Willers on SPEED (bicycles)

Nov 18, 2010

Written by Bart de Jong

Read 3668 times

Speed Bicycles is pleased to announce that it signed New Zealand's Marc Willers for the 2011 race season. "Marc caught my eye a couple of years ago and he has been really fast since the summer. I really liked what I saw at Chula Vista and decided there that he was the guy to lead Speed. We're really happy to have him on the team and we look forward to a long relationship," said Toby Henderson, founding partner at VSI, Speed Bicycles' parent company.

Willers, the silver medalist at the UCI Super Cross Finals, in October in Frejus, France, and a consistent ABA podium finisher, will ride a Speed bicycle equipped with SINZ Elite, SINZ, ITS and THE gear as well as THE helmets and Fly clothing next year.

"After having such a bad year last year, I'm pleased to join with Speed and the guys and I'm looking forward to working with them

as I try to take the number-one spot in BMX," Willers said.

Willers is a skilled dirt jumper and thrill seeker. He once rode his BMX bike at 100 kilometers per hour downhill and he owns a 1977 Toyota Corolla stuffed with a 500 hp engine.

Willers, who is 25 years old, won his first national title at age of 10 and has only lost it three times since. He left high school in 2001 at the age of 16 to paint cars. After making his first Elite Men's World Final in 2005 he put down the spray gun to race full time.

He moved to Southern California, last year, to chase his goal of becoming the world's best BMX racer. A shoulder injury in March 2009, however, kept him for competing at the top of his game for most of the season. He had surgery in October and returned to racing in May at the UCI Super Cross World Cup in Copenhagen where he placed 4th. Since then, he has been on the podium at seven out of the 10 ABA nationals he raced and took second in Frejus. He got his first win at the Redline Cup Western Finals in Boulder City, Nevada, last month.

Among Willer's other racing palmares are 6th at 2005 BMX World Championships; 2nd at 2006 UCI Oceanic Continental series; 1st at UCI Supercross Frejus, France, and 1st at UCI Oceanic Continental series in 2007; 2nd at UCI Supercross Madrid, Spain, 2nd at UCI Oceanic Continental Series, 5th in UCI World Ranking and Olympic Semi-Finalist in 2008.