My first lap during time trials didn’t go the way I planned. I made some mistakes on the first straight, so I was missing some speed into turn one. At the finish line I was still able to get the 2nd fastest time, but I wasn’t happy at all. Top 16 guys had to race another time trial for the overall ranking and Olympics points for their country. I was looking forward to do better and get the fastest time. My time improved a lot, but I still made some small mistakes and got 2nd again behind Jelle. We were the only guys getting under 40seconds, but I was still disappointed because I knew I could do better than this…
Anyway, getting a first and second place during time trials is very important for Olympic points for our country, so we did a good job.
On Saturday the fans showed up big time! Many of my family and friends were there, so I wanted to show them what I’m capable of. During practice I already could hear the fans cheering, so that was a great feeling for me! Unfortunately my race ended up really quick… I won my first moto quite easily, but when I was leading moto 2 my handlebar suddenly breaks and I took a very hard crash.
When I get awake at the first aid table I couldn’t remember anything of my crash, the only thing I was worried about was my jaw… I broke my jaw a few years ago and I had the same feeling again. Doctors told me it was in the right position, but my face hit the ground very hard, because my helmet and neck brace is torn on several pieces.
Right now I’m having a concussion and my body is a wreck. I feel pain everywhere and I still want to make a scan of my head, to make sure everything is okay.
I’m very disappointed about ending my weekend like this, especially because it wasn’t my mistake. It will take some time to get back on the bike and trust my handlebar again. My goal is to be back at the World Championships in Copenhagen.
I’d like to say thanks to my fans, my team, the organisation at Papendal and my sponsors for a great support. I’ll be back…
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UCI BMX Supercross round 2 at Papendal, Holland: Great event, Olympic replica track, many riders and a lot of spectators, excited to race for a home crowd, broken handlebar… The organisation at Papendal did a great job for their first ever UCI BMX Supercross. They had everything under control and the track, stands, VIP areas etc looked amazing! In my opinion by far the best organized race ever. On Thursday the first practice kicked of for the men. Because Papendal is my hometrack, I know what to expect, but I could see that many other riders had some problems to get used to this new level of BMX. The heavy wind gusts at Papendal didn’t make it easier for everyone…
During practice I felt pretty confident, but like everybody else I had some hard time due to the wind. Many riders crashed, but luckily most of them could walk off the track by themselves.
As we are coming closer to time trials, I got more and more excited to race in front of a big home crowd. On Friday the pressure was on, cause 120 riders had to race time trials one by one to qualify themselves at the top 64 riders for the race on Saturday.
After doing a BMX 'zine for ten years (1987 - 1996) FATBMX made it on the internet. The year was 1998. Here to stay.