and Joshua Callan in particular suggested the final would be hotly contested, however a dramatic first turn crash extinguished the chances of many of the pre race contenders, including those of round seven winner Corey Frieswyk, while an unaffected Turner rode off towards victory.
In the merged elite and junior elite women’s class it was young gun Rachelle Smith (Junior Elite) who showed age is no barrier, as she held off fast finishing round seven winner Sarah Harvey to claim an impressive victory over some older, more experienced riders.
Indeed the junior women showed they will be a force to be reckoned with in the elite class in the coming years after taking out three of the top four positions, with Nerang’s Tyler-Lea Thorley finishing third, while Southlake/Illawarra’s Gemma-Lee Thomas was fourth.
Turner and Smith also won the DK and Loose Kid Industries Holeshot awards for the fastest men and women out of the first turn in the elite finals.
For Turner the win was about putting aside the disappointment of the previous day and focusing on how he could get himself back into the winners circle. “It feels awesome to get the win after a disappointing fifth yesterday,” Turner said. “I came into today with 100% positivity, I had that winning mindset again and I’m so glad to get the win. I had a plan going into yesterday and I didn’t work out, so today I made sure I executed everything I planned and went into that first corner with more aggression, which seemed to work out better.”
Turner now turns his attention to the first round of the UCI BMX Supercross World Cup series to be held in Manchester in a fortnight’s time, where he plans to leave his mark on the best riders in the world.
“Manchester is only two weeks away now, my training over the past four weeks has been amazing,” Turner said. “I came into this weekend feeling good, but I know I can step it up again in Manchester and show the big guys who Bodi Turner is.”
Turner, the defending National Series champion has now sewn up the title again in 2015 after building an insurmountable lead of 280 points over fellow Victorian Callan, with seven of their best nine rounds counting towards their overall standing, while Frieswyk remains in third.
Smith put her fantastic performance down to a more positive mindset heading into the days racing, and has taken plenty of confidence from knowing she can mix it with some of the very girls she will be racing when she makes the step up to the elite class next year. “I just tried to visualise a nice smooth lap, I got out really well and I just tried to stay nice and confident, I came out of the first turn in front and I just tried to hold it from there, so I’m stoked,” Smith said. “I was a lot more confident coming into this round, my mindset was a bit different and I was a lot more positive, I didn’t change anything from a racing perspective but mentally I was a lot more prepared. It feels amazing to get the win; I want to race the elite division next year so it provides me with some great experience moving forward."
Smith has now claimed the overall series lead from absent New Zealander Zoe Flemming while Thorley is third.
In the elite women’s overall standings Harvey has moved to third courteous of another win in the division today, while Caroline Buchanan still maintains a slim lead over Lauren Reynolds of just 50 points heading into the final round.
In the men’s junior elite category Geelong’s Brandon Te Hiko made it a winning double for the weekend with a clinical performance to take victory from Pine Rivers’ Lachlan Harvey and The Cove’s Shane Rosa. Te Hiko has now extended his overall series lead to 130 points over Rosa heading into the final round while Hayden Fletcher is third.
Others to snare a winning double over the weekend included Japan’s Southlake / Illawarra based rider Saya Sakakibara who remains undefeated in the 16 girls, Townsville’s Shelby Green (15 girls), Castle Hills Ashlee Miller (14 girls) and Penrith’s Declan Jahene (14 boys).
Lake Macquarie’s Nathanial Rodway took out the 15-year boy’s, while Centenary Plains’ Joshua Boyton won the 16-year boy’s.
Rio Olympic hopeful Bodi Turner has rediscovered his mojo in round eight of the BMX Australia National Series after a dominant performance to claim victory ahead of a strong field at the Cairns BMX Club. Turner’s win, from Liverpool’s Alex Cameron and Walkerston’s Tristyn Kronk made up for a disappointing result yesterday as he dialled in a more aggressive performance in stifling tropical heat.
A string of impressive performances earlier in the day by Kronk
After doing a BMX 'zine for ten years (1987 - 1996) FATBMX made it on the internet. The year was 1998. Here to stay.