Mario Jarrin Molina (Ecuador) well clear of his competition.(Image credit: Tour of Japan)
Mario Jarrin Molina (Ecuador) at the front until the finish(Image credit: Tour of Japan)
Mario Jarrin Molina (Ecuador) in the lead(Image credit: Tour of Japan)
Mario Jarrin Molina (Ecuador) leads out of the first corner in the men's final(Image credit: Tour of Japan)
UCI Delegate Simon Burney talks to Guatemalan protesters blocking the track.(Image credit: Tour of Japan)
Semifinal action(Image credit: Tour of Japan)
American Shawn Neer goes down(Image credit: Tour of Japan)
American Shawn Neer goes down(Image credit: Tour of Japan)
American Shawn Neer goes down(Image credit: Tour of Japan)
American Shawn Neer starts to go down(Image credit: Tour of Japan)
Quarterfinal action(Image credit: Tour of Japan)
Racers in the quarterfinals(Image credit: Tour of Japan)
Quarterfinal action(Image credit: Tour of Japan)
Chris Van Dine (USA)(Image credit: Tour of Japan)
Shawn Neer (USA)(Image credit: Tour of Japan)
The US squad waits for the racing to start (Image credit: Tour of Japan)
The Guatemalan organizers put together a nice, fast four cross course, with multiple passing options. Antonio Leiva (Chile) was fastest in qualifying, with teammates Enrique Genova and Mauricio Acuña also highly ranked. All three made the final, but it was Ecuador's Mario Jarrin Molina who won the title with a very strong start that put him firmly into the lead by the first corner.
All three American men made the cut to go onto the four rider heats: Brian Buell, Shawn Neer and Chris Van Dine. Buell and Neer both went down in crashes in quarter and semi final action, with Neer joining Van Dine in a bizarre consolation final. Supposedly joining the two Americans in the fifth to eighth race was local Guatemalan rider Hugo Martinez, however, Martinez had been disqualified in the semi-final after cutting across in front of the other riders out of the gate.
Neither Martinez nor the Guatemalan spectators took this well, with a crowd of them occupying the first corner on the course and refusing to budge, delaying racing by at least 15-20 minutes as UCI delegate Simon Burney tried to persuade them to leave the course. It took the American riders rolling down the course (with no starting gate having been dropped), and beckoning Martinez to join them, before the course was cleared and the final could be raced.
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