Hi all. We are just back from our biggest weekend of the year. The 2015 UCI 4X World Championships which were held in Val Di Sole, Italy. The track is a favourite with all the riders. It is huge! Massive corners, great jumps and permanent floodlights make this an incredible race track. For team rider Scott Beaumont, it is one of his favourite tracks. With several podiums here in the past he has been looking forward to this race all year.
‘Even with my ongoing injury, I feel confident of challenging for the title in Val Di Sole. This track has always suited me so let’s get in the gate and see what happens’ said Boom Boom early on in the week.
Practice began on Wednesday and Scott instantly looked great on the track. Hitting the pro line doubles early on in the session then linking full runs up to qualifying lines. Unfortunately late on in the session, disaster struck. Scott crashed out hard on the logs. Crawling off the track, it did not look good. A very badly bruised left leg and even more damage to his back was the unfortunate outcome.
Thursday rolled around and Scott was limping but ok to ride. A massage, lots of tape and an ice bath and it was time for Thursday night practice and qualifying. Scott was looking ok but clearly not as fast as he previous day. Coming into this race Scott was UCI World ranked number 1 so he would start qualifying first. 40 minutes before he qualifying run, it started raining just to add to Scott’s problems. Being the first rider to qualify, and carrying his injuries, scott rode cautious, happy to simply qualify for the main event on Friday night. 11th would be the outcome but the main thing was he simply qualified.
So Friday night arrived and it was time for the 2015 4X World Championships. Scott had a great nights sleep on Thursday and came into the event feeling pretty good. The gate dropped at 20.30 and it was time to roll the dice in front of 10,000 spectators. Scott got off to a great start winning his early races. In the quarter final Scott got in traffic through the 2nd turn and was in 2nd place. On the penultimate straight, Scott carried a huge amount of speed and moved into 1st with a clean move. Scott won the race and was into the semi final.
In the semi final Scott was in gate 3. Against 3 of the fastest 4X riders in the world, Scott’s back injury and fresh leg injury meant he came out of the gate in 3rd. When he was up to speed Scott was all over Aiko Gohler in 2nd. At the end of the proline, scott made an aggressive move to the inside and moved into 2nd. On the next straight Scott was re passed by Aiko. Through the rocks and onto the last straight Scott moved alongside Aiko and at the finish line it was a photo finish. It took the officials 5 minutes to separate the 2 riders. Scott waited in the finish circle starring non stop at the timing clock. The news eventually came through. Aiko got the decision. Scott was simply crushed. The dream was over and Scott was simply in the gutter.
Having to regroup and head back up for the small final to sort out 5th to 8th Scott was clearly not in the mood for racing again. The gate dropped and frankly Scott rode down to finish 3rd in that race and give himself 7th overall at the World Championships.
This race was the first time in 2015 that Scott was clearly in a lot of pain and his injury problems prevented him from performing at his best. Scott has been pretty down in the last week but we are now all focused on the final 4X ProTour round in Belgium on Saturday 5th September. Scott currently has a 57 point lead in the series and since he moved to mountain biking from bmx it has been his dream to win the overall World Series and World Championships. The World Championships is over for 2015 but Scott is on the cusp of landing the overall 4X ProTour title. He continues to have the same injury problems but we have everything crossed that he can make this dream a reality.