Report: European Championships Round 14
Luke Webber and Richard Robotham were at Cheddar and bring you the rundown of an historic Sunday in pictures and words - including details of a Abbie Taylor's completion of the double and for the first time in a decade, two Brits in the men's Elite final.
Posted June 29 2009
Words: Luke Webber Photography: Luke Webber and Richard Robotham

For the first time in over a decade two Brits made the final of a major international BMX race. Both Liam Phillips and Marcus Bloomfield took to the gate as the rain started to fall for the final. Bloomfield had the snap all day and was winning his way through all the qualifiers, but in the final a mistake in the closing stages was enough to let Arnaud Dubois through for the win. Second was still an excellent result after the disappointment of day one.

In the morning races Abbie Taylor took her second win of the weekend, while Dan Whyte was cruelly denied the win in the 17/24. After leading the race throughout  a crash in the final ten metres ended any hopes of a win.

 
Marcus Bloomfield was on form on day two, finishing second in the Elite men's final

Action was tight on a fast Cheddar course

Between races the hoses came out to keep dust at bay

Jana Horakova was denied her double win after a horror crash on the final straight

Abbie Taylor didn't make the same mistake as Horakova and took win number two with ease

  
Liam Phillips made both weekend finals                    Dan Whyte was cruelly denied the 17-24 win

And there were crashes throughout the weekend - this being one of the biggest