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Bunbury's Reynolds upsets BMX world number one Buchanan in Perth

Bunbury Olympian Lauren Reynolds has come from the clouds to upset world number one Caroline Buchanan and taken out round five of the elite women’s BMX Australia National Series at Westside BMX club in Perth.

Reynolds, who represented Australia alongside Buchanan at the 2012 Olympic Games in London, used some local track knowledge to steal a break underneath early leader Buchanan on the final turn before holding on for a popular victory.

The win was Reynolds’ first of the season and continues her comeback from a 2014 season that was riddled with injury and time off the bike. Buchanan was a close second and Westside BMC club local Kirsten Dellar third, ahead of round four winner Melinda McLeod.

In the elite men’s event, series leader Bodi Turner claimed his third win in a row to extend his advantage at the top of the standings, holding off a flying number two seed Josh Callan in a thriller.

But the day belonged to Reynolds, who will fly out to her overseas base in San Diego tomorrow night to begin a nine-month globetrotting BMX tour that will take her to North America, the UK and back to Australia before further trips to the US, Europe and South America.

“That feels amazing, just really good and with a home crowd, I’m just absolutely stoked to get a win,” an elated Reynolds said.

“It’s a somewhat local track and I have lots of friends and family around so I wanted to come out and put on a show.

“I knew my track speed fairly well all day and I knew I had to be patient and wait for it on that last turn and the gap would open up and when it did, I went for it.”

Buchanan (995 points) still leads the series, but Reynolds (915) has narrowed the gap to 80 points and the Western Australian said she wanted to depart for her overseas season by winning round six of the national series tomorrow.

“If I could double up that would be a perfect way to finish my Australian time here and give me confidence before I head back over to the US circuit and then the world cup series,” Reynolds said.

Turner was in ominous form all day and now heads Callan by 55 points in the overall standings – 920 to 865 - with today’s third placegetter Corey Frieswyk sitting on 685 with four rounds to race this year.

After his victory Turner, the defending national series champion, said he had worked hard on replicating his form from rounds three and four in Shepparton earlier in the month when he won back to back races for the first time this season.

“I came into this week feeling the same, I had the same preparation as Shepparton and just wanted to repeat what happened there and I think, while it wasn’t exactly the same this morning I stuck to my plan, kept a positive head and it seemed to work out well in the end,” Turner said.

Turner said he enjoyed the rivalry with Callan and saw him as the main threat to a second successive two round sweep this season and also a second sweep of the series’ Westside round following a stellar performance in 2014.

“We’re both from Melbourne and we’ve been racing forever side by side and so it’s really good to be rubbing elbows with him now here,” Turner said.

“It’s been a hot day but I felt good before the final and thought I’ll just try and get out in front of him because I know he’s going to be chasing me hard all the way to the line.”