to the height of the starting hill from the early days plus a Pro-Gate that never failed and you see that BMX racing has evolved since 1974 on 1590 N Tuttle Avenue. When $2.4 million bucks are spent on a BMX track you can expect the facility to be good.
But what do you do when Hurricane Matthew shows up? It was on the news all week. A big hurricane was going to hit Florida. The sunshine state was in a state of emergency just when the final round of the UCI BMX SX World Cup was going to take place. Luckily the storm didn't hit the Sarasota track badly. A few clouds, a little rain and some wind on Friday was nothing the BMX facility couldn't handle. The absence of the qualified medical crew on Friday was the reason of the cancellation of first practice, not the windy conditions.
A little extra practice time was added to Saturday's program to give everyone a bit of track time. The Sarasota track was opened in July 2016 so it was new for many of the riders. With the beaches not too far away, being in Sarasota felt good for most of us. It's always nice to visit new places. Qualifying racing and Time Trials were scheduled for 8 October with 48 spots available for the Men and 16 for the Women. The Top 16 Men and Top 8 in the Women ranking would ride the very last Time trials Superfinals, a system that will disappear for next year. Together they formed Sunday's day of BMX racing.
Tre White (GBR), Twan van Gendt (NED), Tanner Sebesta (USA) and Kristens Krigers (LAT) all looked good during the qualification racing and could be seen out in front more often than not. Every single race with 8 men on the gate is one to watch. When 8 riders want to be the first rider in the first turn you can expect things to get crazy. Getting out front matters and most BMX races are won by the athlete who gets the holeshot and comes out of the first turn in the lead. The Men and Women had two different straights in Sarasota. The first straight and last stretch of the track was used by all riders. That's also where most of the crowd was hanging out in the shade under the trees.
$1000 bucks were on the line for the Time Trials winners in Sarasota. All year long the athletes needed to race for bragging rights and a good spot behind the gate, but this time a nice paycheck was waiting for the fastest man and woman. Tory Nyhaug (CAN) had won all four Time Trials superfinals in 2016 but couldn't make it stick when it mattered in Florida. It was Frenchman Sylvain André who put that thousand bucks in his One Ind. race pants. Brooke Crain (USA) held onto the lead in the women division but Holland's Laura Smulders, who was the last rider up on the track, grabbed the cashola out of Brooke's hands and took it home to The Netherlands.
The final day was pretty chill. No need for 07:00hr practice sessions, more like an 11am selfie session with the pros and a cup of coffee from the booth in the riders area. But once the ProGate started dropping, there was no stopping! The UCI BMX SX World Cup titles were on the line and Corben Sharrah (USA) and Laura Smulders had a fairly comfortable lead after winning round four in Rock Hill the weekend before. A few of the hotshots were missing after the Olympics but still, making the final 8 was not going to be easy. One mistake can cost a transfer spot so next to staying on the bike, you needed to get out in front. The track had plenty of opportunities to pass so even if you were in a safe spot going into the third straight, the race wasn't over until the line was crossed.
Let's just give it away, Corben and Laura grabbed the titles. Not only that, they both won the last UCI World Cup of the 2016 season making them true champions. Brooke Crain had a bad crash in her first moto on the first straight but got back up, qualified and got second behind Laura. Not only that, she moved up from 4th to second in the standings passing both Caroline Buchanan (AUS) and Simone Christensen (DEN) in the process. Simone crashed in the final but still ended up third in the overall standings. David Graf from Switzerland also had a nasty crash in the semi but held on to second place overall just in front of Maris Strombergs (LAT) who had a strong finish in Florida to make top three overall in 2016.
The 2017 UCI BMX SX World Cup will look different with full races being held on Saturday and Sunday. With three World Cups on the schedule (so far), it means that there are still six races to score points. The season will kick off in Papendal, Netherlands this year with the following World Cup being held a week later in Zolder, Belgium. Perfect if you want to do back to back World Cup racing in one trip. The Final round will be held in Santiago del Estero, Argentina some time in September. Both Corben and Laura will be present to defend their well earned UCI BMX SX World Cup titles.
BdJ
Elite Women Final results UCI BMX SX World Cup Sarasota, FL.
1 P 110 SMULDERS Laura NED 1 37.027
2 P 32 CRAIN Brooke USA 2 38.018
3 P 91 VANHOOF Elke BEL 3 38.796
4 P 89 BONDARENKO Yaroslava RUS 4 39.436
5 P 31 GEVING Amanda USA 5 40.580
6 P 33 GEORGE Danielle USA 6 1:03.969
7 P 388 BAAUW Judy NED 7 1:27.315
8 P 210 CHRISTENSEN Simone DEN 8 DNF
Elite Men Final results UCI BMX SX World Cup Sarasota:
1 P 24 SHARRAH Corben USA 1 33.006
2 P 81 STROMBERGS Maris LAT 2 33.870
3 P 39 ANDRE Sylvain FRA 3 34.695
4 P 192 van der BURG Dave NED 4 35.983
5 P 696 WHYTE Tre GBR 5 47.894
6 8 RAMIREZ YEPES Carlos Alberto COL 6 59.292
7 P 49 NYHAUG Tory CAN 7 1:11.532
8 P 143 TORRES Exequiel ARG 8 1:34.513
Elite Men Time Trials Superfinals Sarasota, Florida.
1 P 39 ANDRE Sylvain FRA 33.870 0.000
2 P 49 NYHAUG Tory CAN 33.906 +0.036
3 P 192 van der BURG Dave NED 33.935 +0.065
4 P 81 STROMBERGS Maris LAT 33.964 +0.094
5 P 48 GRAF David SUI 34.501 +0.631
6 8 RAMIREZ YEPES Carlos Alberto COL 34.539 +0.669
7 P 566 OQUENDO ZABALA Carlos Mario COL 34.580 +0.710
8 P 279 JONES Trent NZL 34.598 +0.728
9 P 373 BLANC Renaud SUI 34.599 +0.729
10 P 24 SHARRAH Corben USA 34.679 +0.809
11 P 595 MOLINA Gonzalo ARG 34.779 +0.909
12 P 211 EVANS Kyle GBR 34.851 +0.981
13 P 143 TORRES Exequiel ARG 34.881 +1.011
14 5 TREIMANIS Edzus LAT 35.035 +1.165
15 P 937 UPSHAW Jeffrey USA 36.322 +2.452
16 P 64 LONG Nicholas USA DNS
Women Time Trials Superfinals Sarasota, Florida.
1 P 110 SMULDERS Laura NED 38.102 0.000
2 P 32 CRAIN Brooke USA 38.757 +0.655
3 P 89 BONDARENKO Yaroslava RUS 38.953 +0.851
4 P 210 CHRISTENSEN Simone DEN 39.100 +0.998
5 P 91 VANHOOF Elke BEL 39.340 +1.238
6 P 388 BAAUW Judy NED 40.242 +2.140
7 P 33 GEORGE Danielle USA 40.283 +2.181
8 P 41 SUVOROVA Natalia RUS 40.898 +2.796
2016 UCI BMX Supercross final standings Elite Women:
1 SMULDERS Laura NED 985
2 CRAIN Brooke USA 750
3 CHRISTENSEN Simone DEN 680
4 BUCHANAN Caroline AUS 645
5 VANHOOF Elke BEL 610
6 BONDARENKO Yaroslava RUS 560
7 BAAUW Judy NED 465
8 GEORGE Danielle USA 455
9 SUVOROVA Natalia RUS 390
10 POST Alise USA 375
11 CURTIS Leanna AUS 345
12 PAJON Mariana COL 330
13 SAKAKIBARA Saya AUS 295
14 VALENTINO Manon FRA 295
15 ETIENNE Axelle FRA 295
16 PRIES Nadja GER 295
17 DIAZ Maria Gabriela ARG 280
18 SHRIEVER Bethany GBR 260
19 SMULDERS Merel NED 255
20 POTTIER Magalie FRA 255
2016 UCI BMX Supercross World Cup final standings Elite Men:
1 SHARRAH Corben USA 855
2 GRAF David SUI 600
3 STROMBERGS Maris LAT 560
4 TORRES Exequiel ARG 560
5 RAMIREZ YEPES Carlos Alberto COL 540
6 ANDRE Sylvain FRA 505
7 NYHAUG Tory CAN 490
8 BLANC Renaud SUI 480
9 VAN DER BURG Dave NED 460
10 MOLINA Gonzalo ARG 410
11 EVANS Kyle GBR 405
12 JONES Trent NZL 390
13 OQUENDO ZABALA Carlos COL 365
14 DAUDET Joris FRA 355
15 LONG Nicholas USA 345
16 UPSHAW Jeffrey USA 320
17 WHYTE Tre GBR 315
18 VAN GENDT Twan NED 315
19 TREIMANIS Edzus LAT 290
20 VAN GORKOM Jelle NED 280
By BdJ