World champion on song, Pickard tops in RaboPlus BMX Nationals

Double world BMX champion Sarah Walker was in a class of her own to claim the national elite title at the RaboPlus New Zealand Championships near Pukekohe today.
Her Beijing Olympic team-mate Marc Willers, in his first ride back after major shoulder surgery, was edged by Tauranga’s Kurt Pickard who took out the men’s elite final.
The 19-year-old, in his first year in the elite ranks, will join Walker, Willers and the high performance squad in a camp next week before heading to Europe for a month where they will train with the Dutch national team and compete in two World Cups.
Walker, who won the elite and cruiser class at the world championships last year, was pleased with her early season progress after returning from injury that cut short her end of year plans to train in Europe.
She won all of her three motos comfortably and proved a class above the competition, giving a thumbs-up to her progress, although is keen to test herself in Europe later this month.
“That will let me see where I am at compared with the competition,” Walker said. “I’ve tried some different things in training over the last few months. I’m interested to see if those things have helped me or not. Then we will make any adjustments to my training programme and hopefully keep on improving.”
While the 21-year-old is keen to defend her world title in South Africa in late July, her real focus is on the London Olympics.
“I will definitely try to defend my title this year but for the next three years it’s about sorting out which training works. I want to use the big races like the world cups and world championships as test events and hopefully learn how to put together the perfect lap come London in 2012.
“It’s all focussed towards London 2012 and the world championships and world cups are important events along the way to see if we are heading in the right direction.”
Pickard, the leading junior last year, showed he is fully recovered from surgery on his wrist after he crashed out in his first Supercross event at Copenhagen last year.
He has impressed in training with his speed out of the blocks, beating Willers to the all-important first bend in the final. The pair cleared out from the field before Willers tried a huge move on the inside after the big jump into turn two.
He was left with nowhere to go, forced to the outside of the track as Pickard ran clear to claim the title.
“He was the one with the No 1 on his back and he was the man to beat,” Pickard said about Willers, with the pair racing against each other for the first time in three years.
“I had a good start and saw him at the first corner. It was all elbows down to the second corner when he went off. It’s just racing at the end of the day. We will have plenty of battles ahead. But for my first year in the elites, it’s nice to take the title.
“It’s a good step towards our European trip coming up and the World Cup races this year for me. This year I’d like to make a couple of finals in the World Cup series. The Olympics in London are the big goal.”
Head coach Ken Cools said the rivalry between the pair will be good for the development of both riders, and lead the way with some promising young riders coming along in the high performance programme.
He is also thrilled with the outstanding new venue at Puni on the outskirts of Pukekohe, which when completed will incorporate full Supercross and amateur tracks side-by-side.
“At the last Olympics half the medals went to USA and the other half basically to France. They are the only countries with permanent tracks of this nature that they can train on.
“Having a Supercross track like this now gives us a huge advantage being able to be ready for London in 2012.
“This is an incredible facility. I’ve been to Supercross tracks around the world and this is, bar none, one of the best in the world. It speaks volumes about what can be achieved with a kiwi can-do approach.”
Walker was back in action in the cruiser class racing this afternoon, with 850 riders competing at the two-day championships from under five years to 40 years and over.
RaboPlus New Zealand BMX Championships, elite results:
Junior men, Moto 1: Nic Fox (Hamilton) 1, Daniel Franks (North Avon Christchurch) 2, Ren Miller (North Harbour) 3. Moto 2: Trent Woodcock-Takurua (Sunset Coast) 1, Connor Rowe (Cambridge) 2, Hayden Davy (New Plymouth) 3. Moto 3: Fox 1, Franks 2, Andrew Bias (North Harbour) 3. Moto 4: Woodcock-Takurua 1, Rowe 2, Duane Huxtable (North Harbour) 3. Moto 5: Fox 1, Bias 2, Kane Barry (Cambridge) 3. Moto 6: Woodcock-Takurua 1, Rowe 2, Huxtable 3.
Final: Woodcock-Takurua 1, Franks 2, Fox 3, Barry 4, Bias 5, Huxtable 6, Davy 7, Rowe dnf.
Elite women, Moto 1: Sarah Walker (Rotorua) 1, Alexandra Williams (Papakura) 2, Emily Allison (Cambridge) 3. Motor 2: Victoria Hill (New Plymouth) 1, Elyse Imber (Cambridge) 2, Tania Carson (Rotorua) 3. Moto 3: Walker 1, Williams 2, Allison 3. Moto 4: Hill 1, Imber 2, Carson 3. Moto 5: Walker 1, Williams 2, Allison 3. Moto 6: Hill 1, Carson 2, Imber 3.
Final: Walker 1, Hill 2, Williams 3, Imber 4, Carson 5, Allison 6, Devon Clinch (East City) 7.
Elite men, Moto 1: Kurt Pickard (Tauranga) 1, Michael Williams (Papakura) 2, Kurt James (Cambridge) 3. Moto 2: Marc Willers (Cambridge) 1, John Hayes (Hamilton) 2, Matthew Davies (Christchurch City) 3. Moto 3: Pickard 1, Williams 2, James 3. Moto 4: Willers 1, Tony Walker (Hamilton) 2, Davies 3. Moto 5: Pickard 1, Williams 2, James 3. Moto 6: Willers 1, Hayes 2, Walker 3.
Final: Pickard 1, Williams 2, Walker 3, James 4, Hayes 5, Wilcock 6, Davies 7, Willers 8.