SAYA SAYS IT IS TIME TO RACE
GOLD Coaster Saya Sakakibara will this weekend contest the first major BMX event since her Tokyo Olympics dream was cruelly ended by a horror crash back in July.
The 2017 Junior Elite champion will chase her first Elite Women’s title when the Auscycling BMX Nationals hit Nerang BMX Club for a December 18-20 festival of racing.
Sakakibara, 22, was stretchered from the Ariake Urban Sports Park track after coming off her bike during the semi-finals in Tokyo.
For months she struggled with concussion symptoms which ruled her out of the remainder of the BMX SX calender.
She only recently took to Instagram last month to confirm she was, finally, back to full fitness.
With the heartbreak of a lost Olympic medal behind her, the superstar now has her eyes set on a maiden Women’s Elite title at a Gold Coast track she knows quite well.
Sakakibara joins a stacked field including former national champion and fellow Gold Coast product Erin Lockwood and Queensland champion Taylah Maurice
Lockwood, 22, was unable to defend her 2018 crown when forced to miss the 2019 nationals.
She returns eager to reclaim the Elite Women’s title at her home national championships.
“I’m super excited to have a home national championships,” Lockwood said. “Being the track I’ve grown up at I definitely know my way around it, and it’s a huge milestone for the club.”
More than 1000 riders from across Australia will descend on Nerang this weekend, for the club’s first national championships in 25 years.
“It’s a huge milestone for the club - all the committee and kids we coach are so excited to see some of the best come to their home track,” Lockwood said.
Another big name who knows the Nerang track well is world number seven Izaac Kennedy.
The reigning Men’s Elite champion was victorious in the final national series round at the track back in 2020.
The recently crowned Men’s BMX
Rider of the Year is eager to replicate those efforts and recapture his national title this weekend.
“It feels kind of weird. It nearly feels like I’m not the national champion, as it was so long ago, but coming into this one the goal is to back it up,” Kennedy said.
“Nerang is a track I train at a lot and I really like it as a track.”
Practice begins Saturday from 9am, with the opening ceremony at 4.45pm.
Monday morning is when the Elite and Junior Elite national champions will be decided.