Great Britain’s Kyle Evans finished sixth at a frenetic third round of the UCI BMX Supercross World Cup in Berlin.
The 20-year-old avoided a crash between American Jared Garcia and Ecuador’s Alfredo Campo in the last eight after being drawn in the outside gate at the Mellowpark in Germany.
Double Olympic champion Maris Strombergs dominated the final from the start to take victory on his return to world cup competition.
World champion Liam Phillips suffered a frustrating exit in the quarter-finals, a slow start and collision with Jared Garcia hampering the 25-year-old who eventually took fifth in the heat with only the top four progressing.
Phillips maintained his lead in the overall competition rankings and is now 40 points clear of France’s Joris Daudet with two rounds remaining in Santiago del Estero and Chula Vista in September.
Evans' efforts lift him to seventh overall.
Commenting on Evans’ performance, Great Britain Olympic BMX coach Grant White said: “He’s riding well, made another world cup final and is constantly progressing and is on the way up.
“Papendal didn’t go well for him but he’s bounced back.”
Heavy rain in the German capital caused delays after the 1/8 finals, from which Evans and Phillips had both made comfortable progress.
Evans took sixth, third and second in his three races in heat four to finish second with the top four progressing.
Two wins and a third place for Phillips saw him finish second in heat six as he was drawn alongside teammate Tre Whyte. Sixth, fifth and seventh meant Whyte missed out on a quarter-final spot.
A rain storm then arrived and when riders did eventually return to the track a series of collisions influenced the racing.
Evans appeared to heading out of the competition in his quarter-final before a huge pile-up at the front of the race allowed the Briton to pass and make the semi-finals.
Japan’s Yoshitaku Nagasako attempted to overtake Nicholas Long but caught the American with Connor Fields and Matthew Cameron also brought down as Evans rode on for victory.
He took advantage of the opportunity with an impressive ride for third in the semi-finals that gave the youngster his second final appearance in the series.
“Sometimes in BMX you’re on the right side of some luck and he was in that quarter-final,” White added.
“The semi-final was a fantastic start from the outside and did what he needed to do and came across. He had to get a great start and he delivered it well in that semi-final to make the final.”
In the elite women’s event, world champion Caroline Buchanan produced a superb final-corner pass on Columbian Olympic champion Marian Pajon for the win.
The series continues on 6 September in Santiago del Estero, Argentina.
Result
