BMX debuts with crashes and high flying bikes

By Deborah Charles

BEIJING (Reuters) - Helmeted riders on tiny bikes careened down the starting ramp, soared off jumps and survived high-speed crashes on the first day of BMX cycling at the Olympics on Wednesday.

In the anything-can-happen world of BMX, or bicycle motocross, several favorites who crashed hard still managed to make it into the next round -- including the top two women.

The debuting Olympic event, aimed at drawing a younger audience to the Summer Games, lived up to its reputation of being a fast-paced, exciting sport.

With rock music blaring in the background, the tattooed and multi-pierced BMXers raced eight at a time down the dirt course, soaring high through the air and jostling for position.

The action-packed races last less than 40 seconds, with the bikers launching themselves off the three-storey high start ramp then hitting speeds of 40 mph in the dirt as they skid round banked turns and are catapulted high from big jumps, pedaling their tiny bikes madly the whole time.

After seeding rounds, the 32 men raced in three rounds of quarter-finals, with the fastest four men in each heat advancing to the semi-finals on Thursday. The 16 women only had seeding rounds and all will compete in Thursday's semi-finals.

Gold medal favorite, American Mike Day, proved he was the man to beat, finishing the seeding rounds in the top position, then winning each of three runs in the quarter-final.

His team mate Donny Robinson, also a medal favorite, got caught up in a crash in the first quarter-final run but then recovered in the next two to move on to the semi-finals.

"It can't get more rad than this," said Robinson, who described the tough Laoshan BMX circuit as "gnarly".

"Little mistakes cost you big time, that's BMX for you," he said. "Anything can happen and that's why it's cool to watch."

BMX world champion Shanaze Reade of Britain, the big favorite among the women, had a scare as she crashed rounding the first turn in the first of two seeding runs.

The 19-year-old, who also has a world title in track cycling, recovered and made a blistering fast second run and ended the day seeded second headed into Wednesday's semi-finals.

The multi-pierced Reade could not explain her crash but when asked if she had any trepidation heading into the second run, she replied: "Never be afraid, never be afraid."

French veteran Anne-Caroline Chausson also crashed. But her first run was fast enough for her to finish at the top of the women heading into the semi-finals.

The Frenchwoman, who came out of retirement to race BMX in the Olympics, said the sport is good for the Olympics.  Continued...