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this moment – and the message is clear; all Elite Women have some serious training to do between now and August 21st if they want a shot at Gold.

Just like last year, this World Championship win is Shanaze’s second of the year; after repeating her Team Sprint win at the Track World Championship earlier this year. When all is said and done, she will have a closet full of rainbow-striped Worlds jersies and should go down in history as one of Great Britain’s greatest cyclists of all time.

Elite Women (20”):
1 Shanaze Reade / UK ~ REDLINE
2 Anne Caroline Chausson / France
3 Sarah Walker / New Zealand
4 Jana Horakova / Czech Republic
5 Samantha Cools / Canada (Supercross)
6 Jill Kintner / USA (GT)
7 Ameille DesPaux / France
8 Laetitia Corguille / France


FRANCE’s GODET IN ELITE MENS FINAL · ITALY’s DeVECCHI TAKES CRUISER SILVER · USA’s STEIN SCORES A JUNIOR BRONZE

ELITE MEN:
Redline~France’s DAMIEN GODET has long been known for his quickness in Time Trials; and finally proved to all that he can go just as fast when lined up with seven other guys on the track. The Flyin’ Frenchman did what only eight riders could - and that was making the Elite main in China. With a powerful 5th place finish in the final, tacked on to his top qualifying spots in Supercross time trials; odds are good that Damien and his Flight Pro XXL will be chosen for the French Olympic team.

ELITE CRUISER:
Redline~Italy’s MANUEL DeVECCHI is definitely primed and pumped up for snagging the one and only Olympic spot for his home country. As the multi-time Italian National Champ, he is without a doubt the fastest BMXer in Italy – partly thanks to his Flight Pro XXL, we reckon. On his 20” bike, DeVecchi fought his way to the semi’s, where his day ended with a 6th place. To make up for that disappointment, he “manueled” his way through the rhythym to go from 5th to 2nd place in two straightaways in the Elite Cruiser final. And all of that from Lane 8 on the gate! Keep an eye on the Italian Stallion in Beijing! Another Redline rider in the Cruiser main was Dutchman Martijn Scherpen, who held on tight for a 5th overall. 

JUNIOR MEN:
Redline~USA’s DENZEL STEIN went to China to defend his win from last year, and having just turned 17 - to compete in his first Worlds as a Junior Elite. As the USA’s best hope in the Jr ranks, Denzel had a good pop out of the gate and cranked his way to second place by the first turn. Still in the two spot and trying to reel in Australia’s Sam Willoughby, Denzel overshot a section of the rhythm and bonked hard. Lucky to even save it and keep from crashing, Stein got back on the pedals quick enough to hold on to third place. A bronze was good enough to keep Team USA and Redline on the podium, while Australia~Redline’s JOSH CALLEN was also in the Jr Elite final, and powered in for a 5th place. Both of these guys will be ones to watch in 4 years, for Olympic contention in 2012. 

JUNIOR ELITE CRUISER:
Redline~Japan’s MASA SAMPEI didn’t have far to travel, nor did he require much adjustment to the culture. The world traveling Masa, fresh from his California training, impressively made the Junior Cruiser main and battled tooth and nail for 7th.

To watch all of the Elite Mains - check out the Redline-sponsored page at BMX-videos.com

UCi WORLDS RESULTS:
Elite Men (20”): 1 Maris Strombergs / Latvia 2 Steven Cisar / USA 3 Sifiso Nhlapo / Republic of South Africa 4 Donny Robinson / USA 5 Damien Godet / France~REDLINE 6 Thomas Hamon / France 7 Jared Graves / Australia 8 Jonothan Suarez / Venezuela

Junior Men (20”): 1 Sam Willoughby / Australia 2 Vincent Pelluard / France 3 Denzel Stein/USA ~ REDLINE 4 Tom Skujims / Latvia 5 Josh Callen / Australia~REDLINE 6 Travis Ohrazda / USA 7 Florian Duhamel / France 8 Yusaku Kosho / Japan

Elite CRUISER: 1 Thomas Hamon / France 2 Manuel De Vecchi / ITALY~REDLINE 3 Jonathan Suarez / Venezuela 4 Sergio Salazar / Colombia 5 Martijn Scherpen / NETHERLANDS~REDLINE 6 Danny Caluag / USA 7 Sifiso Nhlapo / Republic of South Africa 8 Carlos Oquendo / Colombia

Junior Men CRUISER: 1 Joris Daudet / France 2 Vincent Pelluard / France 3 Jelle Van Gorkom / The Netherlands 4 Robin van der Kolk / The Netherlands 5 Gavin Lubbe / Republic of South Africa 6 Giacomo Fantoni / Italy 7 Masa Sampei / JAPAN~REDLINE 8 Florian Duhamel / France


6 WORLD CHAMP VICTORIES FOR REDLINE GLOBAL FORCE: Fleming, McLeod, Syvain, Heffron & Saya score Worlds Wins The 2008 UCi World Champs have now concluded in Taiyuan, China - and the Redline Global Team scored their fair share of victories and podiums. Taking a Worlds “Challenge” No.1 plate back to their home country are UK’s TONY FLEMING (40-44 Cruiser), Australia’s MELINDA McLEOD (15 Girls), Japan’s SAYA SAKAKIBARA (9 Girls), USA’s BROCK HEFFRON (11 Boys), and France’s ANDRE SYVAIN (16 Boys). And of course, you can’t forget the big one; SHANAZE READE’s repeat victory in Elite Women! Congrats to all six victors.

…and that was only the top-rung of the podium. Plenty of others - from Canada’s TORY NYHAUG to UK’s ALAN HILL , USA’s DENZEL STEIN to Frances ENZO SCHILLING, stood atop the next two positions as well.
Here are some of the highlights from China:

9-GIRLS/10-BOYS: The first Redline’r to stand atop the Worlds podium was 9 year old girl SAYA SAKAKIBARA. Living in Australia, but doin’ ir for Japan, “Sock-it-to-’Em” Saya scored Redline’s first (of many, we hope) win. Saya’s brother, KAI, kept the fastness in the family with a 4th in 10 Boys.

11 BOYS: Next came 11 year old BMX prodigy REDLINE’s BROCK HEFFRON, who helped Team USA out by scoring one of the country’s first victories. For Brock, hailing from Arizona, this was his second consecutive Worlds title. And this year, he literally CRUSHED ‘em - holding a 8 bike length lead by turn two!

15 GIRLS: As she has done for the past three years prior, Aussie supergirl MELINDA McLEOD stomped her comp. From the start, she pulled away from the pack over the first jump and never looked back. With superior jumping skills and mad power, McLeod won by bike lengths and holds on to that W-#1 plate for the fourth straight year.

16 BOYS: Redline was all over the 16 Boys podium! Down the first straight, Redline~Canada’s TORY NYHAUG (the defending Champ from last year), was up in the front of the pack alongside Redline~France’s ANDRE SYVAIN. But suddenly, Nyhaug launched like Evil Knievel off the double jump entering turn one, for a flat bottom landing that dropped an anchor for him in to the turn. This left time for Andre the Giant to further stretch his lead, and enabled those with momentum to pass Tory for the time being. Down the second straightaway, Tory had fallen as far back as 5th, but grabbed a handful of his built-in throttle by the third staightaway and weaved through the rhythm to work his way back up to the three spot. Out front, Syvain and his Redline Flight Pro powered to the stripe and made it another victory for France and Sunex, while Tory rounded out the Redline-filled podium with a third place finish.

30+ MENS: Redline’s latest pick-up from the UK, TONY FLEMING, is probably kicking himself about now for losing his lead down the third straight. Flem-Dog was lookin’ fine up until some fast Frenchie skied the beginning of the rhythm, which gave him enough momentum to pull up alongside our Redline Brit. After some slight elbow-grinding in the last turn, Fleming would have to settle for a 2nd and vowed his vengeance in Cruiser.

On the final day of the Worlds, it’s all about 24-inch wheels. The Cruiser World Champs went down, with plenty of Redline racers hoping to score a last chance at UCi fame and Chinese glory. Here is how the cruiser mains went for Redline’s Global forces:

15-16 CRUISER: Judging by the 7th and 8th place finishes, we suspected that the Redline Global riders from Canda and France must’ve crashed or even taken each other out. Sure enough, BMX-videos.com tells the story. As they’d done in class two days earlier, TORY NYHAUG and ANDRE SYVAIN were out front and a Gold medal was sure to dangle from one of the Redline riders’ necks. The fast Frenchie had the lead down the second straight but Nyhaug was coming on strong and smooth, and was making his move when disaster struck. Did Syvain try holding him off? Did their bars catch? Whatever the reason be; both Redline Global team members went down in a ball of flames. Disappointing, as they were surely the ones to beat.

GIRLS CRUISER: In the Girls cruiser classes, our Redline gals couldn’t power their way to any podiums, but still put out a great effort in the finals. Redline~New Zealand’s HOLLY WOODCOCK scored a 4th in 13-14, while Aussie MELINDA McLEOD took a disapointed 5th in 15-16.

35-39 CRUISER: It’s been said over and over; “For such a skinny guy, ALAN HILL sure goes fast.” The UK wonder-dad held his own up against some of the fastest Vet Pros and fought hard for the third teir of the Worlds Podium. Way to go, Hilly!

40-44 CRUISER: The old farts on Redline’s did us justice in China, with 1/2 of the top-4 aboard Flight cruisers. The big winner was UK~Redline’s TONY FLEMDOG (who prefers you call him “Flem-Dog”), with a sweet 6-bike length lead by the finishline. Not bad for running platform pedals, eh?! Blasting across the line in a close race for third place was Aussie’s ultimate Dad; DAMIEN CALLEN, who just got nipped at the finish by a USA rider who obviously didn’t want to see another 2-out-of-3 Redline podium.

www.redlinebicycles.com

Photo by: Jerry Landrum/BMX Mania