September 11/04 1:48 am - MTB World Championships: 4X Story and Results

Posted by Editoress on 09/11/04
 

Mountain Bike World Championships - 4X Les Gets, France

Eric "E.C." Carter finally won the world title that has been eluding him for years in the men's 4-Cross, while an unknown BMX racer named Jana Horakova from the Czech Republic scooped up the women's title, in the absence of favourite Anne-Caroline Chausson of France.

The course was considered very fast - almost too fast - by the racers. "At the bottom section I could feel the G-Force twisting my tires, and almost losing control, and I could see the same thing happening to Mickael (Deldycke) when I was behind him in the Semi. I think we should go fast and jump big, but we have to have a slower part at the bottom to have some passing. This one you could only do it in the first two corners."

Carter attributed his win to being "the smartest rider. I don't think I was the fastest, but I rode smarter. (In the final) I didn't want to line up next to Prokop, because his starts are electric, they're so fast. I could have taken lane four, but I chose lane 3 instead.

Prokop and Deldycke were faster out of the gate then me, but over the first jumps we were pretty much beside each other. I drifted in a bit (on Prokop) and he dropped down, then Mickael (Deldycke) came up and they tangled, and then I went underneath them and then just pedalled for my life."

Carter stayed away to take the title, while Deldycke and Prokop battled for the silver, with the former taking it.

In the women's final it was Horakova, Americans Jill Kinter and Tara Llanes, and Sari Jorgensen from Switzerland. Horakova, a two time BMX world champion and seven time European champion got into the sport after seeing how well another Czech BMXer had done - last year's 4-Cross world champion Michal Prokop. This race was only her fourth international 4-Cross, but she used her BMX starting skills to get the holeshot and stay away for the win. Canada had one rider in the women's event, Michelle Dumaresq, but she crashed out in the first round.

"In practice I started to like the track, but I didn't know what to expect for myself. I decided just to focus on my start and then try to avoid doing any mistakes. For me, it was like doing a BMX race, but down a hill."

Kinter commented "I came into it knowing that Anne-Caroline was the one to beat, so once we heard that she was not racing, we could all start to think about it (winning). Then Jana came out of nowhere."

Women

Final
1. Jana Horakova (Cze)
2. Jill Kinter (USA)
3. Tara Llanes (USA)
4. Sari Jorgensen (Sui)

Small Final
5. Katrina Miller (Aus)
6. Mio Suemasa (Jpn)
7. Anneke Beerten (Ned)
8. Laetitia Le Corguille (Fra)

1/4 Finals
9. Melissa Buhl (USA)
10. Fionn Griffiths (GBr)
11. Zsofia Koczka (Hun)
12. Leana Gerrard (USA)
13. Michelle Dumaresq (Can)
14. Joanne Gough (GBr)
15. Anne-Caroline Chausson (Fra)
16. Vanessa Quinn (Nzl)

Qualifications
17. Eva Castro Fernandez (Esp)
18. Julia Lasso (Ecu)
DSQ. Lisa Sher (USA)
DNS. Anita Molcik (Aut)
DNS. Celine Gros (Fra)
DNS. Claire Buchar (Can)
DNS. Dalma Kiss (Hun)
DNS. Katarina Siskova (Svk)
DNS. Helene Fruhwirth (Aut)
DNS. Nolvenn Le Caer (Fra)
DNS. Audrey Le Corguille (Fra)
DNS. Diana Marggraff (Ecu)

Men

Final
1. Eric Carter (USA)
2. Mickael Deldycke (Fra)
3. Michal Prokop (Cze)
4. Roger Rinderknecht (Sui)

Small Final
5. Mike King (USA)
6. Lukas Tamme (Cze)
7. Michael Robinson (Aus)
8. Chris Powell (USA)

1/4 Finals
9. Ross Milan (USA)
10. Jared Graves (Aus)
11. Karim Amour (Fra)
12. Michal Marosi (Cze)
13. Mick Hannah (Aus)
14. Scott Beaumont (GBr)
15. Carmine Falco (Fra)
16. Dale Holmes (GBr)

1/8 Finals
17. Matej Vitko (Svk)
18. Filip Polc (Svk)
19. Thomas Allier (Fra)
20. Bas De Bever (Ned)
21. Janis Vanags (Lat)
22. Thomas Schafer (Ger)
23. Sidney Gerber (Sui)
24. Brian Schmith (USA)
25. Brian Lopes (USA)
26. Sebastien Autale (Fra)
27. Romain Saladini (Fra)
28. Kamil Tatarkovic (Cze)
29. Leiv Ove Nordmark (Nor)
30. Gee Atherton (GBr)
31. Aivars Buris (Lat)
32. Peter Prajczer (Hun)

1/16 Finals
33. Guido Tschugg (Ger)
34. Dan Atherton (GBr)
35. John Kirkcaldie (Nzl)
36. Remo Heutschi (Sui)
37. Pablo Galan Carrasco (Esp)
38. Marcel Beer (Sui)
39. Yuta Kurise (Jpn)
40. Sascha Meyenborg (Ger)
41. Rudiger Jahnel (Aut)
42. Paulo Domingues (Por)
43. Geza Kinda (Rou)
44. Frans Sjöblom (Swe)
45. Sorin Parau (Rou)
46. Manuel De Vecchi (Ita)
47. Gabor Vigh-Kiss (Hun)