We stayed in a nice hotel close to the track. The first thing we did after we checked in is having a look at the track, which looked great. The two following days I felt tired from travelling and jetlag, so we just did some easy road rides and some sprints with the team. On Thursday we could ride the track for the first time. I liked the track right away, because the track was fast/ smooth and the jumps not to big for racing. Only the strong wind was hard to deal with sometimes. Practice went okay for me, but I realised I had to step up for time trials the next day.
After Friday practice I was pretty satisfied, because I knew some fast lines in the corners and my gates felt okay. Besides these things it was very important to catch the landings perfect, but that was really hard sometimes because we generated so much speed! My first Time Trial lap was good; I ended up 2nd behind Fields. Top 16 guys and girls had to do Super Time Trial, so another lap for extra ranking points and race seeding. My Super TT lap was a little slower, because I lost some speed at the pro-section by overshooting the second jump. 6th overall was not to bad.
After a good night sleep it was time to race on Saturday. All the South American fans came out to cheer us on. Before warm-up I had to do an autograph session, which was crazy! I’ve never seen so many fans in line for our autographs and take a photo with us. For me it was a lot of fun and I like the kids/ people over there, because they really appreciate me the way I am and how I ride my bike. Anyway, racing started at 2:30pm. My first heat race was a warm-up lap, ending 6th after they almost pushed me out of the track. I had to get back in the groove. A 3rd and 1st place was enough for the quarterfinal. In this race I had a nice battle going on with teammate Jelle. I got 2nd place behind him. A decent semi finale got me in the main event. From lane 7 it was hard to get in front, but I tried of course. My gate and first straight was okay, I was in like 4th position till someone made a mistake in the first turn. I had nowhere to go. I was back in the pack, so I tried to catch some guys but I couldn’t get close enough.
I have mixed feeling about last weekend, because I know I can do better than 7th place. But it was a really fun trip to Argentina and it was great to be in the final again!
Coming up this weekend is European round 5&6 in Weiterstadt, Germany. Next week I will have my knee surgery on Tuesday. Keep you posted.
-Raymon van der Biezen
After doing a BMX 'zine for ten years (1987 - 1996) FATBMX made it on the internet. The year was 1998. Here to stay.