Nine of the 32 finalists between the men’s and women’s events in Santiago and Manchester were Americans. That trend didn’t continue in Papendal where none of the 16 finalists were American and on the men’s side no one advanced past the quarterfinals. Nicholas Long was the first shocking departure as he was in position to overcome a DNF in his first run of the motos but suffered a DNF in his third run as well and missed out on advancing. Only Corben Sharrah and Jeffrey Upshaw advanced to the quarterfinals, both with strong moto finishes. Upshaw ended up off the pace in his heat and was more than seven seconds behind the qualifiers in seventh place. Sharrah was a lot closer to qualifying as he was in fifth in his heat and just 0.092 seconds behind the fourth place rider. His time was also fast enough to qualify him in any of the other heats and would have won one of the heats.

On the women’s side Alise Post and Brooke Crain went 1-2 in the same heat of the quarterfinals while Shealen Reno was off the pace in two of her three runs and eliminated. Post had a crash in her semifinal run and finished sixth but Crain was beaten to the line by 0.05 seconds to finish fifth in her heat in a time that would have been second in the other semifinal.

So perhaps some tough breaks that helped keep the US from sending anyone to the finals in Papendal. The next event on the BMX calendar is the World Championships in Medellin, Colombia May 28th and 29th.

Previous BMX Supercross World Cup:
Papendal Preview
Day 1 Update