hoof down the last straight. Mariana Pajon, who was on Fire in Copenhagen two weeks ago, and looking for more in London, got the win.
The third group had Kiwi cutie, Sarah Walker logging a masterful lap for the win, and saw a photo finish for the final qualifying spot between Melinda McLeod of Australia and Aneta Hladakova of the Czech Republic. McLeod moved on.
The final gate of ladies qualifying saw Shanaze Reade take it on home for the homecrowd, with Caroline Buchanan, Arielle Martin and Dani George all in tow for qual spots to the Semis.
BMX News sister site, BMXNOW, tweeted that Sam Willoughby looked “invincible” today, and it was laps like the first qualifier that made that point well. A no-problem win this trip, while World Time Trials champ, Andre Aguiluz and Swiss sensation David Graf scooted in for the two-three. The final qual was an American dash between Jason Rogers and Tyler Faoro, with J-Rog getting his ticket punched to the Quarters.
Second gate drop of mens qualifying was stacked to the rafters, with Maris Strombergs, Mike Day, Khalen Young and Jelle van Gorkom. Day was trapped back in fifth down the second straight, but gained some solid ground on Italy’s Romain Riccardi into the S turn, then lit up his magic manualling after burners down the third straight to get the fourth slot. Strombergs won it, with KY and Jelle between he and Day.
Third rack action saw Ramiro Marino and Toms Mankus of Latvia lay it down in turn one, with Tory Nyhaug’s Redline in the lead. Josh Meyers, Pablo Carrasco and Martin Scerpin were in the chase, when Tory crabbed his front wheel and washed in the last turn. Josh got the win that lap, but Tory picked it up in time to get back on the gas and qualify, edging out American Weston Pope.
Nic Long had been looking strong all weekend, and showed fierce strength in his qualifying group. A perfect lap, even with an aggressive challenge by Aussie Josh Callan. The guy with the most interesting name in BMX, Moana Moo Caille scooted in for the third, and Sebastian Kartfjord of Norway in to round out the four movers.
While all of the racks were stacked with household-name stars, the next one saw World Champ Joris Daudet taking his W1 and rainbow jersey to the front for the first time in group competition. Kurt Pickard edged out Marc Willers for the deuce, and it was Afro Bob, Robert DeWilde taking the final spot from name-brand talent Kyle Bennett (6th) and made-member of the Latvian BMX Mafia, Arturs Matisons (8th).
David Herman must have stashed some Wheat Ridge Wheaties in his checked baggage before the hop over to London, because he was on it like Blue Bonnet all day. Number 80 was at 100% this lap, solid as a brick wall, when he traded paint with Carlos Quendo in the S Turn. Oquendo WENT down, while David GOT down. Edzus Treimanis of Latvia was almost a casualty of the situation, until he roosted up some soil on the far outside, and used the retaining wall in the S-turn as a makeshift berm to keep it on two wheels. That bit of bike handling hocus-pocus earned him a trip to the Quarters, along with Damien Godet of France, who finished second, and Thomas Hubert of Australia who got the final spot.
In the penultimate qualifying group, Sylvain Andre stayed ahead of a herd of charging Rhinos, two of whom were rockin the same colors, to get there first. Thomas Hamon, who went bottom-bracket-up in Copenhagen (right in front of Corben Sharrah), was back to attack, but did not get there this time, and it was Raymon van der Biezen of the Netherlands, Aussie Luke Madill and French flier Simon Duchene who got to see the quarters from the top of the hill instead of the fenceline.
The final rack of qualifiers was love, American style, with Connor Fields acing the field, like flawlessly. SE Factory Boy, Barry Nobles was right there for the deuce, and Intense-mounted Team Australia idol, Brian Kirkham and Andres Jiminez out of Colombia was in for the fourth.
QUARTER FOR YOUR THOUGHTS
As these groups thin out, you get an overwhelming feeling of “Holy Cow, how does this all shake out?…These riders are ALL *SO* good!” On a stage like this, it goes way beyond being “fast” and enters almost Zen territory. You know what I mean if you saw the main at the worlds. Marc Willers, leading the main, way atop his game that day. A sliver of an over-jump on the second straight, which in most other races on earth would have been fully recoverable. Not in the SX arena. It was just enough to get Joris close, then past him.
In the Men’s Quarterfinals, four gate drops would distill the field further…and then you’d have that same feeling all over again. And then, of course, put your oxygen mask on before helping others for the main event.
But there was still 252 seconds of heart-stopping action on the track before that was upon us.
In the first group, you had Willoughby, Strombergs, van Gorkom, Day and Young, together again, just like the qualifying round. It was this lap that caused BMXNOW to call Sam “invincible,” with a perfect trip that got him to the line more than a second ahead of The Machine. KY was in the mix, until midway down the second straight, he seemed to unclip, and went to the top tube, just before hitting the second set. It was an “ejector seat” moment for Khalen, and looked like it might be one of those SX wrecks that sidelines a guy for three calendar pages. Thankfully, it wasn’t, and KY was back to his humorous self soon after, posting on Facebook: “If anyone has footage of my crash could you please post it. It has to look as good as it felt.” First to the semis were Sam, Maris, Jelle and David Graf.
Quarterfinal number two would thin strong contenders Josh Meyers, Martin Scherpin and Sebastian Kartfjord out of the semis, as Nic Long took it to the front flawlessly for the USA. The oddsmakers were strong on Long to win it all. Tory Nyhaug slugged it out with Moo Caille and Josh Callan to score a second, from fourth, down the last straight.
Willers was a giant awakened, starting in the third rack. Joris Daudet had the lead for the first three straightaways, until Willers took the fine-line in the last turn and got ahead of him. David Herman was on his chainstay down the last straight for second, by .141/sec, then came the World Champ, and Franco-bro, Godet.
Kirkham commanded the final group with the ever-present Sylvain Andre and Connor Fields getting “Qs” as well. Barry Nobles put the Alabama Slam on Andres Jiminez at the line to see the Semis.
SEMI-SWEET
Back to Girl-Boy racing, it was the ladies on-course first with Semifinal action. In the first group, Amanda Carr seemed to be shot out of a cannon, as she laid down a beating, American style to the rest of the pack. The third straight was a bog-down for her here as well, but it didn’t matter…her first two straights were aces-up, and she banked enough of a lead to keep Laetitia LeCorguillé, Magalie Pottier and Mariana Pajon looking at the backside of her “USA Stars” jersey.
Sarah Walker’s semi lap was a thing of beauty, as she handily dispensed with the pack. The battle was for the fourth spot, as a rematch of the Worlds Junior Women main was in effect, between Melinda McLeod and Brooke Crain. Brooke rode amazingly down the third straight to put herself in position to get that final main event slot. Unfortunately, it was not to be today, and Melinda got there .089 seconds faster. The transfers were Walker, Shanaze Reade, Lauren Reynolds and McLeod.
The track manned-up with two gates of eight ready to make a main. Here, it was Willoughby again with a win in the first pack. Nic Long was in for Team USA (go Power Rankings!), as was Maris and David Graf. Tory Nyhaug was oh-so-close, but would be leaning the fence for the main.
The stage was being set for that main event smackdown we had all been waiting for. Willoughby got his semi win in, now it was Willers turn to top. In fact, it was Joris Daudet who got the initial call for the win, but the photo finish would reveal that Marc was front-wheel-first by .025 of a second. Holy split-second soup, Batman! David Herman and Sylvain Andre were the final dynamic duo to make it in. That put two from Team USA in the main which, in this lofty company, is a great sign for the Chula Vista crew!
MAIN ON THE BRAIN
Watching the camera move from gate 8 to gate 1 in a Supercross Main Event is a great case study in composure. A million emotions are running through the athletes heads, ranging from “I am the winner” to “I need to get ahead of X, Y or Z person in the first three cranks,” to who-knows-what, vis a vis the pressures that are “right-now-real” to a world-class athlete, that the rest of us can’t understand.
And, to see the “face shots” of the main event contenders, you see all shades of the spectrum. Sarah Walker seems her happy-go-lucky normal self, smiling and giving the fans at home a few friendly waves…on over to Laetitia LeCorguille, who is all business, with laser beams down-range.
When the gate dropped, all the BS stopped, when from the outside, came Shanaze Reade. Pete Dylewski said it best, that she is an honest-to-goodness mainstream media darling there at home, splashed on the covers of newspapers and magazines, and even on posters in the airport. Well, she was not going to let anyone else top that podium today, and jumped to an early lead, which she kept for the balance of her rocket-fuelled 38.275 second laptime–not surprisingly, the fastest of the weekend. Walker was there for the second place podium honors, and Lauren Reynolds for the final podium spot. Mariana Pajon ended up with a DNF after an unfortunate takedown.
The final lap of the weekend would, of course, hold enough wattage to power a good-sized town. The moment before the war jumped off was frozen in time, when all of the sudden “BLAMO” it was on! The pack was close down the hill, then David Herman on the outside, and Marc Willers on the inside started to show themselves–Willoughby was through the middle. Going into the first turn, it was a race of millimeters (see, metric system), as Sam had a micro knobby on David and Marc. Sam got a stellar backside on the berm jump and jumped ahead the pack at the apex of turn one. By that point, Daudet had made a tasty move that put him literally neck-and-neck with Marc, with Graf on the razor’s-edge, way-up-high in fourth, and Herman and Long back in fifth and sixth, respectively. But there was A LOT of race yet to run.
Willers was back in command by the middle of the second straight, with Daudet and Sam still close enough to know what kind of chain lube he was running. It stayed that way into the S turn, but things were getting closer. Sam drew even, then a few spokes ahead of Marc over the box jump, and Daudet was a bike or so off the pace. Willoughby was tagged as leader in the split-time, with 23.714, with Willers “behind” (if you want to call it that) by .027. Joris was farther still by .24/sec, as the pack entered the third straight.
Of course, we are talking fractions of a second here…the blink of an eye is .33 seconds, so in reality, anything can change at any time. And down the third straight, it did, as it became a battle of the “W’s,” with Willers now half a wheel ahead, Willoughby on the inside, and the W1 in the middle. Three abreast they came, then Sam got scrubbed a bit, and fell back to third…Willers still in control.
Sam was not out of it, by any means, as his inside line positioned him well into the last turn. Marc was on his way to the win, unless something unexpected happened, and the epic battle would seem to be for second. Where was Nic Long at this point? Well, he was out of frame…and about to put his “Chula Vista comeback kid” plan into effect, because by the depths of the last straight, it was Marc, Joris and Nic firmly in the action. Sylvain Andre would finish off-the-podium in fourth, David Herman was fifth and Sam was sixth.
A pulse-quickening main. Maybe not as memorable as the Chula Vista main last year, which had solid lead changes and an at-the-line push by a hometown hero. But still, this one was double-A-Awesome!. Nic Long taking it from sixth to third was incredible. Willers beating back the “One Man Wolfpack” in Willoughby, and the World Champion–to say nothing of the reigning Olympic Gold Medialist. WOW. Just WOW.
Next stop on the SX tour is the season finale in Chula Vista at the end of September. With the Sarasota stop scrapped, the athletes have a solid month, and then some, to train up, and come back for more points, more fan adoration and more action, as the entire BMX industry looks on. We’ll be there. Will you?
—Mike Carruth
Don’t forget to tune in tomorrow for the network coverage on NBC in the United States. 3:30PM Eastern Time, but check local listings.
Above Photo: UCI BMX / craigdutton.com
