BMX: Teagan O’Keeffe 8th in USA Finals

[Matt]

Teagan O’Keeffe 8th in USA Finals

Press Release - Cycling South Africa, 2 October 2011

 

2 October 2011 – South African Teagan O’Keeffe maintained fine form throughout the UCI BMX Supercross World Cup this weekend when she progressed to the finals and finished 8th on Saturday in Chula Vista, California.

 

None of our Elite men progressed beyond the qualifying rounds on Friday, with elites Gavin Lubbe and 2008 Beijing Olympian Sifiso Nhlapo finishing 73rd and 98th respectively and junior elite Kyle Dodd 110th in amongst the 140-strong field – the top sixty-four riders to count.

 

Teagan made good progress when she finished 15th in the first and 16th in the second of her time trial qualifiers on Friday. But the real action began on the American west coast on Saturday, when the eighteen-year-old faced the world’s best on the challenging, spiced up replica of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games track, at the United States Olympic Committee Training Centre.

 

With the best 4 riders from each heat after 3 runs qualifying for the semi-final round, Teagan clocked 38.672 (4th place) 53.399 (6th) 38.141 (4th) to slide through. In the semi-finals, the KwaZulu-Natal local finished third, where the top 4 from each of the two heats progressed to the final, rounding off the weekend with an 8th place. O’Keeffe was delighted with her result!

 

Confirming his time trial success of the day before, Connor Fields (USA) claimed victory in the men’s competition and Arielle Martin (USA) won the women’s final.

 

Martin was the fastest out of the gate in the final race of the Elite Women. She took the first straight and went on to win, extremely happy to win a Supercross title in her home country.

 

Joris Daudet (FRA) and Sarah Walker (NZL) win the 2011 Supercross series after the four rounds, which were held in Pietermaritzburg (RSA), Papendal (NED), London (GBR) and Chula Vista (USA).

 

Teagan O’Keeffe made it through all her qualifying heats to race shoulder-to-shoulder in the Finals against the top 7 women in the world at the final round of the 2011 UCI BMX Supercross World Cup, Chula Vista, California.