The track in Szczawno is widely regarded as one of the finest 4X tracks in the world. The pride of the town, located at the heart of the city, lined by hedgerows and trees has been built with riders in mind - the mix of high and low speed, technical and huge jumps is something to suit everybody. And everybody enjoyed it. Riders began to arrive in Szczawno on Thursday. The immaculately prepared track looked perfect. A new 40 foot double jump on the last straight had riders talking as it was pretty daunting, but soon afterwards were all flying over it with ease. On Saturday, the crowds began to arrive. With the race promoted on billboards and posters 100 km all around, there was no surprise that over 4,000 spectators turned up to watch qualifying and the race. With food and beer stands at the track, the atmosphere was amazing and everybody had a good time.
The home crowd was going wild for all the local Polish riders. One by one, the riders gave it their best shots to claim the fastest time in qualifying. One mistake and you go home, only the first and only lap counts to qualify. The pressure on each rider is immense, only those who could keep their cool and take the fastest time can succeed. It's a ruthless system but riders and fans seem to love it.
In the women category, it was Slovenian rider Monika Hrastnik who set the fastest time. With an awesome lap, she stopped the clock in 51.8 seconds. Second time belonged to German rider Dana Elena Schwalka and local girl Natalia Piwowarczyk qualified third.
In the men category, Tomas Slavik set the fastest time, and began his 2014 season the way he ended the 2013 one, winning. His namesake, Hannes Slavik (editor's note: they are not relative) from Austria set the second fastest time ahead of veteran rider Michal Prokop qualifying third. Australian Blake Nielson qualified fourth with Scott Beaumont rounding out the top 5. The guys were absolutely on the ragged edge. They make it look so easy but the speed at which they hit the track and the jumps was unbelievable.
Photo credit © Charles Robertson
The racing kept superb all night. It was great to watch all riders calculating their times. The two Slavik's, Prokop, and Scott Beaumont all went unbeaten to the semi finals. In the first semi, Tomas Slavik lined up against Beaumont, Lewis Lacey, and Aiko Gohler. As soon as the gate dropped, Slavik powered into the lead. Beaumont and Lacey battled on the first straight with Lacey grabbing second. Beaumont was lining up a pass on the last straight. Out of the last turn, he carried good speed but made a mistake when jumping one of the pro line doubles. He almost landed on Lacey, which would have taken them both out. Nevertheless, Lacey kept his cool and booked his first ever 4X ProTour final.
In the second semi final, Hannes Slavik lined in gate number one, Prokop in 2, Felix Beckeman in 3 and Milan Mysik in 4. The gate dropped and there was plenty of banging going on. Prokop had it, then Slavik, then Prokop again. Beckeman made his move but it did not pay off and Mysik was on Slavik's wheel all the way to the finish line, but in the end, only Prokop and Slavik made it to the final.
Photo credit © Charles Robertson
Photo credit © Charles Robertson
The women finals saw Hrastnik starting from gate number one, Schwelka from 2, Piwowarczyk from 3 and Berakova from 4. Right after the gate dropped Hrastnik got the holeshot but over the first log jump she bobbled allowing Schwelka to take the lead. She did not look back riding some great lines and hitting most of the huge jumps. Hrastnik took second and Piwowarczyk finished third.
The men final everybody was waiting for was great! The lineup from first to fourth: Tomas Slavik, Hannes Slavik, Lacey, Prokop. Prokop chose tactically gate 4 over available 3 to him, trying to swoop inside on turn one. As the gate dropped, Tomas Slavik got the jump and did not look back until the finish line. Prokop was fast too but didn't catch up with super fast T.Slavik. Prokop finished second, Hannes Slavik third and Lacey fourth. A great return for Lacey after a crash at this track one year ago, that put him on the sideline in 2013 season.
The podiums, national anthems and ceremonies were capped off by an amazing fireworks display, and went into the 4X history books for such amazing venue. It was an awesome event and a great start to the 2014 4X ProTour. Check out the track from the below helmet cam action.
Photo credit © Charles Robertson
All images are property of C.Robertson and 4X Pro Tour; Copyrights applied.
Source: http://www.4xprotour.com
