The early rain made this one of the most exciting 4x races to watch in quite a while. The speeds weren’t as high but the number of over taking moves and passing possiblities meant it really wasn’t over till the fattish lady near the finish line started singing.
What a difference a drop of rain makes, last year this was a dry dusty race with a lot of carnage on corners one and two then fairly processional.
This year with riders running spike tyres for the first time in ages, the racing like mountainbike 4x should be, exciting. There were plenty of passing moves taking place all the way down the track, outside lines were just as fast as inside lines, last minute moves over the sketchy big doubles, even the new flat grass turns (which were muddy and rutted) saw a lot of passing and wipeouts.
DH rider Brook Macdonald in his first ever 4x race showed that if you could corner in the wet you could make passes even if you were dead last out of the gate.
Some bold moves were made on the double step down before the wall ride which I think saw Prokop go out. Graves had to come from behind on several occasions to make the final. Joost Wichman from the Netherlands looked comfortable sliding the bike in the mud
“…not bad for a bmx-er aye?” he quipped at the finish.
In the women’s race, the final looked like a battle between Jill Kintner who got the hole shot and Anneke Beerten, coming into the second corner over what 4x builder Phil Saxena termed “The Carrot” the pair tangled. Caroline Buchanan spotted an opening and went for it and held it to the line.
Jared Graves and Jill Kintner retain their leader’s jersey but the gap is narrowing.
Joost Wichman.
Big Final
1 9 NED19780519 WICHMAN Joost 125
2 1 AUS19821216 GRAVES Jared YETI FOX SHOX FACTORY RACE TEAM 100
3 2 SUI19810504 RINDERKNECHT Roger GT BICYCLES 75
4 3 FRA19861010 SALADINI Romain TEAM SUNN 60
Small Final
5 14 CZE19870612 SLAVIK Tomas 50
6 5 GBR19820125 ATHERTON Dan ANIMAL COMMENCAL 40
7 10 SVK19870522 VITKO Matej 30
8 12 CZE19810401 PROKOP Michal 25
1/4 Finals
9 4 ESP19810301 ALVAREZ DE LARA LUCAS Rafael SPECIALIZED FACTORY RACING 20
10 8 GER19880304 FISCHBACH Johannes GHOST A.T.G. PRO TEAM 17
11 11 SVK19820410 POLC Filip MS EVIL RACING 14
12 58 NZL19911125 MACDONALD Brook ANCILLOTTI DOGANACCIA RACING TEAM 11
13 16 GER19760514 TSCHUGG Guido GHOST A.T.G. PRO TEAM 8
14 20 FRA19850624 DERBIER Quentin 6
15 31 GBR19741123 LONGDEN Will 4
16 59 GER19810626 TSCHUGG Arne 2
1/8 Finals
17 15 NED19830330 MEIJER Jurg
18 19 GBR19780602 BEAUMONT Scott ROCKY MOUNTAIN UK
19 21 SLO19871023 STAPIC Matej
20 26 CZE19780529 MAROSI Michal
21 29 GBR19890403 CAMPBELL-JENNER Patrick
22 33 SLO19830916 NOVAK Luka
23 43 GBR19910704 ROBERTS Scott
24 57 FRA19840403 RICCI Ghislain
25 13 CZE19850705 TATARKOVIC Kamil
26 18 NED19860215 VAN VEGHEL Joey
27 23 SVK19880617 PESKO Marek
28 27 GER19890704 BRÜCKNER Petrik
29 35 ESP19910509 GUIJARRO VILLACIEROS Javier XMS-DEVINCI WORLD CUP TEAM
30 37 GBR19841006 EVANS William
31 48 GER19861103 SCHERZ Stefan
32 56 SWE19911121 BECKEMAN Felix
Caroline Buchanan
Womens Final.
Big Final
1 3 AUS19901024 BUCHANAN Caroline 100
2 12 USA19820125 BUHL Melissa 75
3 2 NED19820707 BEERTEN Anneke SUSPENSION CENTER 50
4 1 USA19811024 KINTNER Jill 40
Small Final
5 14 FRA19860527 RAGOT Emmeline SUSPENSION CENTER 30
6 5 CZE19830904 HORAKOVA Jana 20
7 10 JPN19830401 SUEMASA Mio 10
8 8 ECU19840319 MARGGRAFF Diana DNF 5
1/4 Finals
9 4 AUT19801112 MOLCIK Anita YETI FOX SHOX FACTORY RACE TEAM
10 6 GBR19820827 GRIFFITHS Fionn NORCO WORLD TEAM
11 9 RSA19791124 PETTERSON Joanna
12 15 ESP19770825 CASTRO FERNANDEZ Eva
13 7 GBR19890427 CURD Katy
14 11 SUI19810926 OETJEN Lucia
15 13 SUI19820323 SEYDOUX Rachel
16 16 CZE19890218 VOTAVOVA Tereza
20.06.2009 – 18:26 > 16 competitors
Finish Judge UCI President of the Commissaires’ panel
GASPARIC PETROVIC Mira LINKE Ingo-Sven
Legend
Wichman and Buchanan win in Maribor 4x
