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BMX gets off to flyin’ start

Published: Aug. 20, 2008
Mike Day stayed hot, leading his group over a jump.
Mike Day stayed hot, leading his group over a jump.
Photo: Casey B. Gibson

Bicycle Moto Cross — the sport most people know simply as BMX — made its Olympic debut on Wednesday, August 20, as the world’s best riders competed in time-trial seeding and preliminary rounds. Located adjacent to the velodrome and mountain bike course, the Laoshan BMX complex was packed with a full house of riders, media and spectators eager to see the Olympics’ high-flying, crash-filled event.

“This is the biggest thing I’ll ever do,” said American Mike Day. “I’ve dreamt of it. The whole experience is overwhelming.”

The riders didn’t disappoint, serving up a day of tight racing, big-air jumps and plenty of crashes.

The Olympic BMX course on starting morning.
The Olympic BMX course on starting morning.
Photo: Casey B. Gibson

BMX racing traces its roots back to Southern California in the late 1960’s, when groups of kids racing on modified 20-inch Schwinn Stingray bikes caught the eye of legendary filmmaker Bruce Brown. His 1971 motorcycle film “On Any Sunday,” starring Steve McQueen featured a scene of youth jamming through dirt on their bikes, emulating their favorite motorcycle heroes. The fad spread like wildfire.

By 1977 the underground sport had gained widespread popularity, and the American Bicycle Associate was founded as its organizing body. In 1981 the International BMX Federation was founded, holding its first world championships the next year. In 1993 the sport became integrated with cycling’s governing body, the UCI. The sport’s rules and regulations have evolved over its 30-year history, and its current format calls for eight riders to compete on a 350-meter-long course, with the top four riders advancing to the next round.

The biggest day in BMX’s 30-year history came on June 29, 2003, when International Olympic Committee voted to include BMX as sport for the 2008 games in Beijing. But with the inclusion of BMX, organizers beefed up the size and difficulty of the courses. The now standard 35-foot high starting ramp, huge jumps and challenging rhythm sections have forced riders to up their respective games.

“We went to Beijing and saw the Olympic track and it made our jaws drop because it was so much bigger than the regular Supercross tracks,” American Donny Robinson told VeloNews back in January. “Our speed is topping 40 miles per hour.”

Day one of BMX saw both the 32 men and 16 women complete their time trial seeding. The men then completed the quarterfinals to set up Thursday’s finals. For qualifying, riders tackled the track in a time-trial format, twice, with the fastest time being used to establish lane choice and bracket seeding. For the quarterfinals, riders compete in three races, with the four riders with the best cumulative finishes advancing.

Donny Robinson and Mike Day take a jump in front of the fans.
Donny Robinson and Mike Day take a jump in front of the fans.
Photo: Casey B. Gibson

Day, who resides in Santa Clarita, California, owned the fastest legs of the day and qualified first with a time of 35.692 on his second run to squeak by Maris Strombergs of Latvia. Day continued his success by winning all three quarterfinal runs.

“It couldn’t have gone any better,” Day said. “It seemed effortless.”

Day’s compatriots Donny Robinson and Kyle Bennett also qualified for the semifinals, but neither man found the going smooth. Robinson, who qualified a distant 24th, crashed awkwardly in the opening heat, finishing sixth. His successive second and third-place finishes earned him a ticket to the final.

“I wasn’t as good as I was last year, but I’ll deal,” said Robinson, who won the SuperCup at the Laoshan course in 2007.

Bennett’s day was much worse. After qualifying 12th, Bennett scored a second and fourth in his first two quarterfinal heats.

After a crash in the prelims, Bennett rides to the finish with a dislocated shoulder.
After a crash in the prelims, Bennett rides to the finish with a dislocated shoulder.
Photo: Casey B. Gibson

But in round three, Dutchman Raymon van der Biezen overcooked a corner and crashed, taking Bennett with him. The American recorded a DNF and also dislocated his left shoulder. Doctors relocated the shoulder, and Bennett plans to race in tomorrow’s finals.

Day, Stromberg, Sifiso Nhlapo of South Africa and Aussie Jared Graves all won their respective quarterfinal heats.

The women’s qualifying round set the stage for a battle between Frenchwoman Anne-Caroline Chausson and Britain’s Shanaze Reade, who qualified 1-2. Both women own world championships from other sports — Reade earned her stripes as part of Great Britain’s team sprint squad on the track. Chausson is the most accomplished female in the history of gravity mountain-bike racing with 16 world titles.

Both women also hit the deck at Laoshan. Raede slid out in the first corner of her opening run, tumbling awkwardly to the track. After setting the day’s fastest time at 36.660 — the split would have been the 21st fastest men’s time — Chausson crashed on her second qualifying run. The Frenchwoman badly timed the course’s rhythm section, jamming her front wheel into a jump and flying over her handlebars in a “Superman” style crash.

“I was very nervous. I made a mistake, I had poor concentration,” Chausson admitted. “I think me and Reade, it was just nerves on the big occasion.”

It is a big occasion — and Thursday’s finals will be even bigger for the men and women on the little bikes.

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