Name:                          Kai Sakakibara
Age:                             14
Date:                           30 July 2010
Venue:                        Pietermaritzburg, South Africa
Race:                          UCI World Championship 2010
Class:                        14 boys
Result:                       3rd
Weather:                   Cloudy and a bit wet
Course condition:    Very good. Smooth and fast track.

Sponsors
Redline, Skins, Blackman Bicycles, Precision BMX, Time, Champion System

Race summary
We had 2 practice days to figure out the track. It was only 90 minutes of practice each day, but it was enough to get a good feel of the track. The track was very technical. It had a variety of big and deep jumps everywhere on the track and a very technical rhythm section. This year, the elites had a supercross start hill next to our start hill so the first straight was very wide. The track was quite smooth and packed in well. It took me a while to sort out what to do over the jumps, especially the rhythm straight. I spent quite a lot of time on that.

The 14+ years challenge classes had a day off after the second day of practice, so I watched the younger one race and also watched to Elite rider’s practice, which was very interesting.

It rained on the night before racing so I was worried that we might have a muddy race but the rain had stopped by the morning and the track was fine because it had been kept well covered.

I got 2 warm up laps on race morning and that was it. Racing was on the way.

Heats
I had a good start and first straight in my first moto and got myself out in front down the first straight. I felt very relaxed coming out of the first corner in 1st place. I had a good second straight and kept the lead around the second corner and third straight, but left the inside open and let Jay Schippers from The Nederlands come through. Brendan Floriduz from Australia came up the inside as well and came past. My result was 3rd.

My start was a bit slow in the second moto, but I was still able to get myself into 3rd down the first straight. My second straight wasn’t so good but I got the inside of a Norway rider and got into 2nd. I had a good rhythm straight caught up to Brendan in the 1st, but wasn’t enough to pass him. I finished 2nd.

I had a pretty good start out of lane 7 in my last moto, but was still in 3rd into the first corner. I had a good run at the second straight but the head wind was quite strong and I really had to push through to keep up the speed. I got something in my eye down the third straight and couldn’t see for a bit, but somehow got the rhythm perfect and passed Brendan and went into the 2nd. I kept the position and got 2nd.

Semi-final
There were no lane choices but I had lane 3 so it wasn’t too bad for the semi final.  I had a pretty good start, but got squeezed by both sides down the start hill by the Norway and Brazilian rider. I was a bit out back over the first jump but caught up down the first straight. I came out of the first corner in 4th.   I had an awesome second straight and got into the 3rd spot, just trailing behind 2nd. The two riders in front of me got sketchy down the 3rd straight and I passed them both into 1st position into the last corner. I kept the lead and went in with a 1st. I was very happy to make the final.

Final
I came out of lane 3 in the final. I had a good start and pushed out but Diego Aguirre from Chile got even better. He came across to the outside and I had to go with him. I still had a clear run down the first straight, next to Diego. Chris Christensen was coming from the outside but I just had the nose in front of him in the 2nd spot. I came out of the first corner in 2nd and was getting quite a good run down the second straight. I saw Chris coming up the inside down the second straight so I went across onto the inside, but manualed the step-up into the second corner weird and Chris got me on the inside. I was in 3rd out of the second corner and was looking for a pass down the rhythm straight, but Chris and Diego took off out in front. I pushed through to the end and finished off with a 3rd.

I was very happy with the result and had a great time racing over in South Africa. I had a great time over there, seeing animals and the different culture. I had a fantastic time.