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Double A
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2003 UCI Worlds Championships Perth, Australia The Worlds bet BMX riders all gathered for a week down under in Perth, Australia, for the UCI BMX World Championships. Perth, on the West Coast of Australia, was one of the best venues and tracks that has been seen on the World Circuit in some time. The track was built inside of the Burswood Dome, and housed one of the biggest and best BMX tracks ever built, to truly help decide who today's best BMX riders would be. With 8 World Championship classes to be decided, Jr. Elite and Sr Elite both men and women, as well as Cruiser for each, riders from over 30 different countries lined up on the gate to see if they had what it took to become a world champion. 3 of the Double A Marketing riders, Wade Bootes, Christophe Leveque, and Randy Stumpfhauser made the long trip to compete and go for the gold. Each one of these riders has been a past World Champion, and knew what it would take to repeat such an accomplishment. The Worlds also held a new event for the UCI, an event to put the best 4 riders from 4 different continents against each other, to decide who was the top World Ranked rider for the year. Wade Bootes and Randy Stumpfhauser were both invited to compete in the event, where the rider would ride a bit different format. A total of 16 riders were invited to compete in the event, and 4 riders lined up on the gate fro 4 different moto's, where the last place rider would be eliminated. The next round would take 3 riders per race, then just 2, always dropping 1 rider, leaving just 4 riders for the shootout final. Randy Stumpfhauser was looking great all night, up to the semi finial round, were he slid just so slightly in one of the turns and was passed to end his nights quest to the A finial. Randy would compete in the B final, and place 2nd, and 6th overall for the night. Wade Bootes was looking as fast as ever, as he won all of his events up to the finials. The Main event was Wade, Robert De Wilde, Kyle Bennit, and Medhi Remili. The four riders each had a shot of winning the event. Wade would give a good effort, and 4th place was his result. Pretty incredible for a guy who hasn't raced his BMX bike for some time and had just fully recovered from a brutally broken collar bone. The next event to be held was the Cruiser race day on Friday and Randy Stumpfhauser was looking to repeat his 2002 World Title. For the past 3 years, Randy has been the best Pro rider aboard a Cruiser, taking the ABA and NBL titles, as well as last Years UCI World Title. Randy easily made it through the moto's and 1/4's. In the 1/2, Randy had his only bad start of the weekend, putting him in the back of the pack for the start of the race. Randy, cool and calm, would of course navigate his way back up to the front of the pack before the last turn, advancing his way into the main event. As the riders lined up for the main event, it was looking as it wouldn't be as easy for Randy as it had been all night, as the worlds best Cruiser riders were ready to do battle for the Gold Medal and UCI rainbow stripes, As the gate fell, Stumpy took immediate charge of the race with the holeshot, and just checked out, as he pulled away from all other riders. His silky smooth style and incredible acceleration took him all the way to the finish line for his 2nd UCI World Title in as many years. Randy was ecstatic, and was looking forwards to Sunday finial race, for the Elite Men's Title. On Sunday, the Elite 20' Worlds Race day came up and over 200 Elite riders were on hand to go got the World Title. With 3 moto's, 1/8th finals, 1/4 finals, 1/2 finials, and all the way to the main event, each of the Double A Marketing riders proved there skills and power, as each of them transferred to what has been said as the most talented Elite Men's main event at the World Championships in its entirety. Here is how each of the riders would fair out. Randy Stumpfhauser continued his fast ways around the Perth track, once again winning all the events leading up to one of the most anticipated main events. In the past few months, Randy has been winning a lot of races and one that he looked forward to winning was the UCI Worlds. Winning the Cruiser title was sweet, but Stumpy wanted to back it up with a top result in the Elite Class as well. Well, as the gate dropped, Randy was once again out in the front of the pack, but just behind Kyle Bennit. Randy rode a solid lap, on his way to 2nd place and a silver medal. With the 2nd overall for the day, Randy wrapped up the UCI Worlds ranking, taking home first overall and 8000 Swiss franks. Randy now is ready to win is first AA pro 20" title, as he is going into the NBL Grands leading the pro points chase. Randy's sponsors include Huffy Bicycles, Fox Racing, AC Components, IRC Tires, Smith Eyewear, Alex Rims, Thomson Seatposts, S & M Forks and Bars, ODI Grips, BMXpros.com, Champion Nutrition, Shimano, Vans, and CTI Knee Braces. Christophe Leveque is a plain amazing. After a year long recovery from 3 major back surgeries, he has come back to the top level of BMX in just a few short months, and the Worlds showcased his skill and determination. Have won the World Title 9 times in the past, Leveque knows what it take to get the pressure of the one day event out of your head and just ride strong in each moto and qualifier, just taking each race one at a time. Leveque's true determination showed in his 1/4 final the most, as a first turn crash with 2 other riders almost ended his quest for world title #10. Leveque proved just how head strong he was, as well as physically strong, as he jumped up, and battled it out, passing a rider, to transfer on to the semi final. Leveque also transferred out of the semi with style and was ready for the big race win. All rides and spectators on hand thought making the main alone was a major accomplishment. As the gate dropped, Christophe took a huge chance at getting the ultimate gate start, but just barley tapped the gate, throwing off his start just the slightest bit, but in AA pro that is the difference from winning. Leveque rode a strong lap, and placed 5th for the day, but more importantly, he showed the BMX world he is back on track and is ready to be the dominant rider that he has been in the past. Christophe's sponsors include GT Bicycles, Hyundai Motors USA, Fox Racing, Marazochi Forks, Tangent, Smith Eyewear, Tioga, BMXpros.com, ODI, Profile, Thomson, Easton, Champion Nutrition, and Powerbar. Wade Bootes has had quite a season so far. BMX racing was atop his list of priorities when the UCI announced the world rankings system. Wade was able to do a minimum amount of BMX races needed to be selected into the Worlds shootout, and with such great scores at each of the races he attended, Wade finished the season ranked 5th in the world. Wade had to overcome a few bad situations in the past few months, as first he broke his collar bone while attempting to qualify for the Australian track cycling team, with aspirations to be involved with the Olympic Program for 2004. After successfully recovering from that injury and being competitive on the World Cup Mountian Bike circuit, Wade recently had another tragedy in his life. Last week, After a long battle of sickness, Wade mother, Patricia, lost her battle and was laid to rest. Wade knew his mother would want nothing else than to continue on with his dreams and racing, and he did just that, by attending the 2003 World Championships. With his mothers thoughts in his head all week, Wade took to the track and was once again in the main event at the World Championships. The main event didn't go as well planned, as Wade placed 7th for the day, but to overcome such adversity and drama, Wade defiantly proved himself and put smiles on the faces of all his fans! Wade sponsors include Trek/Volkswagen, Azonic, O'Neal, Oakley, IRC, AC Components, ATI, THE, Toolshed, Powerbar, Thomson, Bombshell, WadeBootes.com, and BMXpros.com.
UCI
Worlds Elite Men's Cruiser Results 2003
UCI World Rankings
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