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Jill Kintner makes US Olympic Team! This event was Jill’s first race since winning the USAC National Championships back in March. She was ready and looked really good in practice. The track was a fast one with good sized jumps on all the straights. He gates were good and most importantly she was “riding like Jill”. That means she was focused, determined and aggressive. That’s what it takes to be a champion and that what she is. The Elite Women’s class was pretty stacked at this race and she’d have to really be on the gas to make the final. She blazed through her motos and into the ¼. In the ¼ final and in the semi she did what she needed to do to get into the top four each time and into the main. She was pretty pumped as she made her first ever UCI BMX World Championship Elite Women’s main event. She drew the dreaded lane eight (outside) for main but was ready nonetheless. In the main she had a good start and strong first straight. She was pinned to the outside going into turn one but made a good move to get into fifth. Heading into the tricky third straight, two French riders both blew up and nearly took Jill down. She managed to avoid going down, but went back to sixth place which is where she ended up and was good enough to put her into sixth place giving her the only women’s spot on the US Olympic Team. Get ready to watch Jill in Beijing – she is going to be great!
Randy Stumpfhauser:
Elite Men: 8th 1/4 final
Stumpy is looking to make his third Elite Men’s main in row here in Tiayuan, China. He came in a bit late to China due to a VISA problem but was rested and ready to go for practice. He rode pretty well but was feeling just a bit “off” out of the gate and to the first jump. Like he always does he was able to make enough adjustments to get into a good groove. He made it through the motos with no problem and was ready for the ¼ final. As “bad” luck would have it he drew THE hardest moto of the seven ¼’s. So hard in fact, that reigning World Champion, Kyle Bennett Free Agent) and reigning ABA National < AA Pro, Danny Caluag (Intense) didn’t transfer out of it. Randy had bit of a late gate and backed off to the first jump a hair too soon and was squeezed out the back of the eight rider pack. With such a fast track, there was little he could do to catch up and ended up in the 8th place spot. Not a good way to end the Worlds race for Randy but he still holds the record for most Elite Men’s podiums in Worlds history.
Joey Bradford
Elite Men: 7th (1/8 final)
Joey had a tough time here in China. Practice was going well on Wednesday until he made a mistake in the pro section and came up a bit short on set number one. It blew his hand off the grip and caused him to madly swerve onto the next straight heading into oncoming traffic. A really nice save kept him from crashing and possibly getting hurt. He shut it down for a few minutes after that one to gather himself before giving it another go. He did it right the next time and really never had a problem with any of the track after that. He made it through the motos and was poised for the 1/8 final. Like stumpy, Joey drew a pretty tough 1/8. He had a good first straight, but was stuck on the outside of turn one. He exited the turn in 7th and that’s pretty much where he stayed the entire lap. He rode well, but with the crazy hard competition, it just wasn’t quite fast enough. Look for Joey to only get faster and faster as time goes by.
Eric Rupe:
Elite Masters: DNQ
>45 1st
Eric came to China for two reasons. One was to help the GT riders do the best the could and see that had everything they might need and the other was to try and win his fourth UCI World Title in a row. Well, as things would go, he did manage to help Stumpy, Bradford, and Kintner with whatever they need AND he managed another World Title. He failed to make the Elite Master final which was a bit of a disappointment to him. He pledged to make up for it in the cruiser class on Sunday. When all was said and done, he had won the UCI Worlds for the fourth year in a row. Big Daddy was also on the team sheet for the USA,as they were going for the Country Team Title. With all four of the riders winning, including Big Daddy, Weston Pope, Brock Heffron and Alden Volle, and the help of USA team managers Jerry Bradford, Jeff Glynn and leader Brian Fell, the USA took the title with little doubt!!
The GT team sponsors include: Kenda, Shimano, Fly Racing, Sun Rims, SDG, Champion System, O’GIO and SNAP Products.
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