World Champion Graves cruises to win

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Jared Graves (Yeti Fox Shox), the current World Champion, 2009 World Cup champion and defending Houffalize champion easily repeated to take the win in the first round of the 2010 four cross World Cup.  The victory also gave him the lead in the men's series.

The Houffalize World Cup is run at night, under lights, with fans pouring into the small Ardennes village to hang out course side, drink the local Chouffe beer, and eat frites.

The spectators are there to cheer any daring pass, and, of course, the inevitable crashes. The race course was almost unchanged from last season. However, dry weather had turned the track into a dust bowl, with the final rider of any foursome almost completely obscured by billowing dust. Loose gravel made every corner treacherous, and there were multiple crashes.

"On those first two turns you had to be careful," said Graves, "because anything could happen there. A good start definitely helps on this course, but you still aren't completely safe, because there are plenty of spots to get passed. It is definitely good to start the season off with a win, because it takes the pressure off, so I'm pretty happy right now."

Graves was untouchable in the men's heats, often three or four bike lengths clear of his competitors by the first corner. He was joined in the final by Tomas Slavik (RSP 4 Cross Racing), Michal Prokop (Agang Racing) and Dutch mainstay Roger Rinderknecht. Once again, Graves got the holeshot, with the two Czech riders Slavik and Prokop bumping elbows through the first couple of corners before Slavik finally pulled ahead in the lower half of the run for second place.

Full Results