History of BMX (1998)
1998 - January 24/25th. On this date the UCI BMX Commission meeting took place in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. The following decisions were made by this committee:
Team competition at future World and Continental BMX Championships.
There will be a new format of team competition, that is team results will not be deduced from individual results any more, but there will be a separate team competition. Trade teams will have the opportunity to expose their sponsor’s jersey during team competition. The BMX Technical Group will work out a new team concept. Should be presented to the BMX Committee by April 1st 1998. The new concept will be on the agenda of the 1998 BMX Convention and is to be implemented at the 1999 BMX Worlds in France.
New concept for World BMX Rankings.
In 1998 there will be World Rankings for prize money (total CHF 30.000) to be awarded after the main finals on Sunday, July 26, 1998, at the BMX Worlds in Melbourne. On January 1, 1998, all riders will start with zero points.
World BMX Championship selection criteria based on World BMX Rankings.
19 and over Challenge class for men.
A 19 and over Men’s class will be raced in at the 1998 BMX Words.
New name for World BMX Challenge.
In the future the World BMX Challenge will be called the “BMX Challenge World Championships”.
Proposals concerning 1998 European Elite/Junior Championship Series.
The following conditions have been accepted:
Race format Saturday
- all cruiser classes;
- all 20” categories 12-;
- Junior and Elite round.
Sunday - all 20” categories 13+;
- Junior and Elite round.
Riders representative on BMX Commission.
The UCI office will send a letter to the national federations, explaining the criteria for a riders representative and announcing a riders meeting at the 1998 BMX Worlds in Melbourne, at which the riders are to choose their representative.
Application from Argentina for 2000 World BMX Championships.The USA having withdrawn, Argentina sent in application.
Appointed officials at the 1998 World BMX Championship/Challenge. The following officials will be recommended by the BMX Commission to the UCI Management Committee to be appointed:
Key officials
Chief referee: Mr. Eddy Posthuma (NED)
1st Assistant to the Chief ref.: Mr. Ray Stanley (AUS)
Chief registration: Mrs. Erma Miller (USA)
Chief stager: Mr. Cary Jennings (AUS)
Appeal jury
President: Mr. Richard Silbert (AUS)
Member: Mr. Julio Seguel (CHI)
Member: Mr. Ilija Kesic (SUI)
The following officials have been appointed by the host association and have been accepted by the BMX Commission:
2nd Assistant to the Chief referee: Mr. Tony Godressi (AUS)
Chief Scorer: Mrs. Robyn Robinson (AUS)
February 27th. The UCI BMX Coördinator, Jeroen Vrijdag did sent an official communiqué to all UCI-BMX Federations with in general the following context:
“Please be advised that some important progress was made recently. A new set-up of the World BMX Rankings was realized, including the awarding of a total price money amount of CHF 30,000.00 to be paid out at the 1998 World BMX Championships in Melbourne (AUS) in July next year. You will find an info document on the 1998 World BMX Rankings for prize money enclosed with this letter. The new ranking system also ment a considerable extension of the international race calendar. You will find the revised 1998 international BMX calendar enclosed as well.
Another important item was a new set-up of the UCI BMX World Cup. The BMX Commission submitted a plan for the 1999 BMX World Cup to the UCI Management Committee. This plan was discussed and approved by the Management Committee at their meeting in Middelfart (DEN) on January 29 last. Approval of the plan by the Management Committee included, among other things, that the UCI will guarantee a total amount of CHF 212,000.00 for the 1999 BMX World Cup. You can read everything about this new BMX World Cup set-up in the above-mentioned plan, of which a copy has been enclosed with this letter.
All national federations are kindly requested to inform their riders of the above latest developments in international BMX as soon as possible".
End of communiqué. For details on the New World Cup set-up... read on!
January/February. The UCI issued a plan concerning the UCI WORLD CUP events.
Here a selection of notes from this plan. The plan was written on a four page letter and did have the following title.
“PLAN FOR 1999 UCI BMX WORLD CUP SERIES”. History and goals of the BMX World Cup in short.
Bicycle Moto Cross (BMX) as practiced today, started in the late 1960’s in California (USA). Since those early days of BMX, the sport has developed considerably. Nowadays, top BMX riders have reached a high technical and physical level. This has become more and more evident over the past years, not least because of the successful participation of (former) BMX riders in mountain biking and track riding, but also in other disciplines like cycle-cross and read cycling. (Remark GD: No word about the quality of organizations. Up till 1997 the UCI was not able to guarantee quality events, one reason for a lot of top BMX riders to leave this discipline at the time).
BMX has already built up over 15 years of tradition of World and Continental BMX Championships. However, in the slipstream of other World Cup Series in UCI, for disciplines like road cycling, mountain biking, cyclo-cross and track racing, the UCI has developed the BMX World Cup Series to address the strong needs for a worldwide series of top BMX races. The goal of the UCI BMX World Cup Series is to focus on the top BMX riders, male and female and provide a maximum of exciting competition. Racing for the BMX World Cup takes place on fast and spectacular tracks, including big jumps, thus providing the BMX elite an excellent opportunity to display their high technical skills. The races are presented in a compact, spectator friendly program, enriched by BMX freestyle and “King of Dirt” jumping contests. A possible extension of the program in the future are bicycle trial demonstrations. The interchange in the program with other cycling disciplines not only makes a race day more interesting, but is also meant to emphasize the variety of cycling as well as the cross-over between the various disciplines.
(Remark GD: all of the above do sound very familiar to me, since in my evaluation report (as Project Manager World Cup Series UCI) on the “history” of past World Cup events, I suggested a lot of the above. However, success of the above plan depends highly of the interest and motivation of the National BMX organization and actual organizer/promoter concerned. Also the financial aspect is of great importance and what can UCI actually do to make this plan a success. Who is checking on the “fast and spectacular tracks”? Who is setting the criteria to determine what a fast and spectacular track is? Since I am writing this all down in July 2002, time did learn us that indeed all of the above didn’t work up till now. All the reasons why it didn’t succeed I have explained to the UCI, still they didn’t learn from that. Pity for our sport).
The plan goes on: Top BMX racing provides for exciting and spectacular television images. This will be beneficial to the process of getting more recognition for the discipline of BMX, and will also attract new, young riders to the sport of cycling.
Financing of the BMX World Cup in the past.
After 2 pilot projects in 1995, the final full BMX World Cup Series started off in 1996, with four events on three different continents (South America, North America and 2x Europe). The Series in 1997 included three events, namely Australia, The Netherlands and Canada. In fact from the beginning it has been difficult to get a sound financial basis for the World Cup races.
(Remark GD: As Project Manager of these series at the time, my opinion was that the UCI started too soon running these series. I suggested to officially do 2 project runs in 1996, after we prepared well and informed / instructed the potential organizers 100%. UCI wanted to proceed in 1995 which gave us a bad start in the first place. After that, we were running behind the facts all the time).
Traditionally, a lot of financial income at the big BMX Championships, like the World BMX Championships and the European BMX Championships, has come from entry fees. These events have always included big rider numbers (over 1500 entries). The BMX World Cup focuses on the top riders only and therefore logically includes a limited number of riders (approx. 300 max.). As a result of this, income from entry monies is limited and therefore should be compensated by income from sponsorship. Until now, it has been difficult to attract major sponsors to the BMX World Cup. This has not so much been due to lack of potential, but rather to a lack of a structured policy to find sponsors.
The idea of the BMX World Cup concept was approached closest during the 1996 BMX World Cup Final in Valkenswaard - Holland, which demonstrated that a well organized junior and elite BMX event can be an exiting product for potential sponsors.
(Remark GD: The reason why this World Cup was that good was the following: I live about 8 km from the track, had almost a daily contact with the organizers, I was able to advice, motivate, stimulate, give guidelines etc., etc. which helped a lot. Ofcourse the people from the BMX Club Valkenswaard were motivated too and known for their skills in organizing this kind of events. With all respect, but there had been almost no contact with the World Cup organizer in Canada. On arrival communication with that organizer was at a very low level. No serious preparations could be made in the weeks before the Canadian BMX World Cup. This race was just at a “club event” level. The riders present were great though! What I mean to say is: There should be minimum criteria concerning the track and quality of organizer. The Project Manager should be able to be on the spot and check everything weeks in advance, etc., etc. The way everything was done during this period of the World Cup was almost a guarantee it would NOT be a success).
One key element of this success was the UCI financing of the television coverage of this race and the rent of a big electronic scoreboard. This race was highly appreciated by the riders, the spectators and various potential sponsors who were present.
(Remark GD: on my special request, to at least try to get one World Cup as I wanted it to be according to my ideas on BMX, recorded in my plan “The New Concept on BMX”. It seemed possible for sure, it only took extra money to realize it).
This event provided the impetus for this presentation to the UCI Management Committee.
Request to UCI Management Committee for financial contribution.
In the Four Year Plan for BMX (1998-2001) that was presented to the UCI Management Committee in October 1997, a request for a financial contribution was included with regards to future BMX World Cup races. The specification per race was as follows:
Television production: CHF 35.000,=
(UCI contribution to) prize money:CHF 10.500,=
Rent of timing scoreboard: CHF 7.500,=
The above makes a total of CHF 53.000,= per race. The total amount requested was for three races per year, which makes a total of CHF 159.000,=
Marketing of the BMX World Cup Series.
Professional assistance from the UCI Marketing Department and possibly a UCI appointed outside marketing agency is needed to find the necessary sponsorships, in order to earn back the investments done by the UCI Management Committee. In short, the potential seems to be there: BMX bike sales have increased; BMX bike sales in the USA are bigger then in mountain biking and road bike sales. Sales in Australia are up and lately BMX in Europe has become bigger (info up and till 1997!).
Television coverage of the BMX World Cup is essential to present the sport to a bigger audience and thus create more interest for the sport.
The use of the electronic scoreboard in combination with the sophisticated lap time and scoring system through transponders (AMB) on the BMX bikes, will make it all much more interesting to watch on TV also. The scoreboard could also be used to show sponsor messages and so on.
Set up of the BMX World Cup Series in the future.
Until now, the BMX World Cup Series has been set up as a worldwide series on various continents, with each race counting equally. Riders had to attend several races in order to get good final standings in the series. At this moment, a (limited) number of riders is sponsored through BMX trade teams, but also a considerable number of riders must pay for their expenses themselves. Racing a series like the BMX World Cup Series creates major financial problems for the riders without the sponsors. Besides, most BMX trade teams sponsors and national federations do not see the importance of a BMX World Cup Series yet and therefore do not want to invest a lot of money in sending their riders to all World Cup races.
Because of the above problems in practice, the following system is proposed, to be applied to at least the next two or three years, until financial conditions for the riders have improved. The idea is to apply, instead of a series of three equally counting races, a system with a qualification race in each of the major BMX areas in the world, followed by one race as the World Cup Final in the same country
as and one week before the World BMX Championships. This would result in the following set up:
BMX World Cup Qualifier in Florida, USA (e.g. Disneyworld),
BMX World Cup Qualifier in Australia, east coast (e.g. Melbourne),
BMX World Cup Qualifier in Europe, (e.g. Euro-Disney, Paris - France), or the Netherlands, Eurocircuit - Valkenswaard or Vredestein BMX track - Doetinchem).
BMX World Cup Final in the country of the World BMX Championships, one week before the Worlds.
Rationale behind the new BMX World Cup set up.
The rationale behind the above is as follows. The USA, Australia and Europe are the areas where the best BMX riders in the world are and where most potential for sponsorship is. Besides, South America also has a number of very good elite and junior riders.
Flying in to Florida from south American country is in many cases cheaper than flying from one South American country to another. Holding the Oceanic qualifier on the east coast of Australia is attractive to riders from New Zealand. Holding the World Cup Final in the country where the World BMX Championships will be held and one week before the Worlds, is most practical, because traditionally many riders attend the Worlds.
(Remark GD: in principal a very good idea to get it organized this way, since there is no money available for travel expenses for world class riders. The problem however is, that not many riders do want to compete in such a prestigious Final event, just one week before the Worlds. The World Cup Final could best take place, sometime in the second half of the year and preferable in the USA).
The above system only requires from a rider that he attends the Qualifier on his own continent and if he manages to qualify, the World Cup Final. From a financial point of view, this is more realistic than the current system. Besides, in the near future a qualification system for the World BMX Championships will be introduced, including qualification through the World BMX Rankings. In the rankings hierarchy, BMX world Cup races are, after the World BMX Championships, the races where most ranking points can be gained. This will be an additional incentive for the riders to participate in the BMX world Cup.
(Remark GD: I personally don’t believe in qualifying for the Worlds through the UCI Rankings and such. Even at present -2002- World Championships can’t be organized without large numbers of riders and there supporters since not many outside BMX people seem to attend these events. Both riders and supporters do bring in lots of money to among others pay for the organization of the event to make it worthwhile for the organizing group as well. I feel BMX is in a vicious circle here).
Consequences of new set up of BMX World Cup.
The above new set up would include four races for the BMX World Cup per year. This would require a financial contribution by the UCI of 4 x CHF 53.000,= gives CHF 212.000,=. Sponsorships can be searched in the form of (major) sponsors for the whole series, including Qualifiers and Final, but also sponsors specific for a certain continent can be approached in relation to the qualification races. The UCI Management Committee is kindly requested to consider the above financial contribution to the 1999 UCI BMX World Cup Series of CHF 212.000,=.
(Remark GD: as we know by know (2002) the 1999 weren’t a great success. Lack of a Project manager that would be able to coördinate all of the events and try to get the organizations at the same high level of organizing).
END OF REPORT ON THIS NEW PLAN FOR WORLD CUP EVENTS.
February 27th. Communication between GD and the UCI-BMX department on the possibility of organizing the Worlds 2000 in Holland-Europe.
Last year, during the 1997 Worlds in Canada, UCI representatives informed GD about the fact that there wasn’t an organizer yet for the 2000 Worlds. Gerrit Does discussed a possible organization with the PONYPARK SLAGHAREN (now called “Attractiepark Slagharen”) management, the location were the 1983 Worlds was organized. Later on a letter from UCI-BMX was received in which was stated that an official application has come in and that probably Argentina would organize the 2000 Worlds. Now the question was raised could Slagharen organize the UCI-Worlds in 2002?
February 27th. GD did sent a "letter of concern" to the UCI BMX Committee concerning his “evaluation report” on the UCI BMX World Cup Series. This report was sent October 31st 1997 and up till this moment (1998) NO reply.
February 28th/March 1st. The 14th. Indoor de TOURS did have 1200 + entries.
The famous Open class on the Saturday evening did have 236 entries.
February. The UCI inventory of organizations affiliated, number of riders and tracks per country 1998:
country - organization #riders - #clubs - #tracks
ARG. Federacion Argentina de Bicicross 1600 20 27
Federacion Ciclista Argentiana 430 12 20
AUR. Aruba Wieler Bond 100 5 4
AUS. BMX Australia 5068 147 145
AUT. Osterreichischer Radsport-Verb. 65 9 9
BEL. Belgian BMX Federation
Kon. Belgische Wielrijdersbond 50 4 3
BLR. Belarussian Federation of Motorcycle and
BMX Sport 361 17 4
BOL. Federacion Boliviana de Bicicross 300 24 9
BRA. Confederaqau Brasileira de Bicicr. 1300 93 85
CAN. Canadian BMX Association 1400 29 29
CHI. Federacion Chilena de Bicicross 1380 21 12
COL. Federacion Colombiana de Ciclismo 1350 52 26
CRC. Federacion Costarricense de Ciclismo 300 50 6
CUR. Federashon di BMX di Korsou 110 1 1
CZE. Cesky Svaz Cyklistiky 1050 68 36
DEN. Danmarks Motor Union 290 18 18
ECU. Fed. Ecuatoriana de Ciclisma 180 4 4
ESP. Real Fed. Espanola de Ciclismo 380 20 25
FRA. Fed. Francaise de Cyclisme 6078 279 250
GBR. British Cycling Federation
Great Britain BMX Federation 453 47 40
GER. Bund Deutscher Radfahrer e.V. 450 25 20
HUN. Hungarian BMX Cross Federation 59 6 6
ITA. Federazione Ciclistica Italiana 500 24 20
JPN. Japan BMX Federation 250 14 7
LAT. Latvian BMX Federation 170 17 11
LTU. Lietuvos BMX Federacija 98 5 2
MEX. Bicicross Mexico Asociacion Nacional 240 20 25
MLT. BMX Association Malta 90 1 1
MOR. Bike Club “Cross” 270 23 9
NED. Kon. Nederlandsche Wielren Unie 1406 38 38
NOR. Norges Cykleforbund 75 11 8
NZL. New Zealand BMX Association 940 31 31
POR. Federacao Portuguesa de Ciclismo 104 10 10
OUR. Federacion Puertorriquena de Ciclismo ?
RSA. South Africa Cycling Federation 385 8 8
RUS. Inter Regional Russian BMX Federation 270 23 9
SLO. Slovenian Cycling Federation 60 2 2
SUI. Schweizerischer Rad- und Motorfahrer Bund 460 17 15
SVK. Slovenska Asociacia BMX 138 16 9
SWE. Svenska Cykelforbundet 172 9 8
USA. USA Cycling (NBL) 25000 130 130
VEN. Federacion Venezolana de Ciclismo 1100 80 12
ZIM. National BMX Ass. of Zimbabwe 76 3 3
year riders clubs tracks
1998 (1996) 53.900 (48.304) 1.392 (1.418) 1.102 (1.082)
countries
43 (43)
March 21st. UCI coördinator Jeroen Vrijdag picked up the T.I.S. (Timing and registration equipment) at my home in Waalre, to be used during World Cup events in 1998.
Early this year I informed the UCI-BMX Committee that I wanted to resign as Manager World Cup Series, since there was no sense in going on the way things were running: bad communication in general with World Cup organizers, no possibility of really coördinating these events by helping organizing etc. Most organizers did not take the World Cup events serious. It just was a small happening (around 120-150 riders) that UCI wanted them to organize. The heart to organize and make something out of it was missing. Must be said, exception the World Cup events in Valkenswaard - Holland (the WC manager was there, could coach, motivate and help out in anyway etc. that worked). My conclusion also was: the world of BMX wasn’t ready for this type of events at the time. Still a World Cup series with all the technical stuff, such as the riders identification and registration system, a large scoring board, lap-time registration, average speed on the track etc. will make BMX more interesting for outside BMX people and the media. Anyway, we have to see and wait now, what will happen. By letter of March 3rd., the UCI-BMX Committee by means of Louis Vrijdag did thank Gerrit Does for his services as the Project Manager of the UCI BMX World Cup over the past years (1995 up and till 1998). My conclusion: they only thing that could change the attidude of National BMX organization to fully sponsor National Selections is, when BMX Racing becomes an Olympic Discipline. As it stand, President Hein Verbruggen is still working on that wiwth among others the IOC ánd the UCI affiliated organizations. Hope that soon something changes in this field.
April 25/26th. European Elite/Junior Championships, round 1+2 at Montelimar - France.
Best rider of the weekend, Thomas Allier - Sunn-Nike. Title defender Dale Holmes. Participation of riders outside of Europe: Wade Boots (AUS) and Neil Wood (GBR). The track was fast and technical, kind of downhill with a so-called false flat towards the finish line. The weather was hot, 25 - 28 degrees C. As usual in France, a lot of outside BMX people came and watch, around 2500 spectators over the weekend. The event did have around 1000 entries of wich in the Championship classes the following entries:
Entries in Junior women - Junior men - Elite men - Elite women
Saturday 18 58 88 22
Sunday 18 55 83 21
Factory teams in team competition were:
- Webco-Mentos;
- Sunn-Nike;
- GT Euro Team;
- GT France;
- Peugeot;
- Mongoose Swiss.
May 9/10th. European Elite/Junior Championships, round 3 + 4 at Doetinchem - Holland.
This event, named the “Simple” Eurocross, was organized by the FCC de IJsselcrossers. Most remarkable / best athlete in Elite men class: Thomas Allier - Sunn Nike. Like in Montelimar, Thomas did win both days! Title defender in Elite men: Dale Holmes - GT Euro Team only made 1 main on Saturday, dropped out in semi-final on Sunday. Participation of a rider from outside Europe: Jamie Staff - Haro bikes. Came over from the USA to participate in these 2 rounds of Elite men Euro Championship and finished 4th. on Sunday. Was semi-finalist on Saturday. Rookies in Elite men: Thierry Fouilleul (best result on Sunday, 3rd. in main). Arnaud Barthelemy, Dorus Brink, Lukas Tamme and Carmine Falco. Leading after 4 rounds: Thomas Allier (F).
Most remarkable athletes in Junior men class: Michal Prokop - Webco/Mentos Euro team; Peter Fieldhouse (same team), Kelvin Batey - GT Euro Team, Jakub Hnidak - Webco Mentos and Anthony Escudero - Trek. Title defender in Junior men class: Michal Prokop - Webco Mentos Euro team. Michal did very well on Saturday WINNING. On Sunday he missed his start in the semi final completely and did not make the main event. Kelvin Batey took advantage and won his first Junior main in these series. Not present was Frenchman Mickael Deldycke who won in Montelimar on day 1 and day 2. Leading after 4 rounds: Michal Prokop (CZE).
Most remarkable athlete in Elite women class: Natarsha Williams - Redline / Australia. Noticebel strong lead all the time by 20/30 meters. Title defender in Elite women class: Karien Gubbels - Holland, finished 2nd. on Saturday and 6th. on Sunday. World Cup Series winner 1997 Kerstin Munski did not perform as expected. Rookies in Elite women class: Ilse Freriks, Audrey Pichol, Karine Chambonneau, Tatjana Schocher, Vikki Overson and Marlies Knill.
Most remarkable athlete in Junior women class: Ellen Bollansee - GT Euro team (B) and Elodie Ajinca - Mongoose France (F). Ellen Bollansee was unbeatable this whole weekend winning with a perfect score on both days.
General remarks concerning the overall event:
Fast track, very hard concrete surface, rough.
The weather was hot, approx. 25/30 degrees C.
Total number of entries ........ 782.
Entries Championship classes Saturday Sunday
Junior Men 65 66
Junior Women 18 16
Elite Men 84 86
Elite Women 25 24
Spectators: approx. 2000 till 2500 persons, mainly inside BMX.
Number of competing countries: 15.
Participating factory teams:
- Sunn-Nike,
- GT-Euro Team,
- Webco-Mentos Euro Team,
- Peugeot,
- Mongoose,
- Trek
Appecriation:
Track ...................................................... 8 -/-
Racing organization ............................... 8
Overall organization ............................... 7
Parking/camp site, catering .................... 7
Publicity, radio, TV, Mags, Newspapers . 8
Results Saturday May 9th. 1998
Elite Men:
1. Thomas Allier (F)
2. Dylan Clayton (GBR)
3. Roy van Leur (NED)
4. Dale Holmes (GBR)
5. Robert de Wilde (NED)
6. Florent Bout (F)
7. Sebastien Paradis (F)
8. Denis Labigang (F)
Elite Women:
1. Natarsha Williams (AUS)
2. Karien Gubbels (NED)
3. Ilse Freriks (NED)
4. Karine Chambonneau (F)
5. Pamela Schafer (GER)
6. Tatjana Schocher (SUI)
7. Natascha Massop (NED)
8. Kerstin Munski (GER)
Junior Men:
1. Michal Prokop (CZE)
2. Stephane Renaud (F)
3. Peter Fieldhouse (GBR)
4. Sascha Vetsch (SUI)
5. Anthony Escudero (F)
6. Jakub Hnidak (CZE)
7. Nicolas Lloveria (F)
8. Philipp Britschgi (SUI)
Junior Women:
1. Ellen Bollansee (BEL)
2. Simone Dur (AUT)
3. Alexandra Cornelius (GER)
4. Rianne Busschers (NED)
5. Elodie Ajinca (F)
6. Angelique v. Gemert (NED)
7. Tamara Vakkers (NED)
8. Dagma Polakova (SVK)
Results Sunday May 10th 1998
Elite Men:
1. Thomas Allier (F)
2. Dylan Clayton (GBR)
3. Thierry Fouilleul (F)
4. Jamie Staff (GBR)
5. Carmine Falco (F)
6. Robert de Wilde (NED)
7. Florent Bout (F)
8. Denis Labigang (F)
Elite Women:
1. Natarsha Williams (AUS)
2. Tatjana Schocher (SUI)
3. Natascha Massop (NED)
4. Karine Chambonneau (F)
5. Kerstin Munski (GER)
6. Karien Gubbels (NED)
7. Rebecca Wichman (NED)
8. Sanna Ohlsson (SWE)
Junior Men
1. Kelvin Batey (GBR)
2. Thierry Vandenkerckhove (F)
3. Richard Crouwel (NED)
4. Anthony Escudero (F)
5. Jakun Hnidak (CZE)
6. Roger Rinderknecht (SUI)
7. Sven Nef (SUI)
8. David Panka (CZE)
Junior Women:
1. Ellen Bollansse (B)
2. Simone Dur (AUT)
3. Elodie Ajinca (F)
4. Alexandra Cornelius (GER)
5. Rianne Busschers (NED)
6. Joanne Gough (GBR)
7. Angelique v. Gemert (NED)
8. Dagmar Polakova (SVK)
*** foto's The BMX spectators, recognize some?
*** foto's Elite Men: Holmes, Boutte, de Wilde, Nordmark, Groenendaal, Staff and others.
*** foto's Saturday main with v. Leur, Allier, Clayton, Holmes, Paradis and Boutte
*** foto's Gerrit Does the fotographer
*** foto Natarsha Williams jumping the big doubles
*** foto Jamie Staff in action
*** foto Checking out the competition, R.v.Leur, Revell, Staff, M.v.Leur, Does
*** foto Team Latvia
*** foto This Team must be sponsored by SHOEI
*** foto Old friends, Paul Roberts & Dale Holmes
*** foto Champ Natarsha Williams
May 16/17th. European BMX Club Championship at Appingedam - Holland.
Around 250 entries at this Europeans, composing 33 teams and from 5 countries registered.
The final results of this event: Club points .
1. FCC The Wheely’s, Baarn - NED 142 “Champions”
2. DVO Haaksbergen 2 - NED 137
3. RABO Unitas 1, Assen - NED 125
4. UWTC Schijf b.v. 1, Uithoorn - NED 123
5. FCV d’Urste 1, Schijndel - NED 119
6. Latvia BMX club Talava 1 - LAT 118
7. Slovakia Luventa Brastislava - SVK 115
8. Team Repy A - CZE 114
9. KWC Luxform - NED 105
10. UWTC Schijf b.v. 2 - NED 94
11. DVO Haaksbergen 1 - NED 90
12. Bikrosclub Jesenik - CZE 89
13. Team Repy B - CZE 89
14. FCC de IJsselcrossers 1 - NED 86
15. FCC de IJsselcrossers 2 - NED 85
16. FCV d’Urste 2 - NED 85
17. FCV Volkel - NED 82
18. Wycross - NED 77
19. RABO Unitas 2 - NED 75
20. Galaxy - Habay la Neuve - BEL 68
21. FCC Oss - NED 62
22. UWTC Schijf b.v. 3 - NED 61
23. v.d. Linden / FCC Wheels - NED 60
24. FCC de IJsselcrossers 3 - NED 54
May 23/24th European Elite/Junior Championships, round 5 + 6 at Bournemouth - England.
General remarks.
The BMX track wasn’t a 100% up-to-date race track. At several places too narrow. The weather was hot, around 20 / 25 degrees C. In total there were 542 entries in 2 days!
*** foto Track Overview
Spectators: around 1000 till 1250 persons.
Number of countries represented by one or more riders: 15.
Appreciation: Track ............................. 6 + (scale 0 till 10).
Racing organization ............................ 7
Overall organization ............................ 6-/-
Parking/camp site etc........................... 6
Publicity, radio, tv, mags, newspapers.. 7
Most remarkable athlete in Elite class during this 2 round event: Dylan Clayton - Sunn Nike (GBR). Won both days! Scott Yoquelet - USA, traveled from the USA to England to participate in these 2 round event. Invited by his sponsor Odyssee. Rookie Lukas Tamme finished 3rd. in the Elite men event. He was the first ever Czech rider to make the main in this class and finish on the podium.
After 6 rounds Dylan Clayton (GBR) was leading the Championship. Elite women Natarsha Williams (AUS) did win her class both days. She was the woman’s class rider that jumped the big doubles!
In Junior men class, Czech rider Michal Prokop won both days In Junior women class, Dagmar Polakova (SVK) and Ellen Bollansee (B) battled all weekend. Each of them did win one time and became second the other event. Up and till this event in total 121 Elite riders have participated at one or more of the Championship events. In Junior men 96 riders have participated and Elite women 32 riders. Junior women only had 23 riders involved during the past 6 rounds.
Results in the championship classes:
Elite Men (Day 1):
1. Dylan Clayton (GBR)
2. Dale Homes (GBR)
3. Lukas Tamme (CZE)
4. Pieter Does (NED)
5. Thierry Fouilleul (F)
6. Sebastien Paradis (F)
7. Robert Sprokholt (NED)
8. Anthony Revell (GBR)
Elite Men (Day 2):
1. Dylan Clayton (GBR)
2. Dale Holmes (GBR)
3. Mark van Leur (NED)
4. Carmine Falco (F)
5. Thomas Allier (F)
6. Pieter Does (NED)
7. Sebastien Paradis (F)
8. Denis Labigang (F)
Elite women (Day 1):
1. Natarsha Williams (AUS)
2. Kerstin Munski (GER)
3. Brigitte Busschers (NED)
4. Sanna Ohlsson (SWE)
5. Karine Chambonneau (F)
6. Malene Madsen (DEN)
7. Natascha Massop (NED)
8. Kerri Edgworth (GBR)
Elite Women (Day2):
1. Natarsha Williams (AUS)
2. Audrey Pichol (F)
3. Kerstin Munski (GER)
4. Natasha Massop (NED)
5. Tatjana Schocher (SUI)
6. Karien Gubbels (NED)
7. Karine Chambonneau (F)
8. Brigitte Busschers (NED)
Junior women (Day 1):
1. Ellen Bollansee (BEL)
2. Dagma Polokova (SVK)
3. Rianne Busschers (NED)
4. Alexandra Cornelius (GER)
5. Angelique van Gemert (NED)
6. Caroline de Bruijn (NED)
7. Simone Dur (AUT)
8. Karine Claoue (F)
Junior Women (Day 2):
1. Dagmar Polakova (SVK)
2. Ellen Bollansee (BEL)
3. Karine Claoue (F)
4. Alexandra Cornelius (GER)
5. Simone Dur (AUT)
6. Rianne Busschers (NED)
7. Caroline de Bruijn (NED)
8. Joanne Gough (GBR)
Junior men (Day 1):
1. Michal Prokop (CZE)
2. Peter Fieldhouse (GBR)
3. Lukas Panka (CZE)
4. Anthony Escudero (F)
5. Eemu Danielson (SWE)
6. Sascha Vetsch (SUI)
7. Milan Krebs (VSK)
8. Marcus Bloomfield (GBR)
Junior Men (Day 2):
1. Michal Prokop (CZE)
2. Stephane Renaud (F)
3. Milan Krebs (SVK)
4. Damien Delacroix (F)
5. Roger Rinderknecht (SUI)
6. Kelvin Batey (GBR)
7. Girts Yonkus (LAT)
8. Peter Fieldhouse (GBR)
The Pro-Elite Women’s race became a victory for Germany’s Kerstin Munski. The German woman, who was most unfortunate with crashes in last month’s Orlando World Cup race and Doetinchem’s European Championship race, had her personal revenge. Munski took advantage from a mistake by Orlando World Cup winner, Natascha Massop (Holland), who had the best start but crashed in the second turn. Sweden’s Sanna Ohlsson finished second before Tina Madsen, originally Danish, but living in and racing for Holland. France’s Thierry Fouilleul finished first in Junior Men, before Carmine Falco (France) and Scott Beaumont (England). In Junior Women, Karine Chambonneau (France) won before Ilse Freriks (Holland and Karin Laupsien (Switzerland).
After cancellation of the Columbus, Ohio (USA) race in December next, the final race will be in Valkenswaard - Holland on July 7th.
Fastest lap times by:
Karien Gubbels in Elite Women with .... 46.746 sec.
Jamie Staff in Elite Men with .... 38,986 sec.
Thierry Fouilleul in Junior Men with .... 40,571 sec.
Karine Chambonneau in Junior Women with .... 47,273 sec.
*** foto's Official Opening on Saturday
Vendors Lane
Anthony Revell in his shop, the rider - business man
Gate problems being solved
*** foto's Elite men on their way
Elite women, crash and burn
After the races an injured and disappointed Thomas Allier speaking with Vettoretti, Falco and Clayton
*** foto's The trophy table
Old Skool BMX'er Clive Gossling (l) and his mean machine
2 Old Skoolers meet; Tim March (and his son) and Nico Does (r)
June 27/28th. European Elite/Junior Championships, round 7 + 8 at Winterthur - Switzerland.
Results Championship classes day 1.
Elite men:
1. Thomas Allier FRA Sunn
2. Dylan Clayton GBR Sunn
3. Florent Bout FRA GT France
Elite women:
1. Natarsha Williams AUS Redline Australia
2. Kerstin Munski GER Redline Europe
3. Tatjana Schocher SUI GT Swiss
Junior men:
1. Michal Prokop CZE Webco-Mentos
2. Nicolas Lloveria FRA Trek France
3. Sven Nef SUI Sunn Swiss
Junior women:
1. Ellen Bollansee BEL GT Europe
2. Dagma Polakova SVK
3. Rianne Busschers NED Busschers
Results Championship classes day 2
Elite men:
1. Florent Bout FRA GT France
2. Robert de Wilde NED GT Europe
3. Pieter Does NED Webco-Mentos
Elite women:
1. Natarsha Williams AUS Redline Australia
2. Kerstin Munski GER Redline Europe
3. Karien Gubbels NED Lion d’Or
Junior men:
1. Michal Prokop CZE Webco-Mentos
2. Mickael Deldycke FRA Peugeot
3. Anthony Escudero FRA Trek France
Junior women:
1. Ellen Bollansee BEL GT Europe
2. Alexandra Cornelius GER
3. Rianne Busschers NED Busschers
EC Winterthur-Dattnau
Leader in Elite, Thomas Allier
July 11/12th. European BMX Championships/Challenge and the European Elite/Junior Championships, round 9 + 10 at Schwedt an der Oder - Germany.
With high expectations riders and supporters traveled from all over Europe to Schwedt an/der Oder in Germany. The organization committee with their Chairman Mrs. Gisela Bidlingmaier did a great job trying to get the organization at top level. The infra structure was very good. Plenty of space, catering o.k., good entertainment for the kids and such. This track was officially opened to the public April 15th.
On pictures above from left to right; overlooking the BMX camping site, a very large area were aroun 80% of the participants found a place for the tents, caravans or campers. Ofcourse with so many riders and supoprters present a catering unit is essential. Last picture shows part of the VIP area which was very well set up and organised.
Above pictures will give you an impression of VENDORS LANE at this event. Norwegean DBS was preent, as well as Specialized - Germany, Webco Bicycles, Team Puma - Germany and Ciclomania from Italy. On the event grounds, also a special area was created for BMX free-style activities. During the weekend, demo's were given here too.
BMX RACING.
The track was kind of o.k., but during practice some problems occurred. For the first time very fast riders were on this track and now it showed that some turns and jumps weren’t built the right way. Adjustments were made to the track. The tack was 400 meters long and had 18 technical jumps.
Junior class in full flight
Presentation of awards in Junior class
Natarsha Williams, Champ
Elite men in action
During the event itself same racing technical problems occurred but were solved ofcourse. The racing itself was ofcourse great. Top riders from all over Europe came to this prestigious European Championship event. Publicity was very good; articles in newspapers every day during the week before the event. During the weekend there also was a BMX Free-style competition in between races: disciplines were Flatland, Kind of Dirt and Half-Pipe. These European Championships did have over 2000 entries, riders representing 22 countries.
31 Natarsha Williams (Australia) leading the pack of Elite ladies with 13 Kirsten Munski following close.
Presentation of awards ceremony above.
A lot of attention for this European Championship by the media in this part of Germany.
schwedt 1
Final standings European Championship 1998.
Elite Men:
1. Thomas Allier (F) - Champion
2. Daylan Clayton (GBR)
3. Florent Bout (F)
4. Dale Holmes (GBR)
5. Robert de Wilde (NED)
6. Sebastian Paradis (F)
7. Pieter Does (NED)
8. Denis Labigang (F)
9. Carmine Falco (F)
10. Thierry Fouilleul (F)
11. Mark van Leur (NED)
12. Roy van Leur (NED)
13. Leiv Ove Nordmark (NOR)
14. Petr Joch (CZE)
15. Robert Sprokholt (NED)
16. Lukas Tamme (CZE)
Elite Women:
1. Natarsha Williams (AUS) Champion
2. Kerstin Munski (GER)
3. Karien Gubbels (NED)
4. Audrey Pichol (F)
5. Tatjana Schocher (SUI)
6. Karine Chambonneau (F)
7. Natascha Massop (NED)
8. Brigitte Busschers (NED)
9. Sanna Ohlsson (SWE)
10. Pamela Schafer (GER)
11. Kerri Edgworth (GBR)
12. Rebecca Wichman (NED)
13. Malene Madsen (DEN)
14. Ilse Freriks (NED)
15. Melinda Harnois (F)
16. Karin Laupsien (SUI)
In total 137 riders in Elite men class did participate during these series. In Elite women class 35 riders did compete.
Junior Men:
1. Michal Prokop (CZE) Champion
2. Mickael Deldycke (FRA)
3. Stephane Renaud (FRA)
4. Thierry Vandenkerckhove (FRA)
5. Milan Krebs (VSK)
6. Roger Rinderknecht (SUI)
7. Nicolas Lloveria (FRA)
8. Anthony Escudero (FRA)
9. Peter Fieldhouse (GBR)
10. Kelvin Batey (GBR)
11. Richard Crouwel (NED)
12. Sascha Vetsch (SUI)
Junior Women:
1. Ellen Bollansee (BEL) Champion
2. Dagmar Polakova (VSK)
3. Rianne Busschers (NED)
4. Simone Dur (AUT)
5. Elodie Ajinca (FRA)
6. Karine Claoue (FRA)
7. Alexandra Cornelius (GER)
8. Caroline de Bruijn (NED)
9. Melanie Boudoux (FRA)
10. Angelique van Gemert (NED)
11. Joanne Gough (GBR)
12. Jirina Vestkova (CZE)
In total 134 riders in Junior men took part during these series and in Junior women 29 riders participated.
July 18-19th., the UCI BMX World Cup Series, Geelong - Australia in conjunction with the Pacific Oceanic Continental Championships Round 3.
The venue was the Bellarine BMX Club. In this year 1998 only 1 (one) World Cup event was organized.
July 23rd. The 1998 UCI BMX Convention took place in Melbourne, Australia.
Location Central Hotel St. Kilda Road. Here some high-lights from this meeting more specific several notes taken from Continental reports.
North American report by Bob Tedesco
Bob stated that the NBL BMX continues it’s phenomenal growth this year (no figures though!!). NBL is negotiating with ESPN to double its BMX/dirt circuit televised shows for 1999. NBL is currently in negotiations with HUFFY Bicycles to continue its sponsorship of the Road to Glory National Series for the next 3 years. Many major food, drink and manufacturing companies are interested in expanded sponsorships as well as becoming new sponsors for BMX. So far, NBL has already built 50 new NBL tracks for 1998. Attendance at National events is up another 15% this year. Attendance at local tracks keeps increasing. WEB pages have been expended. Currently we have 3 million hang tags going out to manufacturers to add to their bike boxes. Hang tags for 1 day free membership plus 1 free NBL local race entry (Remark GD: even today a good idea for UCI to do at an international level). Together with US Cycling, the NBL is in the process of developing a USA BMX TEAM with Mark Edwards, USA Cycling Regional Coach. Training center for special training etc.
Latin American report by Ruy Barbosa.
A selection from this report: This first six months of the year had been very busy in the area. The fact that we need to have at least five international meetings during the first half of the year of the ranking, obligee us to a very big effort. The first race was held in Cumana, Venezuela, during the first week of March. It was a magnificent venue, good hotels and nice beaches, well organized, but unfortunately only one rider from Bolivia and two from the USA were participating. A big participation of local riders tough.
The second, third and fourth rounds were in Santiago, Chile, during the Continental Championships. On April 8th. was the second round during the Pre-Continental race. The third and fourth rounds were the Continental race with double points. For the occasion a new track was built in the National Stadium, near the velodrome were we had the I.BMX.F. Worlds in 1988. This new track had a building cost of US $ 50.000,= and it is going to be a permanent venue administrated by the National Federation. During the race Mr. Louis Vrijdag visited Chile and had the opportunity to attend a meeting with the Presidents of the BMX Federations. The countries participating in this race were Argentina with 117 riders, Bolivia with 38, Brazil with 36, Chile with 178, Colombia with 21, Ecuador with 20, USA with 1 and Venezuela with 8 riders.
During May the fifth race was held in the city of Varzea Pailista near Sao Paulo, Brazil with participation of Venezuela and Chile. It may call your attention that the participation of foreign riders in most of this events is very poor. But you must consider that the distances on this continent are very long between each country and the cost of travelling is high.
Argentina is working on the organization of the World Championship in the year 2000. The high level of their National organization will permit them to do good work for this event, I hope! Apart of certain problems we still have progress with the integration, I feel that BMX is in progress on this continent.
Letter from the Brazilian BMX Confederation. In the city of Sao Paulo, the Opening race of the 1998 season was conducted. Over 500 riders participated. During this weekend the National Congress of Bicicross was held, with the participation of the State Federations. The following federations were present: Sao Paulo, Rio Grande do Sul, Parana, Santa Catarina, Minas Gerais, Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul, Bahia, Pernambuco, Tocantins, Amazonas, Para and Maranhao, States of Roraime, Sergipe, Rio Grande do Norte. Ceara didn’t attend this meeting. BMX in the Olympics? This was the main point of discussion. In general one stated, why is BMX not yet in the Olympic? UCI promised us this would happen. UCI, by means of Mr. Hein Verbruggen himself have stated that several times, however nothing happened after the integration of I.BMX.F. and UCI was a fact. Many of the above federations claimed they have been deceived by the UCI and they would only work for speed cycling instead of BMX. It’s sad to say, that many riders stopped racing because of this promise by the president of UCI and the fact he did not keep his promise. (Remark GD: complain above sounds familiar to me!. I even saw on the letterhead of this Brazilian Confederation of BMX the text: BMX - going to Olympic Games. Better take that away guys. Sorry!).
The Brazilian national championship has 6 rounds. The first race was held in the city of Varzea Paulista - SP with over 450 riders out of 12 provinces. The 2nd. round took place in the city of Novo Hamborgo-RS and had 430 riders from 11 different provinces. The 3rd. round was held in the city of Brusque - SC with 370 riders from 9 different provinces. One last question that was stated in this letter was: What advantage did it bring for Bicicross to unify with UCI ? Gods will happens, but we hope they (UCI) will not kill Bicicross !!
Australian report by the Bicycle Motocross Australia Inc.
Australia has been in full organization mode with the upcoming Pacific Oceanic Championships and the World Cup event to be conducted on the 18 and 19th. of July 1998 in Melbourne. These two events acted as warm up to the 1998 GT Bicycles UCI World BMX Championships to be held at the Melbourne Sports and Entertainment Center. This will be the fist time a Worlds have been conducted indoors. Enormous amount of interest not only from overseas competitors and spectators but also international corporate
sponsorship such as GT bicycles, Australian Sports Commission, Tourism Victoria, Quantas and Swatch.
BMX Australia Inc. is currently in the process of amalgamating with the Australian Cycling Federation. Communication has improved by installing more computers at the National office. Contact possible through telephone, faxsimile or e.mail. Also the staffing of the National office has been increased. The National Officiating Program will be presented to the UCI. Also the A.BMX. Inc coaching program has been upgraded and resubmitted to the Australian Coaching Council. These programs received recognition and accolades from other National Sporting Associations for being the initiator in modifying BMX for children under 8 years of age without the pressure of competition. This program is know as the “Sprocket Rocket Program”.
BMX New Zealand report.
The past twelve months for BMX New Zealand have been both demanding and rewarding. BMX became fully affiliated to Cycling New Zealand. All the cycling codes (track and road, BMX and Mountain biking) have been investigating the areas where we duplicate and we all feel confident that with the amalgamation we will become a stronger more effective sporting code. A new BMX handbook has been produced to cover rules, race formats, BMX tips and general information. The UCI racing rules (adopted at the 1997 AGM) have brought the riders more in line with international rules. 4 riders attended the 1997 UCI Worlds in Canada. A number of riders from Australia attended the North and South Island Titles this year. The skill level and competitiveness of New Zealand riders has improved dramatically over the past 3 years and this can be attributed in part to tracks becoming more challenging and the coaching and training programs that have been put in place. The number of registered riders this year has remained similar to the last couple of years, while we still hear of clubs boasting much large memberships, even after a Novice license was introduced. I believe the clubs do not appreciate the importance of registering riders, not only for funding assistance but to increase the profile of our sport nationally.
We are pleased to report that we have approximately 140 riders competing at the Australian held Worlds, with a large contingent of supporters. The “KIWI” chant will be heard by all. Pauline Nash-Chairperson.
National BMX Association of South-Africa report.
A selection of important items from Mr. Greg Till’s report of June late. BMX is still very much alive in South-Africa. We have three (3) tracks in the Gaureng (formerly Johannesburg) area, three (3) in Kwa Zulu Natal and only one (1) in the Cape Town area. This is somewhat of a disappointment as the Cape area at present is flourishing and has a well developed tourist infrastructure. Our rider load has tapered off marginally as the year has progressed. We were averaging about 100 riders at a “local” meeting. This has dropped to about 60 at present. For the first time in South-Africa we held a training camp. The camp has been proven a great success. It would be interesting to explore the possibility of getting some international coaching at such an event. On an administration basis, the sport has been extremely well run by our long standing secretary Vivian Steer. I am not happy with the relationship that we at present have with the South - African Cycling Federation. Main concern, this body only has the concerns of cycling at heart. Difficult therefore to obtain the essential funding from the Government, no longer we receive any financial assistance. Also funding to conduct any development programs have been denied, which is a great tragedy. Help from the UCI would be very much welcome here.
Japan BMX Federation report.
After holding the Pan Pacific Championships in Japan there has been an influx of new members into our organization. The new class introduced by the UCI, the 19 and over challenge, has received an excellent reception. At this years World Championships there will be Japanese competitors in this class. We are hoping for a contingent of about 15-20 riders from Japan to attend. The Japanese team will also compete in the pre-race meeting. I would also like to report that the Japanese BMX Federation has been integrated into the UCI Cycling Japan. In closing I wish you all the best for your convention and look forward to seeing you in Australia. Iiajime Makita - President.
European Report.
Europe is now experiencing the new concept of double rounds at the Euro Championship events. The concept have proven to be a success, evaluation later this year. The European Committee meeting took place in Lausanne, mid April. Also the UCI office was visited by all present. All representatives supported a stronger and more exiting racing program in Europe. This program will be supported and prepared in co-operation with the European BMX Racing Commission. At this time 6 out of 10 rounds have been raced. Still a difference in level of organization from one event to an other. It will be necessary in the future to improve in this field. European Administration at the UCI office works very well. Integration into UCI, most of the European BMX associations / countries have now a status as fully integrated. However there are still a few countries not fully integrated but this work is in progress. European Continental Championship. A well-prepared organizer is going to host the Final Rounds and Challenge in Schwedt am Oder, Germany. The European Championship and Challenge for 1999 will be held in Holland. Location to be determined yet. The World Championships and Challenge 1999 will be held in Vallet-France. Preparations going according plan. Report by Arvid Meland.
July 24-26th. The UCI BMX World Championships/Challenge in Melbourne, Australia.
In total 1274 entries representing 24 countries. Further details: 208 moto’s, 12 qualifiers 1/16, 20 qualifiers1/8, 64 quarter finals, 66 semi- finals and 35 main events. This has been one of the less well organized World Championships of BMX. Financial problems were the cause that the first announced location had to be Changed. This indoor event now would take place in the “Glasshouse” of the Melbourne Entertainment Center. The track itself was finished only a couple of days before the actual event. It was a narrow and dangerous track and because of the lack of space, part of the track had to be ridden twice. The first corner was terrible! Soon after racing started, many riders crashed here and this corner was now called “crash corner”. Also BMX oriented media weren’t very positive about this track. BMX PLUS (USA) did write: This year’s track was indoors and was a bit unconventional. It crossed over itself on the first straight, making the track longer than most American riders are used to. It took the Pro’s 35 sec. to finish the track. They had to do this because the space to built a track was too small. Otherwise the track would have been around 20 seconds maybe??? For the Pro’s a track should be at least 40 seconds to finish. BMX PLUS goes on: You like to gamble? This track is the place to be. The first turn on this Worlds track was a joke” end of quote. Although the organizing committee promised the best ever Worlds of BMX, This event was of a much lower quality, organization wise, then the first outside USA World Championship back in 1983 at Slagharen – Holland.
Again the riders did make it a happening. They were of high quality. Many Americans traveled to Australia but went back home kind of disappointed. The enthusiastic atmosphere was specially the credit of the Australian home crowd. They made the arena live. Last but not least, Australia is a fantastic country and Melbourne is beautiful. People in general were great in Australia. Lets hope that next time a Worlds is allocated to Australia, the organization keeps its promise and make it the “best Worlds” ever then !.
*** foto's Spectators Area
Cruiser action
Elite Men
*** foto's The cross-over at this Worlds track. CRAZY!
Presentation of Awards Ceremony
Final results in Championship classes:
Junior Cruiser:
1. Warwick Stevenson (AUS) Champion
2. Luke Madill (AUS)
3. Michal Prokop (CZE)
4. Daniel Roura (ECU)
5. Chad Hernaez (USA)
6. Jerome Pepin (FRA)
7. Danielsson Teemu (SWE)
8. Th.Vandenkerckhove (FRA)
Elite Cruiser:
1. Christopher Leveque (FRA) Champion
2. Luke Madill (AUS)
3. Michal Prokop (CZE)
4. Daniel Roura (ECU)
5. Chad Hernaez (USA)
6. Jerome Pepin (FRA)
7. Danielsson Teemu (SWE)
8. Th.Vandenkerckhove (FRA)
Junior Women:
1. Heather Bruns (USA) Champion
2. Gabriele M. Diaz (ARG)
3. Jill Kinter (USA)
4. Ana Flavia R. Sgobin (BRA)
5. Tanya Bailey (AUS)
6. Melanie Desrocher (CAN)
7. Caroline de Bruijn (NED)
8. Alexandra Cornelius (GER)
Junior Men:
1. Brandon Meadows (USA) Champion
2. Mickael Deldycke (FRA)
3. Luke Madill (AUS)
4. Jamie Gray (AUS)
5. Brant Moisel (AUS)
6. Daniel Jorge (BRA)
7. Sven Nef (SUI)
8. Steve Larralde (USA)
Elite Women:
1. Rachael Marshall (AUS) Champion
2. Marie McGilvary (USA)
3. Brigitte Busschers (NED)
4. Karien Gubbels (NED)
5. Sanna Ohlsson (SWE)
6. Natarsha Williams (AUS)
7. Heidi Kempshall (AUS)
8. Michelle Cairns (USA)
Elite Men:
1. Thomas Allier (FRA) Champion
2. Andy Contes (USA)
3. Dylan Clayton (GBR)
4. Dale Holmes (GBR)
5. Chr. Jongewaard (AUS)
6. Leiv Ove Nordmark (NOR)
7. Robert de Wilde (NED)
8. Danny Nelson (USA)
Results in team competition.
Trade Teams:
1. Sunn UN France
2. GT Bicycles USA
3. GT Bicycles USA
4. GT Bicycles USA
5. WEBCO - Mentos SUI
6. Giant Netherlands NED
National Teams:
1. France 308 points
2. Great Britain 300 points
3. United States 300 points
4. Australia 258 points
5. Netherlands 198 points
6. Argentina 191 points
7. New Zealand 184 points
8. Republic of South Africa 152 points
1998 World Championship and Challenge classes medal count :
Country Gold - Silver - Bronze
1. Australia 16 13 15
2. France 6 5 2
3. Argentina 5 3 1
4. USA 2 2 3
New-Zealand 2 2 3
6. Brazil 1 1 -
7. Chile 1 - 3
8. Holland 1 - 1
9. Slovenia 1 - -
10. Colombia - 5 1
11. Great Britain - 1 3
12. Czech Republic - 1 1
13. Bolivia - 1 -
Canada - 1 -
15. Japan - - 1
Belgium - - 1
Total: 35 35 35
September 4/6th. The 7th. international BMX Mentos Trophy, Blumenstein - Switzerland took part.
This small but very well organized international event was run for the 7th. time this year. Present Albert Knill stated back then, that he wanted to organize the Mentos Trophy 10 time and then would withdraw from the Organizing Committee. So, three more rounds to go then! To bring honor to the people making it possible to have races like this, here the the names of the organizing committee members of the events:
President: Albert Knill
Stefan Rothenbuhler
Sponsoring/Press: Ferdinand Schmidiger
Track: Rene Seydoux
Camp-site/Parking: Ruth Seydoux
Security: Schutz Hanspeter
Administration: Daniel Reimann
Registration: Christian Wenger
Bar/Clubhouse: Stefan Bahler
Catering: Beat Scherz
Tombola: Verena Schmidiger
In total around 250 riders took part in this international event.
*** foto's Mentos Trophy organiser Albert Knill and family
Mentos Trophy, Pieter Does winning his class
Presentation of awards at the Mentos Trophy - Blumenstein (CH)
September 10th. Gerrit Does did sent a final letter concerning a possible organization of the Worlds 2002 in Slagharen - Holland.
The infra structure for a Worlds was present. PONYPARK Slagharen bought another 13 hectares adding to the already existing 37 hectares of the Camping site. On the new land there were existing buildings that could be used for registration and other things. However, reading the UCI criteria to organize a World Championship, the Slagharen management finally decided not to go on negotiating and closed the door for BMX for ever (pity to say!). Another important item to decide not to organize an event anymore was the experience Slagharen had with the KNWU in the past concerning the 1993 Worlds (trust was gone!).
End of story.
September 28th. I did sent a letter to the UCI BMX Competition Congress, that was held in November in Valkenswaard.
I considered this my last letter to try to motivate people to finally start with some new ideas and I implemented some proposals on that matter.
October 31st/November 1st. International BMX race indoor de Rennes at Rennes - France.
This was the biggest European indoor race of this year with over 1300 entries on Saturday and 1100 entries on Sunday. Why the French riders are that good now a days? On tracks like this one, a rider develops great skills: perfect track, good burms, technical lay-out.
November 24th. Gerrit and Mieke Does traveled to the Tulsa – Oklahoma, USA, just before Thanksgiving day to be present at the ABA Grands.
Two reasons to go there. One, Pieter Does, their youngest son, stayed in the USA for a couple of months right after his graduation in Holland. Pieter was racing the National ABA circuit and some NBL events. Around the time the ABA Grands was on, Pieter should be in Tulsa too. Pieter had his base in California were he stayed at the SE - racing owners hous, Mike Devitt. Pieter traveled with the SE - factory team in their VAN to the events.
Secondly, Gerrit Does was invited by the ABA to be present during the Thanksgiving Diner and Hall of Fame celebration. Reason why Gerrit was invited? GD was Selected an inductee for the ABA BMX Hall of Fame by the ABA election committee (composed of present Hall of Fame members, people from the industry, BMX magazines, Pro riders and others). During that diner, together with Gary Ellis jr., Anthony Sewell and Gary Littlejohn, Gerrit Does was inducted. Speeches were held and awards were presented.
Gerrit, although from Holland, knew everybody present during this diner, since he met most of them many years ago (from 1976 and on). He also held a speech remembering old skool riders but also pioneers in the industry, whom he knew personally. Several of the younger Americans present didn’t know anything about the men and women Gerrit talked about. Know your hisstory! Pitty to say that Pieter Does wasn’t able to arrive in time for his fathers induction since they had been stuck on the road getting there (driving about 26 hours from California).
Gerrit was overwhelmed by the attention he got from many people, during his stay in Tulsa. Hall of Fame’rs present at the Grands like Greg Hill, Byron Friday, Harry Leary and many others congratulated Gerrit with his membership. Gerrit Does went home a proud man. Want to see more about the ABA Hall of Fame? Check it out: www.usabmx.com
*** foto Pieter in action at the ABA Grands in A-Pro.The all know GORK, back then ABA now Redline
Some ABA Grands trophies
Mieke and Byron Friday who stayed with us in Holland in 1984
Pieter, Mieke and Gerrit having diner at the ABA HQ, the Doubletree Hotel
September 21st. University of BMX Hall of Fame.
TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN !
P R E S S - R E L E A S E
L.s.,
Hereby the UNIVERSITY of BMX “awarding committee”, announces the winners of the following ANNUAL EUROPEAN BMX AWARDS:
BIKE of the YEAR 1998:
Nominees are:
ONE Bicycles
SUNN
WEBCO
MONGOOSE
TREK
HARO
REDLINE
GT Bicycles
GIANT Bicycles
The winner is: .............. GT - BICYCLES
RIDER of the YEAR 1998:
Nominees are in Elite men:
Florent Boutte
Robert de Wilde
Carmine Falco
Pieter Does
Thomas Allier
Dale Holmes
Sebastien Paradis
Dylan Clayton
Thierry Fouilleul
Denis Labigang
Elite Women
Tatjana Schocher
Kerstin Munski
Natascha Massop
Karine Chambonneau
Natarsha Williams
Karien Gubbels
Audrey Pichol
Junior Men
Peter Fieldhouse
Nicolas Lloveria
Milan Krebs
Michal Prokop
Kelvin Batey
Anthony Escudero
Mickael Deldycke
Roger Rinderknecht
Thierry Vandenkerckhove
Stephane Renaud
Junior Women
Dagmara Polakova
Simone Dur
Elodie Ajinca
Rianne Busschers
Ellen Bollansee
The RIDER of the YEAR 1998 is in:
Elite men: GT - THOMAS ALLIER (F)
Elite women: Sunn - NATARSHA WILLIAMS (AUS)
Junior men: Redline - MICHAL PROKOP (CZ)
Junior women: Webco - ELLEN BOLLANSEE (B)
TEAM of the YEAR 1998:
Nominees are:
MONGOOSE -Switzerland
MENTOS-Webco -Switzerland
SUNN UN team -France
GT - EURO Team -Holland
WEBCO-Mentos Euro Team -Switserland
DBS -Norway
TREK -France
TEAM of the YEAR 1998 is:
WEBCO-Mentos Euro Team -Switserland
with team riders,
Anthony Revell (Captain - GB)
Pieter Does (NL)
Mark van Leur (NL)
Marlies Knill (CH)
Michal Prokop (CZ)
Peter Fieldhouse (GB)
Rob v.d. Wildenberg (NL)
Kevin Sprengers (NL)
ROOKIE of the YEAR 1998 (only in Elite Classes).
Nominees are in Elite men:
Lukas Tamme (CZ)
Dorus Brink (NL)
Michal Polansky (CZ)
Thierry Fouilleul (F)
Miroslav Jirka (CZ)
Barthelemy Arnaud (F)
Ivo Lakucs (LV)
Elite Women
Malene Madsen (DK)
Karine Chambonneau (F)
Audrey Pichol (F)
Tatjana Schocher (CH)
Pamela Schafer (D)
Ilse Freriks (NL)
The ROOKIE of the YEAR 1998 in:
Elite men: LUKAS TAMME (CZ)
Elite women: AUDREY PICHOL (F)
TALENT of the YEAR 1998 (in any class but Junior and Elite):
Nominees are:
England, Jordan Clayton
Holland, Jordy v.d. Heyden Boys 10
Latvia, Arturs Martisons Boys 13
Tsech Rep., Thomas Slavik Boys 11
Belgium, Arnoud Dubois Boys 12
The TALENT of the YEAR 1998 is: ARTURS MARTISONS (LV)
ORGANISER of the YEAR 1998:
Nominees are the organisers of:
the 1998 European Championship and Challenge, Schwedt a/d Oder - Germany.
the 1998 European Championship round Junior & Elite 3+4, Doetinchem - Holland.
the 1998 International Indoor de TOURS, Tours - France.
ORGANISER of the YEAR 1998 is:
............the organiser of the INTERNATIONAL INDOOR de TOURS - France.
END OF YEAR 1998.
Picture gallery:
