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A crash fest was the order of the evening at the second session of the UCI BMX World Championships in Auckland, New Zealand tonight. In three of the men’s finals most of the field hit the tarmac in the first corner at the Vector Arena. New Zealand came away with two more titles with Adam Coker taking the 25 to 29 years class and former double national elite men’s champion Tony Wilcock successful in the men’s 30 and over class. It was a night for the United Nations with riders from France, Canada, Switzerland, USA, the Netherlands, Australia and Ireland also successful.

Colin Hudson, the defending champion, took the 16 boys’ title, despite starting from the unfavoured lane eight. He was helped a little when three of his rivals crashed in the first corner and then claimed the win on the last bend coming from third as France’s Romain Racine and Bruno Andrade Cogo (Brazil) opened the door while they tussled for the lead. It was Hudson’s fourth title in a row at World level and seventh visit to a world podium.

BMX Time Trial World Champion Connor Fields and American teammate Barry Nobles tackled their first big jump for next week’s UCI BMX World Championships in Auckland today. The pair jumped off Auckland’s Sky Tower this morning after flying in from their training base near San Diego, one of the first international teams to arrive for the World Championships at Vector Arena from 24-28 July.

Fields, 20, is one of the hot favourites for honours in the world

ELITE MEN
1. Maris STROMBERGS (LAT)
2. Edzus TREMANIS (LAT)
3. Quentin CALEYRON (FRA)

ELITE WOMEN
1. Manon VALENTINO (FRA)
2. Vilma RIMSAITE (LIT)
3. Elke VANHOOF (BEL)

JUNIOR MEN

Winning the final European round in Dessel, Belgium felt so good… Like I told you before, my race results this year were not there yet, but giving up is not an option! Last weekend we went to Dessel, Belgium for the final rounds of the European Championships.

Because I missed too much European rounds, I don’t count in the ranking. The team and I just raced a few rounds to get or stay in the race flow.

Double BMX Olympic Champion Maris Strombergs has added the 2013 European title to his name less than two weeks out from the World Championships in New Zealand. The final two rounds of the 12-strong European series were held in Belgium at the weekend. Although absent in Belgium, the Latvian rider’s consistency throughout the series – seven wins and three second places – means he had no problem holding on to his overall lead. “It was great doing the series again,” said Strombergs. “And now I am looking forward to racing in New Zealand.”

Strombergs ousts fellow Latvian, the 2012 European Champion Edzus Treimanis, who finishes second overall this year.

Olympic silver medallist Sarah Walker is confident she will be on the start ramp for next week’s UCI BMX World Championships in Auckland. Walker still has her arm in a brace after suffering a hairline fracture of her radius after a crash racing in the United States recently. The 25 year old plans to be back on her bike this week and is determined to compete in the world championships in her home country from 24-28 July. “If it was not in New Zealand then I would probably consider skipping it because of the injury,” Walker said at a World Championship promotion at Sylvia Park at the weekend. “This is the first time the worlds have been in New Zealand and most likely it won’t be back here while I am still competing. I’ve raced 10 straight years at the world championships and it would suck to miss the 11th one when it is here in New Zealand.”

BikeNZ’s BMX Coach Ryan Hollows said the fracture is healing

ELITE MEN ROUND 11
1. TREIMANIS Edzus (LAT)
2. VEIDE Rihards (LAT)
3. VAN GENDT Twan (NED)
4. RICCARDI Re?mi (FRA)
5. CALEYRON Quentin (FRA)
6. PELLUARD Vincent (FRA)
7. MANATON Curtis (ENG)
8. JASPERS Martijn (NED)

ELITE WOMEN ROUND 11
1. SMULDERS Laura (NED)
2. VALENTINO Manon (FRA)
3. VANHOOF Elke (BEL)
4. CHRISTENSEN Simone (DEN)
5. RIMSAITE Vilma (LIT)
6. HLADIKOVA Aneta (CZE)
7. AILLOUD Eva (FRA)

The BMX community has eagerly awaited the first details of the new Red Bull R.Evolution track. Would the BMX revolution continue? Would Red Bull and Tom Ritzenthaler manage to outbid last year’s track and offer the BMX racers an even more revolutionary course? Now that the new setup has been revealed, the answer to both questions is clearly “yes”! Anyone who’d like to discover the new track and see how the riders will handle it should secure their tickets now. 

Kiwi innovation is a key part in this month’s UCI BMX World Championships in Auckland. The 32nd BMX World Championships will be staged in the world-class Vector Arena on Auckland’s waterfront from 24-28 July. The move to indoor arenas for the sport has become more common, offering an all-weather spectacular for competitors and fans alike. However it can create challenges for the track construction. For the past three years there have been two separate starting ramps built for the BMX World Championships – an 8m ramp for elites and 5m ramp for Challenge (age group) racing.

The confines of Vector Arena meant there was insufficient room to build two separate ramps, meaning that the event’s operations manager, Tony Takarua from Elite Racing Developments New Zealand had to come up with an innovative solution. The indoor track at the Vector Arena will include three tracks in one, with all classes sharing the same starting ramp