FATBMX Your Online BMX News Resource Since 1998

Yo, check it, yo! We talkin' 'bout the UCI BMX Racing World Cup, baby, and we kickin' it off in Rotorua, New Zealand, ya feel me? So, boom! We got over 200 BMX riders from all over the globe droppin' in for this epic showdown. Jack and Bennett Greenough, holdin' it down for the home turf, takin' those top spots in the Under 23 Men's class like straight-up bosses. And let me tell ya, them Aussies ain't holdin' back neither, with Noah Elton snatchin' that third spot on the Saturday at Round 1.

But peep this, the track's no joke, y'all. Gaps to clear, grass-filled sections, it's a wild ride out there. Veronika Sturiska takin' a hit in the U23 main with a poor start, droppin' back to 8th. Emily Hutt (GBR) missed out getting 4^th. But yo, props to Japan’s Jui Yabuta grabbing the bronze and Australia’s Teya Rufus crossed the finish line in front of USA’s Ava Corley for a first UCI World Cup win of the year.

And don't even get me started on the Elite races, fam. Laura Smulders holdin' it down for the Dutch, snatching second place, but it's Saya Sakakibara from down under takin' that gold, showin' us what's up. She continued where she left off in 2023.

Romain Mahieu makin' moves for France, grabbin' that holeshot like a champ taking that Saturday win. And shoutout to Niek Kimmann bouncin' back from a rough Saturday to snag that third spot on Sunday. Cedric Butti and Joris Daudet showin' us they mean business with some solid finishes. A 4th and a 2nd for Cedric and a 2nd and first for Daudet in Rotorua at stop 1 & 2.

And that's a wrap! But not before one more run in the morning dodging the homeless along the riverbed. That got squeezed in before we checked out at Solarena and headed for Denny's on Main/Ellis for breakfast. 'All American slam' for me please with coffee. Philip had pancakes and a slam. Couldn't finish it, I couldn't help finish it either. $38 bucks later we hit the 405 North. It looked like we had enough time to go see Pete D over at Chase Bicycles and so we did. The Torrance area has some BMX history with BMX Action based there. We didn't actually go see the building or dive in the dumpster for photos.

Traffic wasn't too bad for a Monday morning. We stopped at a gas station to prepare the car for drop-off. Removed the Twin Air/FATBMX/Flame Trails stickers, cleaned the ironside, double checked all doors for phone cables etc. The return at Dollar rental was easy. No extra $urprise$ after that. Not coming back though, we'll choose a different option next time. We hopped on the bus to the LAX terminal. Got dropped off at the wrong one, but still had time to check in. We were able to check in the hand luggage suitcases too for free so we only had the backpacks to take through security. Easy peasy. Spent some time in the lounge, ate some more even though we weren't hungry but you never know what the airplane food looks like. We both had a window seat each and an empty seat next to us for the 11 hour direct flight home. Could have been (a lot) worse.

All this time we'd been staying just around the corner from Sheep Hills. With no big plans for Sunday, another morning run was decided on, to Sheep Hills. On the way there along the riverbed the cops had arrested a homeless man, I saw a Pelican, and one of the homeless people rode past me at full speed on an electric bike! I wondered how he charges that thing.

I got to Sheep through a back entrance. It was muddy but I knew where I needed to go. Made it there and saw the puddles in between the jumps. It wasn't rideable but it didn't look too bad. A few days later more rain made sure that a quick fix was out of the question. It's a bummer for all the workers and riders that they have to deal with this during the winter months. Free fitness/boot camp/workouts coming soon.

A2! Driving in California ain't bad when there is no traffic. Roughly 30 minutes it took from Newport Beach to the Anaheim Angels stadium. During rush hour you could add an easy 15 minutes. The highways are wide, but they're also full. Two in a car gets you in the carpool lane so that was a help for us while trying to dodge the jams. Anyway, a new day of Supercross racing ahead.

We made sure to go check out the oldskool BMX bikes that once again were on display during 'Fan Fest'. A Freestyle MX show also entertained the sold-out crowd that had shown up early to take it all in. We ran into BMX-er/filmer Oscar Mendoza from Spain, Tom Jacobs from Belgium, Big E, Alan Foster, and the Garcia brothers (Joey and Jimmy) who had made the trek down from San Jose that morning.

We asked three leading motocross athletes how BMX has helped them when they made the transition to riding dirt bikes. See what they had to say:

Eli Tomac

FATBMX: Did you ever race BMX?
Eli Tomac: My racing started with bicycles and that was riding BMX tracks, it was the first thing I did. I got on a bicycle and raced BMX probably till I was 7 or 8 years old at the local tracks and then after that I went full motocross but yeah it was part of my life in the beginning.

FATBMX: Do you use something you learnt from BMX for your motocross riding?
Eli: I think the crossover is excellent, just for learning balance, balance is huge in the control of your bike.

FATBMX: Do you think BMX is a good school for motocross?
Eli: Oh yeah, totally! I mean, especially in the Supercross environment it's very similar, well, it's both, it's bike control right, knowing how to pinch the bike, I think there's a lot of similarity between BMX and Motocross.

Top 16 to Saturday's Finals. BMX Triples Glendale Qualification results. Dirt.
1) Daniel Sandoval
2) Mike Varga (CAN)
3) R-Willy (AUS)
4) Kevin Perazzzzzaaaaa (MEX)
5) Brady Baker
6) Felipe Manerim (BRA)
7) Brian Fox
8) Maxime Chalifour (CAN)
9) Andy Buckworth (AUS)
10) Ben 'triple bro' Wallace (GBR)
11) Mark Rubio
12) Karl Immers
13) Bryce Tryon
14) Josh Matthews (AUS)
15) Istvan Caillet (FRA)
16) Mason Ritter

Results UCI BMX Racing World Cup Rotorua, NZL Round 1
Elite Men:
1. MAHIEU Romain FRA 1 37.037 500
2. DAUDET Joris FRA 2 37.324 430
3. MARQUART Simon SUI 3 37.431 370
4. BUTTI Cedric SUI 4 37.718 318
5. CARMONA GARCIA Mateo COL 5 37.926 273
6. KENNEDY Izaac AUS 6 38.318 235
7. LARSEN Kamren USA 7 38.521 202
8. GAROYAN Leo FRA 8 38.748 174
9. BLANC Renaud SUI 5 37.816 165
10. DYHRE Magnus DEN 5 38.645 157
11. VAN DER BURG Dave NED 6 37.883 149
12. THOUIN Theo FRA 6 40.467 142
13. OEGEMA Ynze NED TOF 7 38.172 135
14. PILARD Arthur FRA 7 1:09.812 128
15. SCIORTINO Martti ITA 8 38.659 122