PARKS AND BOUCLIER EMERGE VICTORIOUS IN ROUND 1 OF WDSC TURKIYE
ERZINCAN, Turkiye, Sunday 9th June: A thrilling week of action came to a dramatic conclusion on Sunday in Erzincan with the street luge and open standup finals delivering the thrills and spills this that makes the sport special.
With street luge pre-race favourite Abdil Mahdzan out due to injury, the race was wide open. The final came down to Andrej Ilic (CZE), Kolby Parks (CAN), Ulrich Becker (GER) and David Frega (Fra). A frantic start saw Ilic, Frega and Parks battle it out through the early part of the course. Frega making a stunning pass on turn 5 to push Parks down to 3rd and then it was time for the infamous turn 6. Parks didn’t stay in 3rd for long and entering turn 6 braked, the Canadian set up on the inside, braked late and moved from 3rd to 1st with a stunning pass. Frega and Ilic were pushing hard but Frega crashed leaving Parks and Ilic to cross the line in 1st and 2nd with the German Ulrich Becker who crashed in turn 6 recovering to finish in 3rd.
With storms blowing through Ergan Dagi, the open standup riders faced several delays throughout the day but patience was rewarded and the final was set. Diego Poncelet (ESP) and Adrien Paynel (FRA) were the two fastest men in qualifying and they were up against young gun Andreas Bouclier (FRA) and Adam Westfall (USA). Coming out of turn 4 Westfall ran it wide leaving Paynel, Bouclier and Poncelet to battle it out on the top half of the course. Entering turn 6 Paynel threw a stunning standup slide that left the crowd gasping. He led with Bouclier in 2nd and Poncelet in 3rd looking to work his way through the field. Poncelet closed in on Paynel and then disaster both of them out in turn 9 leaving the 17 year old Bouclier out on his own in the lead and the Frenchman delivered to cap off a remarkable, career defining weekend in Erzincan taking his first WDSC victory. Paynel crossed the line in 2nd with Westfall rounding out the podium in 3rd place.