UEC European Cup Round Two. Kimmann and Hernandez for the Elite wins. By BdJ

Apr 08, 2015

Written by Bart de Jong

Read 2626 times

We decided to skip most of the Am racing in Zolder on Saturday and arrived only at 5pm. With Elite/Junior warm up scheduled to start at 18:30hr, we had some time to walk the pits, do a few laps on the pump track and catch up with a some people in Zolder. Racing on Friday went on till midnight and we had yet to see when the racing would be over on Saturday for round two. An entirely new race was on the sheets and once again loads of racers had signed up to learn the track better for this summer's UCI BMX World's. Friday's winner Connor Fields had decided to skip round two to save some energy for the upcoming UCI SX World Cup and to not risk any injury racing the race. Maris Strombergs also rode just in practice so if you don't see his name on the results sheet, it's not because he's not fast any more. He simply did not participate. Mariana Pajon neither but she had a different reason. But anyway, racing in both Junior and Elite classes were nothing short of spectacular. It's good fun watching the action because every single lap is unpredictable.

It's easy to hit the gate, it's possible to get tangled up in the air on the first jump, an elbow left and right are thrown, and seeing the advantage of clearing a double smoothly over casing a set is always good. Passing was well possible if you brought the skills.

France's future in Junior women goes by the name of Axelle Etienne. The French girl won usually by a gap of 20 meters or more. Especially in the Junior women class, the first jump set the field apart. It's basically an eleven meter gap that needs to be cleared. You either go full throttle, take off, and hope for the best. Or you hit the brakes, roll the double, lose your speed, and start again with an extra 10 meters of catching up on those who did jump. Axelle had some sketchy moments too over the first double jump but she managed to hang on in the final to win and leave the following Russians behind her.

How cool would it be for the Kimmann's to have a victory for both of their kids. Justin is racing Junior and Niek is racing Elite and they're both really fast. Niek won Junior on Friday and was looking fast on Saturday as well. He grabbed the holeshot in the finals and lead the race until he got pushed off the track after turn two by Frenchman Romain Racine. Nothing too crazy of a push but once off the track there was no chance for Justin to catch back up. His brother Niek ended up winning the Elite class so this could have been a double for the Kimmann's already this early in the season.

Elite Women had strong girls on the gate in the finals. It was Stefany Hernandez who got out in the lead with Alise Post following shortly behind. The two got away from the rest of the field where Simone Christensen lead the group. BMX racing isn't over until it's over. On the last straight Hernandez bobbled on the last jump almost losing her win to Post. Christensen crossed the finish line in third place.

We already gave away the winner of the Elite class but it didn't come easy. Niek Kimmann isn't necessarily the rider with the fastest snap out of the gate but he can work his way to the front if he needs to. Something that riders like Robert de Wilde and Thomas Allier used to be able to do. It was Twan van Gendt who put the power on and dove in the first turn in front of everyone. David Herman and Amidou Mir got side by side on the second straight which had three big doubles with Niek Kimmann sneaking in behind them. In turn two Herman and Mir tangled which resulted in the Frenchman going down. At this point Niek made a sharp left hander and passed Herman. Treimanis and Graf caught up with Mir for a chat while England's Quillan Isidore took over spot four. Niek Kimmann was catching up with leader Van Gendt on the third straight and was on his tail going into the last turn. The pressure was on the Red Bull rider and like the day before he made a mistake (cramp or not) which gave Kimmann a free route to his first Elite Men win. David Herman held on for third place scoring a podium for Team USA in chilly Belgium.

It was a long night for all but full of awesome racing. Some might have taken this race to practice for the 2015 UCI world's, but in the end everyone wants to win. Congrats to Niek, Stefany, Romain and Axelle for doing so at Round two of the UEC series.

BdJ

Elite Men:
1    Niek KIMMANN    NED    19
2    Twan VAN GENDT    NED    23
3    David HERMAN    USA    27
4    Quillan ISIDORE    GBR    19
5    Jeremy ROMMEL    USA    23
6    David GRAF    SUI    26
7    Edzus TREIMANIS    LAT    27
8    Amidou MIR    FRA    20

Elite Women:
1    Stefany HERNANDEZ    VEN    24
2    Alise POST    USA    24
3    Simone CHRISTENSEN    DEN    21
4    Magalie POTTIER    FRA    26
5    Aneta HLADIKOVA    CZE    31
6    Merle VAN BENTHEM    NED    23
7    Mathilde DOUDOUX    FRA    19
8    Felicia STANCIL    USA    20

Junior Men:
1    Romain RACINE    FRA    18
2    Paddy SHARROCK    GBR    17
3    Theo CHAPELLE    FRA    18
4    Philipp SCHAUB    GER    18
5    Mathijs VERHOEVEN    BEL    18
6    Gabrielius PABIJANSKAS    LTU    17
7    Justin KIMMANN    NED    17
8    Daichi YAMAGUCHI    JPN    17

Junior Women:
1    Axelle ETIENNE    FRA    17
2    Yaroslava BONDARENKO    RUS    18
3    Natalia AFREMOVA    RUS    17
4    Andrea ESCOBAR    COL    18
5    Charlotte ROSNET    FRA    18
6    Christ VON NIEDERHAEUSERTN    SUI    17
7    Karo VERTESSEN    BEL    17
8    Ruby HUISMAN    NED    17