FATBMX Your Online BMX News Resource Since 1998

Still gave a good indication of the track and knew it was going to be raising the level for both men and women! Love that..

When you arrived at the track, what was your first opinion?
Lauren: WOW! 'I feel sorry for the guys!" haha. At first glance I loved it to be honest. I see it was big jumps, hard surface and slight down hill. Looks really fast and fun. Wasn't sure about racing though. When I first stood on the hill, the 2 straights made me think a bit, was not sure how that was going to work, and what would happen if you were stuck on the inside for the women, opposite for the men. But the fact that we had a decent second jump that we could attack and jump not jump half way was the best thing.

Do you think you got enough practice time to get used to the track?
Lauren:: Yeah for sure, the track took some more work than normal, but it's the same time as every race now so I am used to it. I pretty much got everything dialled in real quick, just the third straight I had to man up a bit which took some time:) but I got there!

Did you manage to jump everything you wanted to jump during the first session?
Lauren: Yerp, got the whole track clean, just knew I had to link some sections up ready for TT

How much harder is it for you to go from one at a time, to a full race of 8 people on the gate and then ride the track?
Lauren: It's not too bad, Saturday's practise prior to racing is normal when I focus on gating with a gate full of riders and focus on first straight. In saying that, whether I have none or 8 girls next to me, it doesn't worry me.

The wind definitely didn’t help with the difficulty of the track. Would it have been a different race without the wind?
Lauren: : I unfortunately didn't get to race Saturday after crashing out of TT Friday. From the side line the wind certainly looked crazy and looked like the men felt it more with the big jumps. I think everyone did a great job working with the wind, and the top 1-3 girls in every race and final all got through the track normally, just maybe not as fast as they could have..

How often did you crash?
Lauren: Once in my first TT. I was leading the times until my crash. I felt good and in control then all of a sudden I just blew a hand off down the third straight and lost control. Got back up as quick as I could but didn't make the top 32 women cut off which meant it was watching from the sidelines for me Saturday of racing.

Did you wear extra safety gear at this Supercross World Cup?
Lauren: Nope. It's BMX, crashes do happen but I just stick to the same outfit. I feel confident on my bike to not worry about crashing all the time..although at times you can't help it..

Do you think this Papendal track would be a lot easier to ride in two years from now?
Lauren: For sure. The way these guys and girls are pushing the limits and managing these gnarly tracks, who knows where we will be in 2 years time. I also do think for girls it's important to keep a limit to the track so it's still fast and race able.

Ok, imagine you’re the track designer for the London Olympic track and you can make 3 changes to the track. What would they be?
1. Well that's hard to do as I know the track is still a bit different to Papendal.
2. For the girls I wouldn't change too much, I know there is a tunnel and some more BIG jumps which I think will really make a perfect track.
3. As for the guys, I think they may need something a little more 'race flow' style track. But it looked really cool to watch:)

Thanks a lot. Any thanks to the sponsors or any people in particular?
Lauren: Yeah massive thanks to my sponsors/supporters, BMX Australia, Alpha-H, Intense BMX, stingaz surf n Skate, BONT shoes and SRH clothing. Big thanks to my Coach Wade Bootes and our Team support staff and my Team mates for the help and support!