CYCLING - BMX: NSW rider Brandon Loupos has won the Australian BMX Freestyle Championship after an amazing second run that bettered the benchmark scores of Queensland’s Jason Watts and Jake Wallwork.
A highly competitive field put on an awesome display for 300+ cheering fans in Melbourne’s inner-west at Rampfest, showcasing the incredible development and evolution in Australia of one of the most exciting disciplines in world cycling.
Leading into his final run, Loupos was sitting in second place behind Queensland Jason Watts. With just ten seconds to go in the final run, he pulled off a remarkable five flair to seal the deal.
When asked what it felt like to be the inaugural National Freestyle BMX champion, Brandon Loupos said, “It’s crazy, I can’t describe it, to be the first national champion in Australia is a lot in itself.
"I’m blessed to ride for Australia… I feel great, I’m stoked I can’t wait to show it off back in the Shire... a Shire boy made it!”
Also winning Saturday’s UCI Category 1 event he added, “It feels unreal to go back to back today and win two from two.”
After crashing heavily in the first run in the finals, Victorian Jake Wallwork pulled it together in the second to win a hard-fought bronze “It feels really good after crashing and not doing too well yesterday [in Saturday’s C1 event]… I was just hoping it was going to be alright, I was just hurting the whole time, but it came off alright”
Chair of Cycling Australia, Duncan Murray was excited by the event, “I really enjoyed my day at Rampfest seeing Australia’s best compete in front of an enthusiastic and knowledgeable crowd.
"It was an honour to hand out the champion jersey and I congratulate the organisers and competitors alike for a terrific show. Beyond this new Australian title, we know Freestyle is set to debut at the Olympics in 2020 and I look forward to seeing what develops in this exciting and dynamic discipline of the sport.”
Rampfest General Manager, Chris Bierton said, “To be able to showcase the talent from the riders on a national stage is really something. It’s great to see Cycling Australia and the City of Maribyrnong get behind the sport, and with an awesome display from all riders giving it 100% this weekend. I’m looking forward to this event coming back bigger and better in 2019!”
City of Maribyrnong Mayor, Cr. Martin Zakharov was there welcome the inaugural BMX Freestyle National Championships to the venue.
“It’s really exciting stuff, I can see that this is a growing sport with a lot of future, and it’s more than just a sport. There is a lot of individual skill that goes into it and a lot of imagination from the participants so for us [City of Maribyrnong] to be supporting something like this is exciting and I’m really hoping that we can do more to get behind it in the future and I am hoping to see it grow in the future across Australia.”
The amateur BMX Freestyle National Championship was won by 15-year-old Josh Dove with Shayne McAuley and Matteo Illic rounding out the podium.
The junior events were contested in the morning and won by William Fraser & Anastasia Taleski.
