t more time on it heading into this race. If other nations had the same conditions, they would have shown up better prepared. Mastering a track like this in the practice time that they got was tough. But the big crowd enjoyed the action because it was spectacular. It was fast and the riders spent some serious time in the air. The racing wasn't over until you'd made it over the finish line. The big screen was awesome as they showed instant replays and showed the names of the riders that lined up on the gate. The instant results afterwards kept the crowd informed. After a successful time trials superfinal on Friday, the Dutch were hopeful going into the main event on Saturday. In the women's class both Laura Smulders and Joyce Seesing finished 5th in their semi. Jelle van Gorkom was the only Dutch rider in the main. He got the crowd on their feet and it helped him get to second place right behind Marc Willers who took the holeshot and never looked back.
I'm rushing this report because the afterparty is about to start. We'll be back for more on the Papendal race in the next few days. The standard was high, on all levels but the track beat it by a mile. Will the riders step it up and get used to these kind of courses or does the track need to be tamed down a bit. What do you think? BdJ
Final results Men:
1 777 WILLERS Marc NZL 4 40.963
2 37 VAN GORKOM Jelle NED 2 41.698
3 3 DAUDET Joris FRA 1 42.800
4 49 NYHAUG Tory CAN 6 43.454
5 197 TREIMANIS Edzus LAT 5 44.950
6 457 CALLAN Joshua AUS 8 45.008
7 42 KIRKHAM Brian AUS 7 54.459
8 91 WILLOUGHBY Sam AUS 3 DNF
Final results Women:
1 96 WALKER Sarah NZL 5 36.985
2 27 LABOUNKOVÁ Romana CZE 7 37.305
3 68 BUCHANAN Caroline AUS 6 37.897
4 50 POTTIER Magalie FRA 4 37.915
5 100 PAJON Mariana COL 8 38.096
6 15 MARTIN Arielle USA 1 39.051
7 52 HLADÍKOVÁ Aneta CZE 3 39.558
8 83 HORÁKOVÁ Jana CZE 2 39.880
After doing a BMX 'zine for ten years (1987 - 1996) FATBMX made it on the internet. The year was 1998. Here to stay.