4X Finals

Well, finals were a bit wet and crazy today. There was a HUGE downpour just as racing started and we actually had to stop racing for a while to let the rain pass as it was unsafe for riders. After about 15minutes of sheet rain it did eventually stop, although the damage was already done to the track! The corners were well slippy and some jumps were soft...not to mention the MASSIVE puddle in the last berm before the 50m flat sprint to the finish.

Semi Finals went well and after a good gate and solid first turn I followed 2nd place qualifier Racheal (?) from Switzerland through to the finish and on to the final. Finals however were a bit of a different story. With Jill Kintner, Mio Suemasa, Racheal and myself in the gate I knew I was going to have to get a solid start and good first turn to stay in the top 3. Gate was okay but by the first turn Kintner and I were beside each other and began what would be a series of leans and shoves between us. Most of the way down Jill and I battled it out leaving it open for Racheal to pull a lead on us. I thought I was going down a few times but managed to keep things rubber side down. I lost Jill however and she sprinted up past Racheal to finish first. I couldn't quite catch the Swiss BMXer myself and came across the line in 3rd. It was a good race!
Kintner now leads the series after Anneke had a rough race finishing fourth and losing the leader's spot.

Huge shout out to Catherine Pendrel who kicked some butt today in the XC. She started the day in 58th position but finished the grueling XC event in 13th! Jill, Lee and I gave it our all chasing her around the track and cheering whenever possible. We were all pretty stoked for kika's best ever World Cup result.