"For the final I wanted the inside lane and used that to my advantage, Maris (Strombergs) and I fought it out on the first straight and it was a drag race to the finish. It is a privilege to race against such formidable competition. Great to win here and to be the 2009 overall season winner.”
Only four months earlier Willoughby rewrote history books by becoming the first rider ever to win two World Junior Championships and his success continued in the World Cups following that with a win in round two and second in round three.
Under the watchful eye of the High Performance National BMX coach, Wade Bootes, Willoughby has tried not to be deterred by the pressure but instead has focused on each race. “Our approach for this year was to focus on the World Cup events and the World Championships. That worked out really good,” explained Willoughby.
The eight rider final boasted a top class field which included Donny Robinson (USA), last year’s series winner, Olympic bronze medallist and elite men’s World Champion, Also in the final was Olympic gold medallist, Maris Strombergs (LAT) and the winner of the previous World Cup race in California. Second was Robinson with Argentine’s Cristian Bercerine in third place while Strombergs finished in fifth.
On the leader board, Willoughby takes out the overall series with an impressive 672 points after four rounds. His position looked confirmed during the semi-final when his closest rival, Dutch rider Raymon van der Beizen, bowed out in the semi final. Another Dutch rider was hot on his heals in the final and Ivo van der Putten ended up just 158 points behind while Robinson was195 points off the lead claiming second and third respectively.
In the women’s race it was a home crowd pleaser, French rider Laetitia Le Corguille, winning in a close finish. World Junior Champion, Columbian Mariana Pajon, placed second, while strong USA rider, Arielle Martin, rode in for third. Two Australian riders made the final and it was Lauren Reynolds (Bunbury) in striking distance of a podium position early in the race but was pushed back into seventh with a strong finishing Caroline Buchanan (Canberra) placing sixth while Reynolds finished a respectable seventh.
Le Corguille took out the overall World Cup series for a third consecutive time. The Olympic silver medallist recorded 660 points while younger team mate Eva Alloud claimed 570 points. Martin from the USA gained third place overall with 463 points.
The Australian women also finished with remarkable results overall with three riders in the top ten. The World Champion four cross rider, Buchanan ended in sixth, Reynolds in seventh and Rachel Bracken (Townsville) from Queensland in tenth.
The BMX Supercross event was the final of four and was held in Frejus southern France in conjunction with a massive mountain bike event called the Roc d’Azur.