New Zealand’s leading BMX riders could not convert encouraging qualifying performances as they missed out in elimination rounds of the UCI World Cup Supercross in California today.

World silver medallist Marc Willers and the much-improved Daniel Franks both missed out in the quarterfinals, while talented teenager Trent Jones knocked himself out during qualifying motos at the USA training centre at Chula Vista.

BikeNZ BMX Coach Ryan Hollows said the results on paper belied their performances.

“On paper we did not get anyone through to the semifinals but overall I thought we had three or four riders right on the pace,” Hollows said.

“We had five men through to the elimination rounds which is a record. Dan Franks and Trent Jones have definitely improved significantly and have taken a lot of confidence from strong performances at the world championships in Auckland.”

Hollows said Willers had looked strong and Matt Cameron had improved in his first qualifying performance. Gisborne’s Nic Fox was another to make strides this season in the US.

Both Willers and Franks under-jumped the challenging second pro straight at Chula Vista. Willers ended up popping a tyre while Franks came down after both were in position to qualify for the semifinals.

Earlier Jones, also in a strong position to qualify for his first elimination rounds at a World Cup Supercross, got caught in a crash in the second moto where he was knocked out and withdrew from racing.

Cameron and Fox sixth and seventh respectively in their moto group and did not progress to the quarterfinals.

“There’s no doubt that having the world championships in New Zealand was a huge opportunity for our riders. Given we have the likes of Kurt Pickard to return, we have a group of riders who have definitely taken a big step up.

“With more hard work over the summer, they can now looking forward to qualifying for elimination rounds and progress into semifinals and finals in World Cup Sueprcross on a regular basis next year,” said Hollows.

Australian Sam Willoughby took out the men’s final from Canadian Tory Nyhaug and time trial world champion Connor Fields, who claimed the overall honours for the Supercross World Cup season.

Olympic champion Marianne Pajon (COL) proved the class of the women’s final ahead of Laura Smulders (NED) and Alise Post (USA).

Olympic BMX silver medallist Sarah Walker has suffered a further injury that has thwarted her return for this weekend’s final UCI World Cup Supercross in California.

Walker injured her wrist after crashing in practice at the Chula Vista track near San Diego yesterday.

“Sarah has damaged her wrist. While it’s not too serious, it will mean she won’t be able to race this weekend,” said BikeNZ BMX Coach Ryan Hollows.

“She just can’t get a break this year at all. She was training strongly and had high hopes of doing very well this weekend.”

Walker’s injury woes began when she dislocated her shoulder at the Supercross round in Norway last April, but recovered sufficiently to gain her outstanding Olympic success. However as there was a high chance of the shoulder dislocating again, Walker had an operation late last year that sidelined her for five months.

In her final competition preparation for the UCI World Championships in Auckland, she was taken down in a race in the USA in June, where she suffered a minor fracture in her elbow.

Walker again showed great powers of recovery to get to the start line at the world championships, qualifying second fastest in the time trial qualification.

However she further injured the shoulder when she fell in practice on race day which ended her world championship dreams.

Walker had recovered fully and had trained well for the final World Cup until the spill in practice yesterday.
“You just wouldn’t believe it. My bad luck just continues,” Walker said.

She is hopeful of recovery in time for an international invitation event on the island of Curacao in the Caribbean in two weeks time.

There are eight New Zealand men competing at Chula Vista, the Olympic BMX training centre, led by world championship silver medallist Marc Willers.

There is further practice today, qualifying time trials tomorrow and racing on Sunday (NZ time).

New Zealand has enjoyed its most successful UCI BMX World Championships at Auckland’s Vector Arena.

Kiwi riders claimed 12 world titles, another 26 podium places and 46 more made finals in virtually every class from six and under boys to the 45 years and over Cruisers.

The majority of the success came in the Challenge age group classes, but there were positive signs at the elite level too, with Marc Willers finishing second in elite men – his best World Championship result – and Hannah Sarten claiming a bronze medal in junior women.  Cody Hobbs was the best of the junior men going as far as the semifinals.

“I’m very satisfied with the results,” said Ryan Hollows, The BikeNZ BMX National Coach. “It’s beyond our expectations.”

Apart from Willers, Daniel Franks and first year elite rider Trent Jones made it to the semifinals.

“It’s been a breakthrough week for the guys,” said Hollows, who noted that Kurt Pickard had showed good speed, but got out foxed in his quarterfinal.

Willers turned his season around with the runner-up placing. “Four weeks ago I motoed (didn’t qualify) at a big meeting in the States. I didn’t know how I was going to go here.”

Hollows said the California-based rider had got stuck into a solid block of training. “He worked really hard and got the result.”

Four riders stood on the podium twice during the championships. Hamilton’s Calien Calkin won the 12 year boy’s class and 24 hours later was runner up in the 12 and Under Cruiser.

Rangiora’s Tahlia Hansen put the disappointment of finishing runner-up in the 16 Girls behind her to win the 16 and Under Cruiser.

Auckland’s Adam Coker won the 25-29 years men’s 20 inch class and then had to settle for second in the same age group Cruiser class and Maynard Peel from the Puni-based Sunset Coast club was third in both the 14 boys and the 13-14 years Cruiser.

Mike Batterton, the chairman of BMX New Zealand, believes the results are vindication of the progressive coaching and development programmes across the sport.

“We’ve had success at all levels which shows the depth the sport now has,” said Mr Batterton. “I know the host country advantage helps, but riders don’t come from Europe, North and South America to make up the numbers. They have sent their best riders and ours are very competitive with them.”

BMX in New Zealand starts with a “Sprocket Rocket” programme for riders under eight years which concentrates on skills and technique development. That is followed by the annual, more competitive “Mighty 11s” test series against Australian 11 year olds.

A Junior Development programme is run for 13 to 16 year olds for any rider who makes a final at the National or North Island Championships.

This leads into the High Performance programme run by Bike NZ for the sport’s elite riders like Olympic silver medallist Sarah Walker.

An Intermediate Development Programme is about to start for riders who haven’t made the High Performance squad, to encourage them to stay in BMX.

Australian Caroline Buchanan put the demons of the London Olympics behind her when she won the Elite Women’s title at the UCI BMX World Championships inside the Vector Arena.

“I had first lane choice at London,” said Buchanan “I took lane 3 and blew it. I made sure I didn’t make the same mistake again and went for lane one this time around.”

She got the holeshot and cut off Olympic champion Mariana Pajon in the first straight, taking the Columbian out of contention.

“When it comes to finals you’ve got to release the mongrel and get aggressive. I just wanted to get out front and stay out of trouble,” said Buchanan.

Once the dust settled fellow Australian Lauren Reynolds was second and Manon Valentino of France was third.

Auckland was the first international BMX event Buchanan has done since the Olympics. “I put a lot of pressure on myself to succeed.” And it’s not over yet. Buchanan will be contesting the World Downhill Mountain bike and Mountain bike 4 Cross championships – a title she has won twice before – over the next two months.

There was no fairy tale ending for home town darling Sarah Walker who was already nursing a broken arm in a special protective splint.

She came down in practice before racing and in an effort to protect the arm she landed heavily on her shoulder stretching the AC joint. She rolled around at the back of the three qualifying motos to end her meeting.

Englishman Liam Phillips made the most of his opportunities after most of the sport’s heavy hitters had eliminated one another in a quarter final crash fest.

Kiwi Marc Willers was the only World Champion finalist from last year to make it through the eights, quarters and semi-finals to the main event.

Phillips led from the start and once Willers decided not to attempt a “death or glory” passing move in the second corner, the Englishman was home and hosed.

“Apart from 2011, I’ve been to every Worlds since 1996 when I was a kid,” said Phillips. “It’s the first time I’ve won.”

After the Olympics, Phillips said he decided to target the World Championships. He didn’t race on the USA pro circuit but stayed home and trained on and indoor track at Manchester similar to the one at Vector Arena.

“We knew it would be tight and planned for this,” said Phillips. “I knew my form was quite good when I won the Manchester World Cup, but then I made mistakes at the next two World Cups in Europe.”

“I just wanted to keep the mistakes to a minimum and I managed that.”

Felicia Stancil of the United States added to her impressive growing list of World titles when she took out the Junior Women’s crown – her 14th in succession as she has come through the age grades. It was her second success in 24 hours after winning the time trial on Saturday.

Shayona Glynn made it a USA double and first year junior Hannah Sarten claimed third for New Zealand.
America was also successful in the junior men with Sean Gaian, claiming the title from Argentina’s Gonzalo Molina and Jeremy Rencurel of France.

New Zealand riders grabbed four victories in the Cruiser class on the second night of the UCI BMX World Championships in Vector Arena, Auckland tonight.

It moved the New Zealand total to 12 world championship titles from the Challenge (age group) class racing, to set the scene for the elite riders to come on the weekend.

Leading the way is 36 year old Vanessa Quin from Tauranga, who returned full circle to BMX after she became the first New Zealander to win a World Elite Championship in downhill mountain bike in 2004 before also dabbling with track cycling.

“I talked to Tony Wilcox beforehand. I knew I wasn’t going to get first gate pick so I was trying to work it out and how to stay out of trouble and he gave me some good advice and it worked,” Quin said.

“It’s been lovely. It’s great to be here, I’m stoked to see lots and lots of old friends and I have made some new ones tonight so that is nice.”

It was doubly special with son Jay celebrating his fifth birthday today, checking out Kelly Tarlton’s during the day. But which was more fun – his treat or his mother winning a world title?

“Both are really good,” he said.

The other kiwi wins went to outstanding North Canterbury rider Tahlia Hansen, after coming second in the 20 inch final yesterday.

Popular Rotorua rider Dave Mohi grabbed his second world championship in the 40-44 years while Hawera’s Steve Schimanski took out the 35-39 years honours.

“I have trained really hard. I am generally not very good at gates so I have been smashing them in training,” Mohi said. “It was mean to race at home because the crowd was just nuts.”

Others to impress in the cruiser class finals tonight including American Michael Gonzales who took out the 13-14 years honours after winning in the 20 inch class yesterday, a feat also enjoyed by Robin van der Kolk (Netherlands) in the 17-24 years class, one of three Dutch victories tonight.

New Zealand now has 12 world titles in two days, ahead of USA and Australia who have six each.
Tomorrow (Friday) the track will be converted to the eight metres high start gate and bigger jumps for the elite competition which begins with the time trials on Saturday and elite racing on Sunday.

The youngest World Champions in any sport were found at the UCI BMX World Championships at Vector Arena, Auckland this morning.

Benaiah Richards of Australia took the 5 and 6 year old boys’ class, in his third season in the sport, having started out as a four year old.

Auckland’s Mountain Raiders Club rider Sacha Earnest was the youngest female victor in the girls 5 to 7 years’ division.

Seven titles were decided in classes up to the nine year olds, where three of the champions were already repeating previous success.

Kjelle Poets from Lommel in northern Belgium completed a trifecta in the nine year girls, having won the title the previous two years at Birmingham and Copenhagen.

And local crowd favourite Lachlan Stevens McNabb from Rotorua took his third title in the 9 year boys after a head to head tussle with defending champion Connor Defrain from the USA.

The pair raced shoulder to shoulder down the first two straights, but Defrain slightly miscued a jump on the third straight and McNabb edged ahead to win.

“I really wanted that after Connor beat me last year,” said McNabb, who had previously won as a six and seven year old in South Africa and Copenhagen respectively.

American Dane Morales repeated his success of last year in the seven boys.

Leila Walker from Cambridge took the eight year girl’s honours from defending champion Grace Stevenson of the USA. Walker had set her sights on the World 1 plate after winning the national title on her home track at Easter.

She has a simple long term goal – “When I grow up I want to go to the Olympics.”

Thomas Tucker from Brisbane bagged Australia’s second title of the session when he took out the eight year boys after his only previous trip to the World Champs had resulted in elimination in the semi-finals.

The championships continue into the weekend with time trial events for the Elite Men and Women and the Junior (17 and 18 year olds) Men and Women from 1pm on Saturday, with racing for all four classes on Sunday from 10am.

Tomorrow (Friday) the track will be converted from its current set up as used by all the challenge classes, to an 8 metres high start gate and bigger jumps for the elite competition.

A crash fest was the order of the evening at the second session of the UCI BMX World Championships in Auckland, New Zealand tonight.

In three of the men’s finals most of the field hit the tarmac in the first corner at the Vector Arena.

New Zealand came away with two more titles with Adam Coker taking the 25 to 29 years class and former double national elite men’s champion Tony Wilcock successful in the men’s 30 and over class.

It was a night for the United Nations with riders from France, Canada, Switzerland, USA, the Netherlands, Australia and Ireland also successful.

Colin Hudson, the defending champion, took the 16 boys’ title, despite starting from the unfavoured lane eight. He was helped a little when three of his rivals crashed in the first corner and then claimed the win on the last bend coming from third as France’s Romain Racine and Bruno Andrade Cogo (Brazil) opened the door while they tussled for the lead.

It was Hudson’s fourth title in a row at World level and seventh visit to a world podium.

There was a bigger pile-up in the 15 boys’ race, with six of the eight starters going down in the first turn leaving Alex Tougas of Canada to take the win.

And half the field crashed in the 30 and over men with Wilcock (Hamilton) winning New Zealand’s second title of the night.

Coker was impressive in his victory going undefeated through 3 motos, a quarter, semi and the final.

“I had a good day right from my first lap, I felt it was on. It’s awesome to have family and friends supporting was special.”

And Ireland claimed its first ever title at a BMX World’s when Kelvin Batey took the Master’s class from the more fancied Argentine pairing and former elite class riders Christian Becerine and Javier Colombo who crashed in the first corner, along with three others.

“The sport is coming on a lot back home, so this is another step in the right direction and hopefully will bring more people to BMX.”

The women did not ride quite as aggressively and stayed on their bikes, with Axelle Etienne (France) winning the 15 girls from Kiwi Zoe Fleming second. Local rider Tahlia Hansen repeated her second place of 12 months ago behind Switzerland’s Christelle Boivin who “felt good even after all the travel to get here.”

Robin Van der Kolk from the Netherlands repeated his Birmingham 2012 win in the 17-24 year men’s class, winning all but his eighth final when he unclipped from his pedal during the four hours.

“It was pretty tight racing – the track is so small, so you have to be in front from the gate. I’m stoked right now after defending my world title”

It was third time lucky for Australia’s Madison Janssen in the 17 and over women’s class after finishing runner-up at the 2003 Perth and 2008 China Worlds.

Tomorrow is the turn of the youngsters with the five to nine years categories in the morning ahead of the Cruiser class, for the larger 24” diameter wheeled bikes, in the afternoon.

Friday allows for a change day for the track for the elites with time trials on Saturday and racing on Sunday.

Trans-Tasman rivalry was resumed at the first session of the UCI BMX World Championships when New Zealand and Australia both won three titles today (Wednesday).

Ten titles were on the line with Maia Coleman-Savage drawing first blood for the host nation at the Vector Arena in the 10 year girls. Ironically Maia lives in Australia but still has New Zealand citizenship.

Coleman - Savage went through the meet unbeaten, winning her three qualifying motos and then a semi-final, before using more speed off the last corner to come from behind and overtake French girl and defending champion Francesca Cingolani.

Like a lot of young BMXers Australian Jesse Asmus who took out the 10 year boys wants to ride at the Olympics.

Other Australian included Des’Ree Barnes in the 11 girls who made it a trifecta after also being successful at the 2009 and 2012 World Championships.

England claimed its only title of the session through Ryan Martin, who beat defending champion Julian Dittrick of the USA. “When I crossed the finish line I thought I was going to ball into tears,” said Martin who lives in the Waikato, but still has a British passport.

Gisborne’s Jessie Smith broke her duck today having finished twice at the Adelaide and South African Worlds in 2009 and 2010. “I’m stoked to win this time. Going down that start ramp gives you such an adrenalin rush

New Zealand also took out the 12 boy’s title with Cailen Calkin from Hamilton saying the five to six days training since Easter’s national championships having paid off. Now he is looking for more success in tomorrow’s Cruiser Championship for the larger 24 inch diameter wheeled bikes.

“Mind shocked” was how Australian Shelby Green described her victory in the 13 year girls. “I couldn’t believe it. I was hoping to get top 3, everybody looked really fast.” Green beat four finalist from last year’s World’s at Birmingham including defending champion Maite Naves Barreto of Brazil who was second and American Anna Johnson of the USA who was fourth.

Carlos Javier Zuluaga Melo will go home from Auckland a lot happier than after last year’s Worlds where he was last in the final. The Columbian beat fellow South American Facundo Lorenzo Rios in the 13 year boys.

Japan scored the double in the 14 girls, with Saya Sakakibara beating defending champion Sae Hatakeyama. “I crashed out in the semis last year,” said Saya in a perfect Aussie accent, the result of living across the Tasman, but retaining her Japanese citizenship.

Defending champion Michael Gonzales won the 14 boys title with local hope Maynard Peel drawing the least favoured outside start lane and finishing third after being unbeaten in his three motos and the eighth, quarter and semi-finals.

Double BMX Olympic Champion Maris Strombergs has added the 2013 European title to his name less than two weeks out from the World Championships in New Zealand.

The final two rounds of the 12-strong European series were held in Belgium at the weekend.

Although absent in Belgium, the Latvian rider’s consistency throughout the series – seven wins and three second places – means he had no problem holding on to his overall lead.

“It was great doing the series again,” said Strombergs. “And now I am looking forward to racing in New Zealand.”

Strombergs ousts fellow Latvian, the 2012 European Champion Edzus Treimanis, who finishes second overall this year. However, Treimanis completed his 2013 European campaign on a winning note with victory in the 12th round in Dessel. France’s Quentin Caleyron rounds off the 2013 Elite men’s European podium.

Overall victory in the Elite women’s competition goes to former Juniors World Champion Manon Valentino (France). After being left out of the French team for the 2012 London Olympics, the young athlete had declared that despite her frustration she would “work hard to be present in Rio 2016 because the Olympic Games are a dream for me.”

In the absence of Great Britain’s Shanaze Reade, who dominated the first two rounds but then withdrew due to injury, the 22-year-old French athlete demonstrated that she is in great shape, taking seven victories in the European Championships.

Second overall was Olympic bronze medallist Laura Smulders (Netherlands) with former World Cycling Centre trainee Vilma Rimsaite (Lithuania) completing the European podium.

All the Elite European medallists are on the entry list for the UCI BMX World Championships which get under way in Auckland, New Zealand on 24 July.

There are more than 2000 riders from 33 countries entered for the World Championships. They start with the Challenge class (age group) on Wednesday 24 July and Thursday 25 July, with elite practice on Friday ahead of the time trial world title decided on Saturday 27 July and finals on Sunday 28 July.

The event has received the backing of Telecom, Major Events, Sport New Zealand, ATEED, Avanti Bikes, Avanti Finance, Pub Charity, Lion Foundation, Anchor, The Radio Network, Pullman Hotels, Tissot Timing and Santini.

Tickets still on sale from as little as $9 from www.ticketmaster.co.nz

Full details: www.bmxworldsnz.com

Olympic silver medallist Sarah Walker is confident she will be on the start ramp for next week’s UCI BMX World Championships in Auckland.

Walker still has her arm in a brace after suffering a hairline fracture of her radius after a crash racing in the United States recently.

The 25 year old plans to be back on her bike this week and is determined to compete in the world championships in her home country from 24-28 July.

“If it was not in New Zealand then I would probably consider skipping it because of the injury,” Walker said at a World Championship promotion at Sylvia Park at the weekend.

“This is the first time the worlds have been in New Zealand and most likely it won’t be back here while I am still competing. I’ve raced 10 straight years at the world championships and it would suck to miss the 11th one when it is here in New Zealand.”

BikeNZ’s BMX Coach Ryan Hollows said the fracture is healing faster than expected and medical advice confirmed that Walker should be able to compete.

“She won’t be 100 per cent but we are confident she will make it. The facture is healing quickly and Sarah is doing everything she can, with twice daily ultra-sound treatments.

“She is a very tough person. Sarah battled with a broken shoulder with little racing behind her and yet won a silver medal at London.”

Hollows is pleased with the development of the high performance squad after returning from training and racing in the USA.

“Sarah was finding some really good form so the crash was a pity. She will come in to the championships with no expectations and you just never know because she is such a talented rider.

“Kurt Pickard is starting find some outstanding form and the other guys are really developing well.”

The team leave for Queensland tomorrow where they will complete their final preparations on the Supercross track near Brisbane.

“The racing and training in the US was just what we needed. Of course there were no high ramps there, so the eight days in Brisbane will be plenty of time for the riders to dial in to the 8m ramp and big jumps ready for the championships.”

The team returns to Auckland on 25 July with their first official training session on the track at Vector Arena on Friday 27 July with elite racing starting the following day.

Work began today on building the ramp and track in Vector Arena and will be completed this weekend.

The Championships begin with the Challenge class (age group) on Wednesday 24 July and Thursday 25 July, with elite practice on Friday ahead of the time trial world title decided on Saturday 27 July and finals on Sunday 28 July.

The event has received the backing of Telecom, Major Events, Sport New Zealand, ATEED, Avanti Bikes, Avanti Finance, Pub Charity, Lion Foundation, Anchor, The Radio Network, Pullman Hotels, Tissot Timing and Santini.

British Cycling has today confirmed that Shanaze Reade has withdrawn from the forthcoming UCI BMX World Championships, which are scheduled to take place in Auckland from 24 – 28th July.

Shanaze sustained a knee injury after falling during a training camp in Papendal in early July. GB Cycling Team’s physiotherapist Phil Burt explains: “Shanaze has worked hard to recover from her recent knee injury but unfortunately time has run out for her to be in competitive form at the World Championships.”

Speaking of the decision, Shanaze said: "Having won every major race this year I was confident and excited to race in New Zealand, this was one of my biggest goals for 2013. To miss out on the World Championships is really disappointing. However, my team and I believe this is definitely the correct decision. It will be a short period of recovery and the plan is to come back stronger for the rest of the year."

For more information, visit www.britishcycling.org.uk

Kiwi innovation is a key part in this month’s UCI BMX World Championships in Auckland.

The 32nd BMX World Championships will be staged in the world-class Vector Arena on Auckland’s waterfront from 24-28 July.

The move to indoor arenas for the sport has become more common, offering an all-weather spectacular for competitors and fans alike.

However it can create challenges for the track construction. For the past three years there have been two separate starting ramps built for the BMX World Championships – an 8m ramp for elites and 5m ramp for Challenge (age group) racing.

The confines of Vector Arena meant there was insufficient room to build two separate ramps, meaning that the event’s operations manager, Tony Takarua from Elite Racing Developments New Zealand had to come up with an innovative solution.

The indoor track at the Vector Arena will include three tracks in one, with all classes sharing the same starting ramp and first straight. It is the first time since the introduction of two different starting heights for Challenge and Elite riders, that the two classes will share the same ramp.

After the two days of Challenge (age group) racing on Wednesday July 24 and Thursday July 25, the start ramp will be modified from five metres high to eight metres for the Elite racing at the weekend. At the same time the first straight will undergo slight modifications in order to host the weekend competitions.

“We came up with the concept of building a single split-level ramp structure with a longer platform for the 5m ramp,” said Takarua. “After Challenge races, with the use of hydraulics, the 5m ramp is repositioned to 8m.

“We are really pleased with the concept. We have built and tested it out and I think this could become a blueprint for cities around the world that want to run the championships in indoor arenas.”

The transformation will take place overnight after Challenge racing. The Junior and Elite Women will use the Challenge section of the second straight, while the Junior and Elite Men will ride on the adjacent Pro section.

Takarua is well known for his track building skills, having led the construction of New Zealand’s sole Supercross track at Pukekohe, the first permanent track to run Elite and Challenge ramps and tracks side by side and the first to use adjustable jumps.

His team will build the ramp and provide the construction team for the track, to be managed by the London Olympic track builders, Clark and Kent Contractors.

The English company has been involved in many projects with multiple national tracks in England, USA, remedial work at the World Cycling Centre at Aigle in Switzerland and the track for the London Olympics which won them worldwide acclaim.

Construction of the track in Vector Arena will take six days involving approximately 10,000 pallets and 60 truck and trailer loads of specially prepared dirt.

Organisers expect more than 2000 riders from 30 countries for the championships, although entries to not close until 12 July.

The Championships begin with the Challenge class (age group) on Wednesday 24 July and Thursday 25 July, with elite practice on Friday ahead of the time trial world title decided on Saturday 27 July and finals on Sunday 28 July.

The event has received the backing of Telecom, Major Events, Sport New Zealand, ATEED, Avanti Bikes, Avanti Finance, Pub Charity, Lion Foundation, Anchor, The Radio Network, Pullman Hotels, Tissot Timing and Santini.