Great Britain shines in Florida Nations Cup win

The British riders were the only ones to get through both rounds in Florida without an overall penalty (with a drop score), avoiding the traps set by American course designer Ken Krome.

With four riders on each team, the following countries were represented in the competition, which is called a ‘Nations Cup’ but does not count as a qualifier toward the 2018 Final in Barcelona: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, the United States, Great Britain, Ireland, Mexico and Venezuela and Canada. At the end of each round, the lowest score of each team was dropped. In the second part of the event, the teams rode in the opposite order of the standings, with the winning team being the one with the lowest score.  

After the first round, the British had already taken the lead. Thanks to the perfect performances of Mason and Explosion W, Derbyshire and Luibanta BH, and Ben Maher on Tic Tac, the 13 points of Moffit on Hilfiger van de Olmenhoeve could be erased. Ireland,was third with five points, just behind Mexico and Brazil in a tie with four. Things did not get get off to such a good start for the Canadian and Argentinian squads, who had nine and 19 points after the first part of the class.

In the second round, while Britain’s Derbyshire had two faults, her three teammates were faultless, leading their country to a clear victory. And despite three perfect rides by Shane Sweetnam and Indra van de Oude Heihoef, Paul O’Shea and Skara Glen’s Machu Picchu and Denis Lynch on RMF Cadeau de Muze, Ireland was punished by its five points in the first round. With six points for their team and one clear ride by Eugenio Garza Perez on Armani SL Z, Mexico made it onto the podium with 10 points overall. Brazil took fourth in front of Chile, Venezuela, the United States, Canada and Argentina.

It should be noted that the Americans, in front of their home crowd, did not take part in the second round despite the clear rides of Adrienne Sternlicht on Cristalline and Beezie Madden on Breitling LS in round one.