Friday's practice time, together with a training session on Saturday morning, was enough for the athletes to get used to the changes to bomb down that 8 meter starting hill at full speed and keep it going till the finish line.
Doing a perfect lap is what the qualified riders needed to do to set the fastest possible time on the clock. World Cup leader Alise Post (USA) didn't have the best of preparation coming into the Time Trials Superfinal as she crashed hard during yesterday's practice and then did the same thing this morning. The tough girl still got on the bike and set a respectable 5th fastest time on the clock. With Pajon setting the fastest lap, Caroline Buchanan (AUS) came in second and Felicia Stancil (USA) in third. Pajon won the UCI BMX SX World Cup race in Santiago Del Estero last year and is excited about tomorrow to ride in front of the full grandstands on a track she likes a lot.Time Trials Superfinal winner Connor Fields (USA) is taking on tomorrow's race like any other race. Setting the fastest time on the clock shows that he's quick, so he'll be one of the favourites when the gate drops at 13:00hr. 2015 UCI BMX Elite Men World Champion Niek Kimmann (NED) is fighting a cold but that didn't show in Argentina as he set the second fastest time, just 0.085 of a second slower than Fields'. Australian Bodi Turner rounded up the top three in Santiago Del Estero proving that his podium spot at World Cup #3 in Sweden wasn't a fluke. He's still got that form and will be ready to take on the 48 racers that qualified for tomorrow's World Cup earlier today.
Argentina was on fire during today's qualifying races. In the Women class Gabriela Maria Diaz (ARG) qualified in third with a first, a second place in the second round and a first place in her third moto. America's Brooke Crain did not make any mistakes and cruised to a second place qualifying position with a 2-1-1. The only girl to win all three moto's was Olympic bronze medalist Laura Smulders (NED) who is liking the track, the facility and the crowd like most of the riders present in Santiago Del Estero. Five riders in the Men category scored three first places during the qualifying races. Three of them come from Argentina, making tomorrow's racing an interesting one to watch for the home crowd. Junior UCI BMX World Champion Exequiel Torres (ARG) qualified in first and will bring Argentinian champion Gonzalo Molina and son of the event organiser Federico Villegas (ARG) with him. With three moto victories each today they already set the standards high for tomorrow, but it's a sign they want to put on a good show for the BMX fans in Santiago Del Estero.
Racing tomorrow starts at 13:00hr. Follow it live at www.bmxlive.tv
Time trials Superfinals Women results:
1 PAJON Mariana COL 34.456 0.000
2 BUCHANAN Caroline AUS 34.986 +0.530
3 STANCIL Felicia USA 35.431 +0.975
4 HERNANDEZ Stefany VEN 35.516 +1.060
5 POST Alise USA 35.528 +1.072
6 REYNOLDS Lauren AUS 35.989 +1.533
7 van BENTHEM Merle NED 36.553 +2.097
8 GEORGE Danielle USA 37.239 +2.783
Time trials Superfinals Women results:
1 FIELDS Connor USA 31.430 0.000
2 KIMMANN Niek NED 31.515 +0.085
3 TURNER Bodi AUS 31.566 +0.136
4 MIR Amidou FRA 31.674 +0.244
5 CAMPO Alfredo ECU 31.710 +0.280
6 PHILLIPS Liam GBR 31.780 +0.350
7 OQUENDO ZABALA Carlos Mario COL 31.839 +0.409
8 van GORKOM Jelle NED 31.895 +0.465
9 GRAF David SUI 31.981 +0.551
10 EVANS Kyle GBR 31.992 +0.562
10 SHARRAH Corben USA 31.992 +0.562
12 LONG Nicholas USA 32.074 +0.644
13 TREIMANIS Edzus LAT 32.144 +0.714
14 REZENDE Renato BRA 32.325 +0.895
15 GODET Damien FRA 32.528 +1.098
16 DEAN Anthony AUS 32.684 +1.254