NEWS PHOTO RYAN MCCRACKEN
Riders take off to open a heat during the BMX provincial series races on Saturday, June 22, 2019 at the Medicine Hat BMX track.
If you were wondering what all the commotion was at Medicine Hat’s BMX track out by the Family Leisure Centre this past weekend, it was the site of the first two stops on Alberta’s Provincial Cup series.
Predictably, hometown riders were right in the mix, if not often atop the leaderboards.
Branden Lachapelle won the 17-24 expert male division both days, hitting the line first in every one of his races.
Geneva Slezinsky won the 17-24 expert female group with a pair of race wins and was fourth on Sunday.
Hallie Gauthier was second in the 14 expert female group both days.
Jack Hagarty topped the four-rider 17-24 intermediate male group both days.
Noah Sehn won the 14 intermediate male group with two first-place finishes Saturday, then outdid himself by winning all three races Sunday to top the charts. Teammate Connor Hauck was third.
Nixon Boksteyn didn’t win any of the races leading up to the 11 intermediate male division, but all that mattered in the end was the fact he finished first when it mattered. Calgary’s Carter Day had won four in a row including three qualification races and a semifinal in the big 18-athlete division, but had to settle for second. Boksteyn wound up fourth in Sunday’s final but had two first-place finishes leading up to it.
Haydon Petersen won the 13 novice male division, winning the first and last races of the day to edge Calgary’s Sky Jamison Saturday, then winning the middle race and taking second in the other two Sunday.
In the 9 novice male division it was Colby Ruckaber taking second place Saturday and third Sunday.
Reid Giesbrecht and Watson Toews were second and third respectively in 6 novice male Saturday, each getting a win. They took second and fourth on Sunday, Giesbrecht winning his last two races.
Cole Funk was third in novice male, taking second, third and fourth in his three races.
Emily Toews was second in novice female both days thanks to five second-place finishes and one third-place finish.
Nick Gauthier won the cruiser 35-39 group both days, crossing the line first in all six races.
Liam Giesbrecht won 8 expert male Saturday and was second in cruiser 9-under both days. He added a third-place result in 8 expert on Sunday.
The series comprises of eight stops leading up to the final weekend in Cochrane.
