Willoughby adds 2009 UCI SX BMX World Cup title to the list
- 15/10/2009
 Sam Willoughby’s impressive victory in the last round of the UCI BMX SX World
Cup Series in the Elite Men’s category has seen The 2009 Juniors World
Champion claim his second win in a World Cup event this year, and with
that the talented young Australian from Adelaide was also crowned overall
winner for the 2009 UCI SX BMX World Cup Series.
Willoughby was not the favourite going into the quarter finals.
He finished only 17th in the time trials on Friday and had a rough start
in the 1/8 finals
on Saturday. He only just qualified for the quarter finals, with one
point to spare. But from that moment on the young Australian was on
fire winning all following heats including the main event.
In the final, Willoughby was up against some fierce competition, with
Maris Strombergs (LAT) in lane four.
Strombergs is the current Olympic
Champion and winner of the previous World Cup event in Chula Vista.
He was keen on winning. But there was also the current Elite Men’s
World
Champion Donny Robinson (USA). Robinson looked in good shape, winning
all his motos in the three heats of the 1/8 finals. But Willoughby
outperformed all. He charged out of the gate in the final, leading
from start to finish.
Willoughby battled it out with Strombergs on the first straight before
the Latvian dropped off to eventually finish in fifth place. Willoughby
was leading going into the first turn and managed to hold off Donny
Robinson to claim victory. Argentina’s Cristian Becerine finished
in third.
Australian overcomes pressure
Willoughby was delighted and a little relieved by his win: “I had a real
rough start of the day. The pressure was on. But I managed to pull
my head back in and refocus on the job at hand. I learnt a lot today!
Our approach for this year was to focus on the World Cup events and
the World Championships. That worked out really good.
“For the final I wanted the inside lane and used that to my advantage,
Maris and I fought it out on the first straight and it was a drag race
to the finish. It is a privilege to race against such formidable competition,
great to win here and to be the 2009 overall season winner.”
|
