August 25, 2007 (Kingston, ON) – Friday was practice day at the first of the 2008 UCI North American Continental series events. The Kingston, ON track, recently re-built by UCI track builder Tom Ritzenthaler, saw heavy rain Thursday night, but volunteers worked throughout the morning on Friday to get it race-ready.

The Elite men’s class is stacked, with 23 riders on the start list. Included are Donny Robinson (USA) who is fresh off his win at the UCI Supercross Beijing earlier this week (Aug. 21), and ‘Afro’ Bob de Wilde (Ned) who came second. Both are still jet-lagged, along with recent BMX Worlds winner Kyle Bennett (USA) and Randy Stumpfhauser (USA) who also made the trip, all vying for valuable UCI points to go towards Olympic qualification.

The Elite women’s class has 12 riders including the USA’s Jill Kintner who earned a fifth place at the UCI Supercross in Beijing, and teammates Arielle Martin and Amanda Geving. Canada’s Samantha Cools was ripping it up in practice with the fire back in her eye. Although disappointed at the CCA’s decision not to send her to the Olympic test event in Beijing, Cools is ready to move on an get the job done.

The first gate will drop at noon on Saturday…stay tuned for a full report & results!