The BMX World Championships and World Challenges were organized on July 23-27 in the Ahoy Arena (Rotterdam, Netherlands).
The Worlds week was kicked off by the World Challenge.
Jan Seidl (Czech Republic) made it to the semis in Boys 9. He was in qualifying position when he came in contact with an adversary and both went down injuring both knees. We wish him a speedy recovery.
Rune Deburchgraeve (Belgium) had a bad gate in the 8th finals and didn’t make a transfer spot.
Mikus Strazdins (Latvia) just missed the podium in the though Boys 15 final, finishing in 4th place.
In the Championship Classes we had a competitor in each category: Marie Hossay (Belgium) in
Junior Women, Kristens Krigers (Latvia) in Junior Men, Aneta Hladikova (Elite Women) and Edzus Treimanis (Latvia) in Elite Men.
A lot of controversy about yet another Worlds on a small indoor track, big starting hill, small jumps and a lot of crashes, especially in the Championship Classes.
The Championships started with Time Trials. Marie Hossay finished 26th in Junior Women and didn’t qualify for the Super Time Trials in which the TT World Champion is crowned.
Our 3 other Thrill Europe Factory Pilots did qualify.
Kristens Krigers qualified 7th, the same spot he also took later in the Super Time Trials.
Aneta Hladikova took 16th place in the Time Trial and 15th in the Super Time Trial.
Edzus Treimanis qualified with a 7th time. His Super Time Trial put him in the hot seat, but shaking his head at the finish line indicated that he knew it wouldn’t be good enough for a podium spot. He finished 8th in the Super Time Trial.
In the Championship’s Race on Sunday, Marie Hossay, Aneta Hladikova and Kristens Krigers had to race the qualifications. As a rider in the top 16 of the UCI Ranking, Edzus automatically qualified for the 1/8th finals.
Marie didn’t make it through the qualifying motos.
Aneta put in some solid laps and qualified with a 4th, 3rd and 2nd place for the elite women quarters. She was in qualifying position but lost a lot of speed in the last turn and was overtaken just a few meters before the finish line.
Kristens Krigers crashed hard during practice when he collided in mid-air with another rider and landed on the paved turn. It didn’t look like he would be able to race, but 10 minutes before the start he got up and to everybody’s surprise announced that he was going to race. His fellow countrymen nicknamed him “Zombie” for this event, as no normal person would race in this shape. He continued to impress as he qualified for the quarters and improving every lap with a 2nd place in the semis and winning the semi. In the main event he crashed in a similar way giving him 8th place for the day. He got back on his bike to finish his lap… hard as nails!
After some warming up laps and gates, Edzus Treimanis was ready for his 1/8th final with instant elimination. With some low profile racing and good turns he managed to make it to the main with all 2nd places. In the main event, Edzus was fighting for a podium spot when the 2 leaders rubbed elbows. 1 of them went down and took out the entire competitor field. By the time he managed to get back on his bike, 3 riders were gone leaving him with 4th place, a solid result in the most important race of the year.
The riders will take a short break, but soon they will start preparing for the second part of the season with 2 more rounds in the World Cup SX Series.
The Thrill Factory Team is supported by Thrill BMX, Answer BMX, Tangent Product, Maxxis Tires, Stealth True Precision Hubs, C-Bear Ceramic Bearings, Alienation Rims, MJsport.de, Navada.Net