Supercross at the 02
Last Saturday saw the O2 host the final round of the ACU British Supercross Championship final. Supercross originated in the USA and is the indoor version of Motocross with jumps, whoops and other bizarrely named obstacles.
The night played host to the finals of various categories from the juniors aged 7 & 8, schoolboys 13 to 16, the open class made up of professionals and amateur senior riders and finally the SX2 and SX1 races. Sandwiched between all the heats and finals for 2 wheel bikes there was even a race for quad bikes.
Riders travelled from all over the UK, USA, Canada and France. The youngsters were mainly from the UK however one particular American lad aged 11 had travelled from the USA and had clearly received media training dutifully thanking all his sponsors and parents.
The standard of riding from all the age groups was astounding with nobody holding back. The pros were hitting the jumps and getting a good 3m height before returning to earth and turning hard to make the next corner. For the 7 & 8 year olds on their 5cc machines the jumps were more like mountains for them as they climbed up the front side before disappearing off the much steeper back side of the jumps.
The professional riders had some equally entertaining characters including 19 year old Steven Clarke originally from Rochdale but now lives on his 50 acre estate in Georgia, USA. Clarke had travelled to Liverpool back to the USA and back to London in the week before the event.
The winner of the SX1 final, Heath Voss, had been the 2004 World Champion before spending the next 5 years in the United States Air Force as an F15 and F16 pilot.
It would appear that Supercross is no stranger to some good old pushing and shoving and this was no more apparent than in the SX2 final where Steven Clarke took on Cedric Soubeyras from France. The two had an extremely close race over the 10 laps leaning on, and elbowing, each other throughout. It culminated in an amazing final lap when they finished half a bike length apart over the finish jump with the Rochdale lad coming out on top.
Tags: ACU British Supercross Championship, Cedric Soubeyras, Heath Voss, Motocross, O2, Steven Clarke
