Caroline Buchanan gets a win on her Supercross comeback

The stands filled up quickly at the National Cycling Centre in Manchester, England which hosted the first UCI BMX Supercross World Cup race of the 2014 season. The impressive indoor BMX arena saw home favorite Liam Phillips win the Men’s class and Caroline Buchanan (AUS) get first in the Women’s category in front of a packed house.

The first World Cup started off spectacular with stacked races on Saturday evening April 19th. Racing was close and things could go either way for the 8 riders who lined up on the gate. One rider stood out and had a big crowd behind him cheering him on. Liam Phillips was the man to beat. The Brit won the World Cup race last year and had not lost a lap. After winning the time trials the day before he repeated the win with the other riders trying to beat him. Liam said, “Winning here is so different than winning the Elite Men’s world title in New Zealand. That was amazing, but this is different, a lot more emotional. There was a lot more pressure and when you actually deliver, it just feels amazing.” The happy Brit continued, “I was drawn in a strong moto against Kurt Pickard, but it got me in a winning routine and I could stick to it ‘til the end.” Powerhouse Anthony Dean from Australia was riding strong all night and crossed the finish line in second place ahead of Tory Hyhaug from Canada making it an international podium in England. Liam will be racing the entire World Cup season and is the man to beat at this point as he is aiming for the overall title in 2014.

“Winning never gets boring, it’s always a challenge, that’s why,” said Australian Caroline Buchanan after she had wrapped up the first BMX Supercross win of 2014. After a year of absence from the BMX Supercross scene, the Australian is back and has her mind set on the overall title. “There were some nerves because at the beginning of the year you don’t know who did their homework in the off season, but I came prepared. Staying on the bike was important. Some people got hurt, but that’s why we love BMX, otherwise we’d be running in between some white lines or something,” added the Australian who will be racing the full UCI BMX World Cup season this year and who got out in front and stayed out of trouble on the track in Manchester. With her grandmother in the stands it was a nice way back to supercross for the current world champ. Brooke Crain from the USA looked good all evening and jumped the big gaps with style and kept things smooth for the rest of the race to finish second. Stefany Hernandez from Venezuela rounded up the podium with a third place, her first supercross podium. Charlotte Green (ENG) enjoyed the cheering from the stands and almost made it in the top three but a respectable 4th place is how far she got.

The race at the National Cycling Centre was one to remember. It set the bar high for the other races to come. Coming up next: Papendal, Netherlands on May 10-11.
To watch the race again, please click here

Men Results

Women Results