 Crash and carry
(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-08-23 10:32 World champion Maris Strombergs of Latvia won the men's BMX gold yesterday, sweeping to the front at the start of the winner-take-all final and never losing control. Americans Mike Day and Donny Robinson won silver and bronze, respectively, and that was only fitting for BMX racing was born in the United States four decades ago. Success on the 35-foot, severely sloped starting ramp was critical. Without a good start, no racer could find the best lines going into Turn 1; in eight of the 12 semifinal heats, there were crashes there when racers inevitably got tangled with one another. Yesterday, it was simply a race to that first turn, and Strombergs was the best. Day and Robinson, their blue-and-white outfits flapping in the breeze their speed was creating, stood on their pedals and chased with all they had, but the Latvian never slipped. He managed to avoid two big crashes that left several riders splayed out on the course. Strombergs said the most important thing was that the time he set in the final run of the semifinal allowed him to choose his gate in the final. "I needed the fast lane, and I did it," he said. "I was very cool and concentrated. I just raced my race and it came out for the best." American Day was thrilled with his silver. "I'm super pumped," he said. "I felt good all day. Everything kind of was clicking. I had a great start, I was just a little outside of Maris. But silver - I'm psyched." South African Sifiso Nhlapo crashed after the biggest jump of the track and took out a few other riders. He also got hit in the head by the wheel of one rider who managed to avoid falling. Robinson, who had a hard tumble in the last semifinal run, avoided Nhlapo then pushed his way into third. Agencies  (China Daily 08/23/2008 page8) |
