By Trevor Jackson
LIMESTONE Coast BMX rider Jaiden Bombski finished the weekend on a high after claiming third place in the Red Bull UCI Pump Track World Championship qualifier at Mount Gambier.
The event was held at the Hastings Cunningham Reserve pump track venue, with the ultimate prize an all-expenses paid trip to the World Championships later in the year.
The winner of the men’s and women’s categories both received that prize, while for Bombski it means having to fund his own trip if he wants to compete at the world level, but he had qualified after his podium finish on Sunday.
It was a big improvement from the 2019 event, where the Mount Gambier-based Bombski finished mid-pack.
He was clearly pleased with the result when speaking to The Border Watch this week.
“I am pretty happy with it,” he said.
“I did not expect to go that well.”
The podium finish was even more impressive considering Bombski’s bike is a freestyle BMX bike, not designed for pump track racing, but more for skate park use.
“I had to put brakes on my bike before the event,” he said.
“I don’t normally run brakes, so I had to bolt them on for the event and took them off when I got home.
“The other bikes are designed for that and are very light, but my bike is built for strength to withstand what we do on them.
“It is probably double the weight.”
At the end of the day Bombski was asked if he could put on a bit of a show and he joined another three riders from the region to entertain the crowd.
“We were ahead of schedule and they asked me if I would do something and I thought why not,” he said.
“Me and my mate Jack Hann and the other two local boys the Dejong brothers joined in.
“They asked us to do most creative and best trick, so I just did what I thought would be good.
“It was a bit of fun.”
While pump track racing is not something Bombski trains for, he decided to give it a go when the track was created for the 2019 world qualifiers.
He said after racing in his young years, he decided to try his hand at skate park riding, then gave the pump track a go.
“I thought, we have it, I might as well do it,” Bombski said.
“I did 2019 and finished about 16th, so this was a big improvement.”
While Bombski does not have his travel paid for if he decides to compete at the world championships, he has cleared the main hurdle.
“I can go there and race, where other people have to earn their way in,” he said.
“I haven’t thought much about it because it will be in Europe and travel is not an easy thing at the moment.
“It would also be quite expensive to go, so I am not too sure at this stage.”
The men’s competition was won by pro BMX rider Jayce Cunning, from Kyah Elburn-Tabone and Bombski, while Australian world championship-level rider Saya Sakakibara claimed the women’s honours, from Annaliese Rokov and Johanna Jephcott.
