Daniel Franks, of Christchurch, finishes second in the final of the UCI Junior Elite Men at the New Zealand BMX Championships with fellow Yeti rider Nick Fox, of Gisborne, in third.
But the race, held on Saturday at the Franklin-Waiuku BMX track, was not without controversy after officials took the unusual step of calling for a re-run of the final.
"In the Junior Elite Men's final a couple of riders clashed in the first berm and checked the path for the rest of the field," explained Daniel's dad Geof. As a consequence Franks could only recover to finish fifth in the final.
However, after some discussion amongst officials over a technical issue, the Chief Commissar determined that the final was to be re-run.
The re-run final was dominated by Trent Woodcock-Takurua, of Pukekohe, Franks and Fox.
"These three shot clear of the field in the first straight, all jumped cleanly down the big jumps in the second straight and raced on to finish clear of the chasing field," Mr Franks relayed afterward.
"You have one final and you get in the zone and you give 110% in that race and to be told you have to do another one is quite hard, but we [the riders] have no voice in the decision and so I just had to prepare for the re-run final and do the best I could," Daniel said.
"I've never been to a BMX meeting before when a race has been re-run, and it is certainly controversial. I haven't heard of it happening at World Champs for example," Mr Franks said.
Franks also raced Elite Men's Cruiser class as a second class at the nationals and was injured while leading one of these races when he was knocked in the air by another rider and crashed heavily, finishing last.
He raced to third place in the subsequent motos, but suffered from having twisted and bruised both his knees in the incident.
"I got up and my knees were sore, but felt I could continue and raced the rest of the day. Overnight it seized up and I woke up in a bit of pain and was unable to race the last day."
Franks' injuries prevented him from contesting the Elite SuperClass race on Sunday, where he would have come up against the best of the junior and senior elite riders and, at 16, he would have been the youngest rider in the field.
Late last week Franks learned that he had been named in the long list for the New Zealand team for the MTB World Champs, which are to be held at Mont-Sainte-Anne, Canada, in late August.
"I'm really stoked to be on the list and I didn't expect it to happen and I look forward to competing against the best in the world in downhill and 4X," Franks commented.
"Mont-Sainte-Anne is a world renowned track and one of the most famous tracks in the world and to get an opportunity to race there is just incredible."
