University of BMX by Gerrit Does

The weekend of 26th. - 27th. April the first 2 rounds of the European Championships where held in Winterthur, Switzerland. Some really spectacular races on the super fast track with a new last straight added designed by home rider Roger Rinderknecht. A 90 degree turn a step-up with a dropdown afterwards of a few meter followed by a big double jump.

*** FOTO Rob vd Wildenberg (INQU) and European Elite Champion 2002 Florent Boutte (MBK-B52)

The top of the European Elite and Junior BMX riders was present to show their best and their new rides/sponsors in Winterthur. Some familiar faces from the past returned to the European BMX scene.

Back after a few years racing in the states riders like Leive One Nordmark who didn’t get an extension to his Powerlite sponsorship showed up riding a Free Agent, Karine Chambonneau back in GT colors and Malene Madsen. Other riders went to race in America during the winter break in Europe and got some nice results. Medhi Remili (GT) has spent some time racing with several podiums and wins in A pro, Also Henrik Baltzersen was racing A pro., he joined his big brother Jan in the Supercross Team and they even did a rider’s clinic together. It all paid off because Henrik was flying in his first year in Elite. Rodger Rinderknecht (SixSixOne) recovered well from his injury. He broke his collar bone during a training session in America. But you couldn’t tell while he was making everybody chasing him throughout the motos. Ivo Lakucs was also preparing himself in the USA. He joined the Bulldog crew for several weeks and did a few races in A Pro. Winning the NBL Elite Pro Challenge put him up in the lead for the Big A Series. Michal Prokop (Author) was the did not make it to Winterthur. He is still in the USA racing in AA Pro and making mains. Things are looking good for Michal. The word is that he will come to race rounds 3 & 4 in Valkenswaard (NL) in between some of the 4X World Cups he will be contending in.