Auckland nine year old Rico Bearman was the toast of the New Zealand team that picked up five medals on the first day of competition at the UCI BMX World Championships in Birmingham today.

Bearman won his third world title in four years with a superb performance on the first of two days of Challenge Class racing for age group riders, indoors at the NIA Arena.

It proved a great day for young riders from Rotorua and Te Awamutu. The BikeNZ team won silver medals to Caitlin Flavell (Rotorua), Lachlan Sevens-McNab (Rotorua) and Rebecca Petch (Te Awamutu) while Ryan Martin (Te Awamutu) won a bronze

Bearman took out the nine years title after a superb ride in the final. Earlier he had finished second in his quarterfinal and second in the semifinal but produced the perfect rperformance in the final.

The Waitakere club rider had previously won the 5-6 years world title in Adelaide and the seven years class in South Africa before earning a bronze medal in Copenhagen last year.

There were 22 New Zealand riders in action today in the age groups from 5 to 14 years with the rest of the age groups tomorrow ahead of two days of elite racing before finishing with the cruiser class.

It is an important event for the kiwi contingent, with New Zealand hosting next year’s world championships to be staged indoors at Vector Arena in Auckland in July.

Flavell had a strong day in the girls seven years category, finishing second on points in her motos and winning her semifinal before placing runner-up in the final behind American Grace Stevenson.

Stevens-McNab, who won the seven years category in Copenhagen last year, dominated his qualifying motos, placed second in the semifinal and second just behind Ecuador’s Emilio Durini in the final of the eight years boys.

Petch qualified second in the14 years girls competition behind American Kelsey Van Ogle. The Te Awamutu rider won her semifinal before being pipped by the American for the gold medal in the final.

Papakura’s Zoe Fleming was second behind Petch in the semifinal but had to settle for fourth place in the final.

Martin, racing in the boys 10 years class, had a solid day to be third highest qualifier. He was second in the semifinal and grabbed the bronze in the final.

Two other young kiwis made finals, with Wyatt Stevens-McNab, young brother to Lachlan, was fourth in the final of the 5-6 years class after winning his semifinal while James Whyte (Mountain Raiders, Auckland) was seventh in the final of the eight years boys.

Finals results, UCI BMX World Championships, day 1 Challenge:

Girls 5-7 years: Grace Stevenson (USA) 1, Caitlin Flavell (Rotorua, NZL) 2, Lissi VanSchijndel (NED) 3.

14 years: Kelsey van Ogle (USA) 1, Rebecca Petch (Te Awamutu, NZL) 2, Merel Smulders (NED) 3.Also: Zoe Fleming (NZL, Te Awamutu) 4.

Boys

5-6 years: Dane Morales (USA) 1, Linkin Garcia (USA) 2, Dominic Duran (USA) 3. Also: Wyatt Stevens-McNab (NZL, Rotorua) 4.

8 years: Emilio Durini (Ecuador) 1, Lachlan Stevens-McNab (NZL, Rotorua) 2, Jaymio Brink (NED) 3. Also: James Whyte (NZL, Mountain Raiders, Howick-Pakuranga) 7.

9 years: Rico Bearman (NZL, Waitakere) 1, Ethan Craik (GBR) 2, Luke Rissiter (GBR) 3.

10 years: Julian Dittrick (USA) 1, Dayan Dubois (SUI) 2, Ryan Martin (NZL, Te Awamutu) 3.

Full results: www.bikenz.org.nz

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