4X ProTour 2015 - Szczawno Zdroj, Poland Highlights

What an awesome event and a real showcase for the 2015 4X ProTour it was! Szczawno Zdroj located in south west Poland is home to one of the finest 4X tracks in the world. Being located at the heart of the city, at around 40 seconds long, there is a mix of high and low speed, technical and huge jumps - something to suit all the riders. And the 40 foot double jump on the last straight had riders talking as it was pretty daunting at the end of a race, but as everyone started riding, they were all soon flying over it. The atmosphere was amazing, the skies were blue and temperatures high, food and beer stands at the track as the riders were ready to get round 3 of the 2015 4X ProTour started.

26. 7. 2015

The home crowd were going wild for all the local Polish riders. One by one the riders gave it their best shot to claim the fastest time in qualifying. Still, one of the allures to 4X crowds around the world is that 4X demands a single perfect lap just to qualify. A mistake and quite simply riders will go home and do not even race in the main event. It's a ruthless system but one 4X riders and fans love. The pressure on each rider is immense, but who could keep their cool and take the fastest times.

In the women's main final, Natalia Piwowarczyk was in gate 1, Helene Fruhwirth in 2, Michaela Berakova in 3 and German rider, Eva Katharina Brauer in 4. The gate dropped and Fruhwirth got the holeshot. She did not look back riding some great lines and hitting most of the huge jumps. Piwowarczyk had a great ride to finish 2nd with Michaela Berakova in third. Eva Brauer finished 4th and winner of the small final was Patrycja Kata.

So it was onto the men's finals. Benedikt Last took the win in the small final and this gave him the last step of the podium in 5th. The small final was action packed with Derbier leading for most of the race, then Nielson and Metcalfe but at the finish it was Last taking the win.

The final race was the big one. Hannes Slavik took gate 1, Scott Beaumont in 2, Simon Waldburger in 3 and Denis Drozd in 4. The gate dropped and Slavik, Beaumont and Waldburger were level. Into turn 1 Beaumont braked and dived inside. Waldburger did too. All 3 riders got really close in turn 1 but Slavik carried good speed on the exit and was away. Beaumont got going from turn 1 quickly and moved into 2nd. From here the positions held as the riders had just spread out too much from the first turn action. Something that is so rare in modern day 4X, but the first turn was certainly wild! Great ride from Drozd to make his first ever 4X ProTour final. A name to watch out for at future races.

The podiums, national anthems and ceremonies capped off a great event, and went into the 4X history books for this amazing venue.