Australia finishes BMX Racing World Challenge with 28 ‘W’ plates and two Masters finalists

Australia has finished the 2024 BMX Racing World Challenge with mixed emotions, after the possibility of lightning strikes forced an evacuation and an early end to racing in Rock Hill, USA.

Skies looked clear at the outset on Wednesday, with riders able to complete their first three motos in mostly fine conditions. However, after threatening all week, dark clouds again rolled in over the South Carolina venue, forcing race organisers to initially suspend, then ultimately cancel, racing.

Final positions were determined by total points after the three rounds of racing, with tiebreakers decided by the lap time of the third round.

While the ending was clearly deflating for all involved, seven Australian riders were able to finish inside the top eight of their categories and claim a ‘W’ plate. Two Australians also finished in the top eight of the Masters category, including Corey Frieswyk (Suncoast Hinterland BMX) who finished fourth overall.

“So, it’s a good and bad feeling,” Frieswyk told AusCycling.

“Of course, we all would have liked to race to the final, and then battle it out to race for the place that we got. But I went through each race expecting the unexpected, trying to treat it all as my final race, and it sent me to fourth place overall.

“This was probably the most packed field of Masters riders with ex-pros, ex-Olympians all coming to race this year. So, to be able to get fourth amongst the people that I had to race, it does feel good.

“From the start of the week with all the storms rolling in, we kind of knew that there was something that was going to happen, so it was just take it race by race (and) see what we could do.”

The two-time National Champion added that he now hopes to compete at the 2025 UCI Masters World Championship at Copenhagen, Denmark.

Australia finishes the 2024 UCI BMX Racing World Challenge with 28 ‘W’ plates and two Masters finalists, surpassing the 2023 total of 27 ‘W’ plates.

BMX World Challenge Day 4 Finals - Results

Boys 15

• Zane Ratajczak (Westside BMX) – 7th

Boys 16

• Declan McGhee (Mandurah BMX) – 4th
• Cameron Gatt (Geelong BMX) – 8th

Men 17-24

• Zac Hutton (Bundaberg BMX) – 7th

Men 30-34

• Matthew Blake (Bunbury BMX) – 5th
• Joshua Nash (Cairns BMX) – 8th

Men 35+

• Neil Brunjes (Cooloola BMX) – 7th

Masters Men 30+

• Corey Frieswyk (Suncoast Hinterland BMX) – 4th

Masters Women 30+

• Nicole Thomson (Big Rivers BMX) – 8th

The next major domestic events are Rounds 4 and 5 of the AusCycling BMX Racing National Series, to be held at Macarthur BMX in Sydney from July 6-7.

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Main Image: UCI/Craig Dutton