Jared Graves and Romana Labounkova powered to flawless victories in a rain soaked Lego 4x finals tonight.
Big up Will Evans who made the small final…ace work Will!
What happened? Well it rained alot. Most of the action went down in the first corner with some moves being made by riders opting for the pro line on the second straight. Although it looked well slow, if you got it right you could make second place on the fast straight from third or fourth on the second corner. Graves didn’t take the pro line once all night, he didn’t need to. His gates were flawless and he powered into the holeshot in every round.
In the womens race Romana Labounkova didn’t put a wheel wrong all evening and the much anticipated battle between her and Beerten in the final fell flat as Beerten struggled home in third. Labounkova is on a charge these days, look out.
The official word says:
The pros who had traveled from all over the world only had two official days of training to get used to the changes on the course. The track that had been constructed by Guido Tschugg (SUI) for the World Cup last year was improved and redesigned for this year’s race. The final runs on Saturday night showed some multifaceted and exciting battles. The course was filled with many tricky features, such as a steep start, doubles, triples, a step up – step down combination made of wood and a rock garden. The track stayed very rideable during the pouring rain so that there were barely any crashes.
Already during the qualifying Australian Jared Graves (AUS) was the fastest rider and in the finals nobody could touch him. Michal Prokop (CZE) also clearly dominated each of his runs. The final run was, as is to be expected in 4X, exciting until the end. Graves and Prokop were the first to leave the gate. Graves was able to take the better line, since he had the inside starting position. In the first corner, Prokop was pushed to the outside which allowed David Graf (SUI) to move from the fourth position to the inside line into the second spot. Graf was the only one who chose the pro section and was able to defend second place all the way across the finish line. Prokop still tried to attack Graf but lost his rhythm and was passed by Tomas Slavik (CZE). The Ft William winner Roger Rinderknecht (SUI) won the small final ahead of Romain Saladini (FRA).
[audio:https://storage.googleapis.com/fm-coresites-assets/dirt_new/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/gravespodium.mp3|titles=Graves on the podium with the Australian National Anthem]
Click for full mens Leogang 4x final results
Click for full womens Leogang 4x finals results