track. There was no way you could get there by car, by bike or on foot. It started feeling like the real deal, not that I fancied it. Construction was going on left and right. The Olympic villages, parking spaces, roads, parks, were all being worked on. A race against the clock but they’ve got 11 months to go. 
At the media center the battle for the right bibs had already started. Blue was the infield and green was okay for everything but the infield, the pits, the sponsor section, athlete lounge, coach area etc. Traveling to an event to be restricted to where you’re going is not the normal procedure for me, but I was expecting the worst so I was glad I brought the 70-200mm. On arrival the track looked like it had just been finished. It looked like a construction site rather than a completely finished course for the biggest race of the world. 
Well, that’s next year and I’m sure it will look better by then. The box was dubbed the Red Bull box which made a colorful change for the BMX track. Time will tell before we see sponsored berms. The box actually had some transition to land on and some trannie to jump into the landing. This was a good change as it kept the speed much better than in Papendal. The girls had the Oakley tunnel which really shot them into the ground deep to get good speed for the step up jump out of it. Not your traditional race track but this is Supercross BMX. Get used to it. Of course the weather conditions played a role since the event takes place in England and the track is outdoors. Between the rain showers they held practice, the time trials and the race. 
I managed to get a blue photo bib for a short period of time on Friday and got on the infield to take some shots during time trials. Personally I’m not a big fan of the time trials and telling by the reaction of the crowd they believe it’s boring as well. The grandstands were rather full at the start of it but by the time the Super Finals started, only 25% of the people decided to stay. Seeing riders one by one on a huge track for 4 hours is not the most exciting thing to watch but something needs to be done to get the field down to 64 riders in the men’s class and 32 in the women’s class. For now it’s the time trials that decides who gets to race the next day. One lap, no crap. If you slip a pedal, your trip to London is over so making it to Saturday’s main program is already a task. 
The SuperFinals are the highlight of the Friday program. The differences in time are small. In the women’s class Elite World Champion Mariana Pajon got 5th with only 0.253 of a second behind first place finisher Magalie Pottier (France). 2nd went to Lauren Reynolds, 3rd to home favorite Shanaze Reade and 4th to Laetitia le Corguille. In the Men’s class it was all smiles for Sam Willoughby who had a perfect lap and beat “the unbeatable” 
Joris Daudet and Andre Sylvain who was in the hot seat for a long time. It was time to rehearse the podium ceremony that only a handful of people stayed to watch. It was back to the media center to check the pics, pack up, and head back to the bus, then the Stansted National Express bus and call Zach Shaw for a pick-up from Stansted Airport. It had been a long day. Next day. Same procedure getting there. I have to admit that I was expecting it to be a lot worse. I felt like I was already getting used to the system. Getting a blue vest for Saturday was pretty much out of the question. AP, Reuters, Getty-Images, there were more important players around than FATBMX. The long lens it was. Now this was going to be exciting.
The best riders of the world were going to stomp down that starting hill at full speed, jump some big gaps and throw some elbows left and right. But then the rain came, and it came down hard. Time was spent at the media center catching up with the media folks. When the sun was back out, the program started with the 1/8th finals as if it was just one race. The track had been fixed and looked very good, considering what had just happened. The show must go on and the boys and girls were ready. The crowd got into it, especially when Shanaze Reade lined up on the gate. She’s been hyped a lot in Great Britain and had no problems maki
ng it into the main. Everyone’s got their favorites and of course for me it’s the Dutch crew. Plenty of guys didn’t make the cut (a.o. Sander Bisseling and Twan van Gendt) but still a few were left. In the girls class favourites Merle van Benthem and Joyce Seesing were out before the race started. A big get well to both of them from this side. Jelle van Gorkom and Lieke Klaus were the only Dutch riders to make it to the Semi final. Both of them got 7th and it ended right there for team Holland. 
In racing things can go either way. That’s the beauty of it. But usually the stronger riders make it to the final eight. If you look at the women’s finalists, there’s no real surprise there. When the gate dropped the crowd got wild for Reade. She got the lead and tried to keep it. On the third straight Sarah Walker was much faster. In fact, she passed Speedy Reade in the semi finals in that section and it looked like it was going to happen again in the finals. 
But this time Shanaze got her elbow out which was enough for Sarah to back off. It was a sprint to the finish line but the Brit won it which adds to her role of Gold favorite in 2012. The pressure is on her next year for sure.The men’s final was a good one too. The racing was awesome as the lead was changed three times during the race. No one was knocked down, it was pure racing, taking different lines, gaining more speed out of landings and turns to pass the guy in front of you. Marc Willers, Joris Daudet, Sam Willoughby and Nic Long made a great show out of it with Willers winning it in the end, Daudet in 2nd and Long in third. By showing this final race the GSX people and the track builders can show that the track works.
For the Olympic Games the 32 best guys and 16 best girls will line up. All of which will be able to master a track like this by then. The track will look a lot better with all the plastic, machinery, hoses, spades, etc. gone. The grass will be cut to perfection and maybe some flowers get planted. It will be ready for the eye of a few billion people. Bring it on! BdJ
UCI BMX SX World Cup 3 Final Results. London, England.
ELITE MEN
1. Marc WILLERS (NZL)
2. Joris DAUDET (FRA)
3. Nicholas LONG (USA)
4. Sylvain ANDRE (FRA)
5. David HERMAN (USA)
6. Sam WILLOUGHBY (AUS)
7. David GRAF (SUI)
8. Maris STROMBERGS (LAT)
ELITE WOMEN
1. Shanaze READE (GBR)
2. Sarah WALKER (NZL)
3. Lauren REYNOLDS (AUS)
4. Magalie POTTIER (FRA)
5. Amanda CARR (USA)
6. Melinda McLEOD (AUS)
7. Laëtitia LE CORGUILLE (FRA)
8. Mariana PAJON (COL)
UCI BMX SX Time Trials results. London, Round 3.
Men Time Trials Superfinals
1 91 WILLOUGHBY Sam AUS 42.625
2 1 DAUDET Joris FRA 42.767
3 39 ANDRE Sylvain FRA 43.317
4 49 NYHAUG Tory CAN 43.666
5 8 MOO CAILLE Moana FRA 43.702
6 7 FIELDS Connor USA 44.013
7 127 TREIMANIS Edzus LAT 44.059
8 37 VAN GORKOM Jelle NED 44.069
9 2 STROMBERGS Maris LAT 44.465
10 566 OQUENDO ZABALA Carlos COL 45.023
11 42 KIRKHAM Brian AUS 45.074
12 32 KARTFJORD Sebastian NOR 45.347
13 143 POPE Weston USA 49.135
14 139 DUCHENE Simon FRA 1:05.964
no Rank 777 WILLERS Marc NZL no time DNF
no Rank 954 FAORO Tyler USA no time DNF
Women Time Trials Superfinals:
1 3 POTTIER Magalie FRA 40.126
2 21 REYNOLDS Lauren AUS 40.170
3 12 READE Shanaze GBR 40.309
4 22 LE CORGUILLÉ Laëtitia FRA 40.379
5 1 PAJON Mariana COL 41.162
6 68 BUCHANAN Caroline AUS 41.479
7 32 CRAIN Brooke USA 41.554
8 31 GEVING Amanda USA 41.844
9 83 HORÁKOVÁ Jana CZE 42.470
10 555 MCLEOD Melinda AUS 42.886
11 41 HEREIJGERS Maartje NED 42.941
12 66 KLAUS Lieke NED 44.406
13 6 RIMSAITE Vilma LTU 44.604
14 15 MARTIN Arielle USA 44.777
15 96 WALKER Sarah NZL 46.620
no Rank 171 O'KEEFFE Teagan RSA no time DNF
After doing a BMX 'zine for ten years (1987 - 1996) FATBMX made it on the internet. The year was 1998. Here to stay.