September 19/09 15:32 pm - Schladming World Cup: 4X Final report, PHOTOS and results
Posted by Editoress on 09/19/09
Under the lights of the Planai ski slope in Schladming, Austria, the World Cup final of the 4-Cross took place Saturday night. Fittingly, the World Cup champions confirmed their titles with victories in the final round. Anneke Beerten (Suspension Centre) and Jared Graves (Yeti Fox Shox) were convincing winners amid a night of spills and upsets.
Photos
The men's series had already been won by Graves, the new world champion, but he wasn't about to pass up the opportunity to finish the season on a winning note. The Australian was untouchable, easily winning his heats in every round, often by huge margins. in the final, it came down to Graves, Romain Saladini (Team Sunn), Johannes Fishbach (Ghost ATG) and Dutchman Joost Wichman. Wichman ran into trouble at the top of the course, putting him out of contention, and the young Frenchman Saladini was able to hold off Fishbach for second behind Graves.
Saladini's second place bumped him up to third in the final standings behind Graves and Wichman, as he overtook the absent injured Roger Rinderknecht (GT Bicycles).
"It's been a good season," agreed Graves. "Tonight I was confident [of winning], but there were a lot of interesting moves and crashes happening out there. I wanted to go out on a strong finish to the season, so i knew what I had to do. There were a couple of small mistakes, but nothing that cost me, so it was a good night."
The women's race was somewhat anticlimactic. Unlike the men's series, there were still three riders in contention for the overall win - Beerten, Fionn Griffiths (Norco) and American Jill Kintner. However, Griffiths crashed the day before at qualifying and could not race, while Kintner crashed in her first round heat and did not finish. Therefore, Beerten had won her third consecutive title without even racing.
Despite that, the women's race saw its own action, with Beerten only scrapping through the semifinal round in second place after a serious challenge from the Czech rider Romana Labounkova. In the final, up against Austrian favourite Anita Molcik (Yeti Fox Shox), British newcomer Katy Curd and Japan's Mio Suemasa, Beerten left nothing to chance, grabbing the holeshot and riding it to her third win of the season.
Griffiths and Kintner were tied for points and number of wins at two apiece, but Griffiths took second in the final overall standings by virtue of two second places (Kintner had none), with an absent Melissa Buhl finishing fourth.
"This is my third title in a row, and it probably means the most," admitted Beerten. "This year, everyone was here, everyone was racing, so it was the biggest challenge to win. After [Fionn Griffiths] crashed, everyone was congratulating me, but I had to keep telling myself: 'remain focussed'. I still wanted to win, and Labounkova gave me a pretty hard time in the semifinal."
Women
Big Final
1 Anneke Beerten (Ned) Suspension Center
2 Anita Molcik (Aut) Yeti Fox Shox Factory Race Team
3 Katy Curd (GBr)
4 Mio Suemasa (Jpn)
Small Final
5 Romana Labounkova (Cze)
6 Emmeline Ragot (Fra) Suspension Center
7 Rachel Seydoux (Sui)
8 Lucia Oetjen (Sui)
1/4 Finals
9 Helene Valerie Fruhwirth (Aut)
10 Eva Castro Fernandez (Esp)
11 Tereza Votavova (Cze)
12 Neven Steinmetz (USA)
13 Laura Brethauer (Ger)
14 Stephanie Teltscher (Ger)
15 Neza Knez (Slo)
16 Jill Kintner (USA) Red Bull/Intense
Men
Big Final
1 Jared Graves (Aus) Yeti Fox Shox Factory Race Team
2 Romain Saladini (Fra) Team Sunn
3 Johannes Fischbach (Ger) Ghost A.T.G. Pro Team
4 Joost Wichman (Ned)
Small Final
5 Dan Atherton (GBr) Animal Commencal
6 Guido Tschugg (Ger) Ghost A.T.G. Pro Team
7 Filip Polc (Svk) Ms Evil Racing
8 Scott Beaumont (GBr) Rocky Mountain Uk
1/4 Finals
9 Tomas Slavik (Cze)
10 Patrick Campbell-Jenner (GBr)
11 Quentin Derbier (Fra)
12 Brook Macdonald (NZl) Ancillotti Doganaccia Racing Team
13 Michal Prokop (Cze) Author
14 Jurg Meijer (Ned)
15 Pascal Seydoux (Sui)
16 Premek Tejchman (Cze)
1/8 Finals
17 Mitch Ropelato (USA)
18 Wyn Masters (NZl) Ancillotti Doganaccia Racing Team
19 David Graf (Sui)
20 Fabien Cousinie (Fra) Kenda Morewood
21 William Evans (GBr)
22 Marek Pesko (Svk)
23 Adrian Kiener (Sui)
24 Daniel Fülle (Ger)
25 Adam Stasek (Cze) Ghost A.T.G. Pro Team
26 Lukas Mechura (Cze) Chain Reaction Cycles/Intense
27 Thomas Schäfer (Ger) Solid Aclass Factory Team
28 Arne Tschugg (Ger)
29 Will Longden (GBr)
30 Rafael Alvarez De Lara Lucas (Esp) Specialized Factory Racing
31 Luka Novak (Slo)
32 Jan Svub (Cze)
1/16 Finals
33 Duncan Ferris (GBr)
34 Stepan Novotny (Cze)
35 Petrik Brückner (Ger)
36 Jakub Hnidak (Cze)
37 Peter Novacik (Svk)
38 Joey Van Veghel (Ned)
39 Scott Roberts (GBr)
40 Aiko Göhler (Ger)
41 Attila Kovacs (Hun)
42 Tom Dowie (GBr)
43 Stefan Kiser (Sui)
44 Marko Runst (Ger)
45 Mathieu Troquier (Fra) Solid Aclass Factory Team
46 Matej Stapic (Slo)
47 Daniel Auerswald (Ger)
48 Lukasz Baran (Pol)
49 Jakub Riha (Cze)
50 Kieran Mcavoy (GBr)
51 Matej Vitko (Svk)
52 Martin Frei (Sui)
53 Tilen Frank (Slo)
54 Thomas Bubla (Aut)
55 Luis Brethauer (Ger)
56 Frans Sjoblom (Swe)
57 Maximilian Wrstala (Ger)
58 Christoph Eder (Aut)
59 Robert Kulesza (Pol)
60 Thomas Krainer (Aut)
61 Mathieu Gallean (Fra) Team Sunn
62 Sidney Gerber (Sui)
63 Lorenzo Suding (Ita) Dytech Dh
64 Piotr Paradowski (Pol)
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