Harriet Burbidge-Smith wins Crankworx Speed and Style!
Speed and Style took over the Crankworx venue for Thursday, and the local crowd in Cairns had a lot to cheer about.
Harriet Burdbidge-Smith won her first Crankworx Gold in the first ever Speed & Style Cairns. You couldn’t dream of a better script and 25-year-old, eight-time Australian BMX Champion Harriet Burbidge-Smith delivered a fairy tale run to win.
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“You have some wins, and it’s cool, but that one was special” said Harriet Burbidge-Smith who went into the final run 0.94 seconds behind reigning Queen of Crankworx, Canadian Vaea Verbeeck. Haz put down her second run and managed to pull out some smooth backflips and find her flow right onto the top step of the podium.
“It was a combination of everything,” explained the Red Bull rider. “The flips are a big thing for me. It’s a new thing for me, so to get them in every run, that’s still a battle for me. They feel good but it’s still scary, which maybe takes off the pressure ‘cause I’m not thinking about racing, I’m just thinking about getting that dialled. That, and I haven’t had a good Crankworx win this year, so that felt really good. And to do it in Australia is really sick.”
Australian legend Caroline Buchanan finished third, despite having been sidelined after tearing ligaments in her shoulder just 4-weeks ago after a gnarly crash at District Ride in Germany,
“I didn’t know I was coming here until a few days ago. The last few weeks have been straight rehab. I really wanted to get here, this is an event that I wanted to race in. I have never been able to compete in a Crankworx in my home country. My parents haven’t watched me compete for 3 years, so this was one I wasn’t going to miss, I wasn’t going to sit this one out.”
In the men’s event Australians Luke Parker and Mike Ross dug deep into their bag of tricks to deliver stand out rides – but international riders were too strong with Tomas Lemoine (FRA) taking his 9th win in Speed & Style, ahead of Garret Mechem (USA) and Anthony Messere (ITA).
“It feels amazing” said Tomas Lemoine. “Having a first place is always a good time for sure. The course was insane. I was a bit injured since Whistler and didn’t really ride. So I didn’t expect too much from myself, I just tried to come and enjoy the moment. It’s a good start to the week. It will give me a good bit of motivation I guess. I have more events coming…so I’m going to celebrate it a little bit, and make sure I’m staying positive and focused.”
As for the course, it was a a joint effort by Elevate Trail Building and Flux Trail. At 285 meters long (per track), it featured a variety of speed, technical, and airtime. It featured seven berms, a shark fin, and two jumps (6.5m gap – 2.85m high). Other notable features included a berm section, shark fin on/off, rock garden, and banked half pipe turns
“It was sick,” said Haz. “So much variety. It made it tight racing. Even in the last run I decided to do the gap in the rhythm straight. So still by the final run, you’re on your toes trying to get a bit faster.”
“So much fun,” echoed third place finisher Anthony Messere. “The track is so much fun. Some really tight berms and then this little rhythm section over the rock garden in the middle. It’s so fast you’re pinned through there. It almost feels like you’re going through a rhythm section on a motorbike.”
Results: Speed & Style Cairns
1. Tomas Lemoine (FRA) // Harriet Burbidge-Smith (AUS)
2. Garret Mechem (USA) // Vaea Verbeeck (CAN)
3. Anthony Messere (CAN) // Caroline Buchanan (AUS)
Stay tuned to the Crankworx Cairns schedule for more.
