New Zealand BMX racer Sarah Walker has maintained her lead in the UCI BMX Supercross after the second round in Denmark today.
Walker finished fourth in the event on the controversial track at Copenhagen, with criticism after the track cut up which ruled out practice and qualifying time trials yesterday.
However organisers worked on the track with racing going ahead today on the difficult terrain, with Walker fourth behind world champion Shanaze Reade (GBR) while Marc Willers missed the final after crashing in the semifinal.
Walker (Kawerau) was second in her qualifying group and fourth to grab the final spot in her group from the semifinal. The BikeNZ rider managed fourth in the final won by Reade ahead of two French riders Laetitia Le Corguille and Anne Caroline Chausson.
However Walker still leads after winning the first round with one round remaining for the women later in the year.
Willers was in strong form in topping his qualifying group and finishing second behind inform American Donny Robinson in his quarterfinal.
However he crashed in the semifinal run to rule him out as Robinson went on to win the final ahead of Australia’s Jared Graves and Maris Strombergs (Latvia).
Willers was second in the opening round of five for the men but crashed in Adelaide and Copenhagen rounds.
Earlier BikeNZ national coach Ken Cools said he was disappointed with the state of the track for this key international event, which is the last Supercross competition before the Beijing Olympics.
Results, UCI BMX Supercross, Copenhagen:
Final, men: Donny Robinson (USA) 36.380, 1; Jared Graves (AUS) 36.548, 2; Maris Strombergs (LAT) 36.675, 3.
Semifinal 1: Strombergs 1, Robinson 2, Graves 3, Ivo Lukucs (LAT) 4, Marc Willers (NZL) dnf. Semifinal 2: Michal Prokop (CZE) 1, Kyle Bennett (USA) 2, Jonathan Suarez (VEN) 3, Edzus Treimans (LAT) 4.
Final, women: Shanaze Reade (GBR) 40.664, 1; Laetitia Le Corguille (FRA) 41.115, 2; Anne Caroline Chausson (FRA) 41.143, 3, Sarah Walker (NZL) 41.766, 4.
Semifinal 1: Chausson 1, Reade 2, Arielle Martin (USA) 3, Walker 4. Semifinal 2: Amelie Despeaux (FRA) 1, Le Corguille 2, Maria Diaz (ARG) 3, Leike Klaus (NED) 4. |
