Brooke Crain of Visalia showed her consistency by riding to a second-place finish for the second consecutive year at round one of the UCI BMX Supercross World Cup in Manchester, England on April 19th.
Starting from gate 2 in the final, next to defending world champion Caroline Buchanan of Australia, Crain stayed on Buchanan’s wheel throughout the race but was unable to find a way to move past the rainbow jersey. Venezuela’s Stefany Hernandez followed Crain across the line to claim third place.
Crain’s American teammates Dani George (Palmdale) and Felicia Stancil (Lake Villa, IL) did not advance past the semifinal round and finished 13th and 15th, respectively. U.S. national champion Alise Post (Saint Cloud, MN) suffered a knee injury in practice and was unable to compete in the event.
Crain has been racing ever since her parents bought her a bike when she was six years old. After a few visits to the BMX track in Tulare to watch her brother race, she decided to also give racing a try. By the time she was nine, she started winning top-3 titles in national age group rankings. In 2009, as a 16-year-old, she won two world titles and a national title.
After graduating from Mt. Whitney High School in 2011, Crain started focusing her efforts on BMX racing. With her parents as her coaches, and with the acceptance that cycling success would cost her a typical teenage social life, she became a full-time BMX racer.
During her racing career, Crain, who celebrated her 21st birthday last week, has earned a 7th place finish in the elite women division at the 2013 UCI BMX World Championships in Auckland, New Zealand; 3rd place in the junior women division at the 2011 UCI BMX World Championships in Copenhagen, Denmark; and 2nd place in the junior division at the 2010 UCI BMX World Championships in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. She is also a two-time 2009 UCI World Champion for 16-year-old girls, and 15-16-year-old girls Cruiser Champion at races in Adelaide, Australia.