The biggest BMX race of the season is of course the UCI BMX World Championships. An annual event that attracts over 3,000 riders from all around the World and during the course of 1 race, determines who is the best rider in each age category.
As many of you will know, Scott has won the BMX World Championships twice before and has the covered rainbow jerseys hanging proudly in his house. The goal for this year was to add a third title. Very simple!
Our journey began with the most horrific traffic queues to leave the UK. However, after plenty of diversions, lanes and shortcuts, we finally made it onto a ferry and were bound for France. Nantes in the north west was the destination and we were excited to see the track and start practice.
The first practice session was on Sunday. Riders generally get 4 or 5 laps of the track on the first day. Scott was lucky and he managed to position himself in the pens to get that vital extra lap. The track was super technical and fast with huge jumps and berms. Scott loved it and he looked great on track. Things were looking good.
Monday and it was the second practice session. The temperatures were high and the track speed moved up a notch. Lap times were 30 seconds and with so many jumps in that lap on this huge track, we were in for some interesting racing on Friday. Scott ended the session with some gates and full laps with all the jumps dialled, he was ready to race.
Midweek and on Wednesday we had a training session to keep the legs turning. Scott was flying and we were all getting excited about the projects on Friday.
Thursday and a complete day of rest. However. Scott had some shortness of breath. Nothing to worry about but we kept the activity to a minimum to be safe. Some great food and the stage was set.
Friday – Race day:
7.30am and it was final practice. 2 laps to get everything set and then game time. Scott looked ok. Nice and smooth.
First moto. Scott made a bad start and battled through to third. It wasn’t a great start, but there was a long way to go until the final.
Second moto and his start was even worse. He battled hard and could only finish fifth. There was clearly a problem. After this moto Scott met the team in the team area and said he felt weak and had no power. He felt his gates were good but he just wasn’t going forwards at all.
Third moto and it was the same story. A poor start followed by a scrap to finish third. It was enough to qualify through to the eighth finals but things were not looking good.
Onto the eighth final. Now it was straight knockout. Eight riders in a race and just four qualifying to the next round. Scott ended up with gate seven. It was his best gate of the day and he hit the first turn in third. He rode a good lap and crossed the line in third. However, he report back saying the same thing. He felt powerless out of the gate and really slow on track.
Quarter final. In an odd scene of events, Scott had sixth pick of the gate and gate two was available. He obviously went for it. Needing a good start it was full focus. You guessed it. Scott came out of the gate last. He hustled as best he could on track but, as the day had already shown, it wasn’t to be. He crossed the finish line in sixth, utterly dejected.
In the finish area, the confusion was plain to see. Scott said: “The week has gone so well. I felt strong and my lap times were fast. Everything was set. Today, all that has gone. I don’t know where but that is the worst performance I have ever put in at a World Championships. I feel embarrassed, confused and sad that on any other day this week I would have had a chance of winning this race. I feel empty and ill. Something is wrong with me and I want to get home straight away, see my doctors and work out what the hell just happened. I’m sorry to everyone who has supported me this year. This was a very bad day, but I’ll be back.”
In a twist of events, the plan was to travel straight from BMX World Championships to Falmouth in Cornwall where Scott was scheduled to defend his 4X National Championship title. However, on the journey home, Scott became more and more ill, to the point we decided he needed to go straight home and see a doctor.
We will of course keep you updated with his health as we now look towards the next round of 4X ProTour in Berlin next week.
Thank you again for your support. As you all know Scott is capable of racing with broken bones and eyes hanging out of his head so as soon as there is a chance of racing, he will be there.
Speak soon.