Sugar Cayne
Laura Smulders finally makes it past Alise Willoughby to claim victory at round 4 of the UCI BMX Supercross World Cup! Alise has been a dominant force at this year’s World Cup series with her perfect gate starts and first straight pull. But Smulders has been on the hunt and the two have come in close contact at every round.
Round #1 in Manchester the two collided in the first turn during the semi and didn’t transfer. During Round # 2 in Manchester, Alise was ahead of Smulders into the 3rd turn then slid out which sent Smulders off the track. Manon Valentino went on to win that race.
In Round #3 at Papendal, Alise was leading the pack again but in the 3rd straight Laura out pumped her and they came into turn three together. Alise tried to ride Smulders up the burm to slow her down and they both got passed by Judy Baauw(NED).Judy went on to win that race with Alise coming in 2nd and Smulders in 3rd. Now round #4 in Papendal is where the stars aligned for Smulders. It was the same scenario, Alise gets the holeshot, leads the pack into turn 2. Then Laura powers though the 3rd straight with a serious pump and finally passes Alise midway through the straight to take home the win. It was a fun race to watch and it’s shaping up to be an exciting series to follow.
Alise Willoughby, a two-time Olympian and 2016 silver medalist, scored two silver medals at Round 3&4 in Papendal, Netherlands. She’s also the lone U.S. medalist in Saturday’s(round #3) races. Fellow American Felicia Stancil finished in third for that bronze medal in Sunday’s race(round#4) This marks the first time this year that two Americans had podium finishes in the same race. Pretty cool!
