National Champion Alise Post was dominant in the early rounds, but at the end of the day she rode away from the field to win the final in a commanding fashion.
In Friday’s time trial event, both girls rode well but just missed the podium. Magalie Pottier missed third place by 4/100th of a second and after qualifying in second, Alise Post finished in 6th place approximately 8/10th of a second off of winner Caroline Buchanan’s time.
In the men’s time trial it was Canada’s Tory Nyhaug who led the charge for Redline finishing in fourth place just missing the podium by just over 1/10th of a second. Australian Sam Willoughby finished a strong sixth place just 4/100th of a second behind Tory.
As with the women, Saturday was the main event for the approximately 150 riders who travelled from around the globe to earn World Cup points and spots on their respective Olympic teams. There were no easy groupings or motos all day long. Each heat was raced all the way to the finish line with multiple photo finishes throughout the day. The level of competition is simply through the roof. Despite the fact that Redline stars like Denzel Stein and Raymon Van der Beizen were eliminated in the semi’s, Redline had three of its riders in the final including Sam Willoughby, Tory Nyhaug and Hollands Twan Van Gent. The final was a great race with race fans both holding their breath as well as cheering at the top of their lungs. In the end our man Sam took a close 2nd place, Tory Nyhaug took 5th and Twan Van Gent took 6th . A super-fantastic start to a most important Supercross season for our Redline riders.
To round out the weekend, Denzel Stein turned in a rock solid performance in the USA Cycling Championships. Denzel consistently finished in 2nd and 3rd place in the opening rounds and at the end of the day took a well deserved 6th place in the final.
To wrap up the Elite riders, a special shout-out goes out to Redline Rider Jelle Van Gorkom of Holland who went down hard in the Semi’s and had to be airlifted to the hospital. Jelle suffered a punctured lung as well as some other internal injuries. All of his Redline family wish him a speedy recovery and hope to see him back on the track soon.
Redline riders are now off to their next events – Jason Carnes is in full Redline Flight School mode doing a number of clinics in California and the Western US, our Elite riders are off to Randaberg, Norway, for the next UCI Supercross, and we hope to see many of you at Redmond, Oregon, or Phoenix, Arizona later this month.
Text – Redline Photos – Gork, Jerry Landrum
After doing a BMX 'zine for ten years (1987 - 1996) FATBMX made it on the internet. The year was 1998. Here to stay.