Online Exclusive: 4X Racing At Fort Bill

Jared Graves owning it against CG in the quater finals. Colin Meagher

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Racing got underway on the Fort Bill 4X track at Ben Nevis in an orderly fashion. That is, Scottish orderly fashion. Which means crowds 3 and 4 deep on the last 3 turns and the finishing straight, and a Jumbotron feeding the crowds with the action up top. But since the race is usually won in the first corner, that’s where I was. Kinda sucks, actually; I get the first shot and then bang, the bunch is around the corner and I have to try and piece out what’s happening through the announcer’s thick brogue. Meanwhile, the crowd goes nuts. Doesn’t really matter what happens: they go nuts. Anyway given my admittedly limited perspective, here’s what happened…

The men’s field started out with twice as many as the women, for 8 rounds of competition. Jared Graves, Scott Beaumont, Cedric Gracia, Michal Prokop, and Guido Tschugg all pretty much cruised through the early rounds and made it to the quarterfinals. Surprise early washouts included Kamil Tartarkovic and Romain Saladini.

In the Small final, it was Guido Tschugg, Rafael Alvarez, Johannes Fischbach, and CG. Coming off an early jump, CG landed, only to have both sides of his axle shear off!

"I look down and I see no wheel, and then my forks go right into the dirt," said CG and, "and then pow! I kiss the track."

CG took Johannes out while Rafael and Guido rallied for 5th and the 6th.

In the final, it was Graves, fresh off securing an Olympic BMX berth at the BMX worlds, racing against Joost Wichman, Dan Atherton, and Michal Prokop. Graves had the snap, took the first gate, and kept a healthy lead on Wichman—the only rider seemingly capable of pressuring Graves. The local’s favorite, Dan Atherton, had been a bit squirrely all day—maybe that new bike or the dry conditions? This relegated Athie to third. Prokop lost it in the first turn, sliding completely off course.

For the ladies, Anneke Beerten was bummed with a flat relegating her to 14th out of a field of 16 in qualifying. But that’s racing. However, she was also battling a nasty cold, which may account for her less than dominating performance. She got her gates in the early rounds, but in the final, she was edged out first by Jana Horakova from the start, and then Rachel Seydoux squeaked by. From there, Anneke was able to maintain third position over Melissa Buhl. Romana Labounkova managed to win the small final over Mio Suemasa, Anita Molcik, and Sarsha Huntington.

Tomorrow’s the XC, so look for a knock down drag out battle.

jared Graves knows how to open champagne... Colin Meagher

On a separate note, the Mojo Orange team’s owner is forcing the Mojo Orange DH squad to wear skinsuits in qualies and finals. Not just any skin suit, but nice, shiny black ones. Kinda looks like leather. As Rob Warner put it to Chris Porter, the Mojo main man, “Don’t you feel just the teensiest bit guilty about making the boys look like giant condoms?” only to be rebuffed by, “It’s a race, not a fashion parade.” But at $500 a pop, and required wear in qualies and finals, as per the team contract, look to see the boys raising eyebrows on the track come Sunday.

Go HERE for a gallery of images that accompany this story.