The second World Cup of 2012 is done and dusted, literally in many ways, the rain stayed a way for Sunday’s final and produced an amazing afternoon of racing.
Before racing kicked off riders had a final chance to sort out their lines, some of the riders said the extraA�practice improved the track conditions because only the right lines got ridden (because only the 80 who qualified were allowed on the track). This formed the ‘racing line’ which was what was missing when hundreds of riders were making their way down during practice tearing up the entire course.
Recalling back to round 1 in South Africa many riders were trying to make their bikes as light as possible and added a dropper seatpost for the sprint section. Here in Val di Sole riders were trying to get bigger brake rotors to help their brakes keep cool and raising their front end to cope with the just how steep the track really is.
As the day moved onto into racing Val di Sole kept up to its name (the translation of Val di Sole is the ‘Valley of the Sun’). In fact temperatures were another issue riders had to deal with, the heat combined with the physical nature of the track meant fitness was going to be even more critical for a good run. No doubt if you watched the race you would have been amazed by the skill shown by all the riders but here is an account of the major events in the final; Loic Bruni put down a stomping run that would see him in the hot seat for a long time as other ‘bigger name’ riders couldn’t beat his time, he would end up eleventh and fastest junior. Connor Fearon had a moment in his race run and was lucky to stay on the bike (watch out for Connors full race report on downhill247.com soon!). Connor finished the day in 41st unfortunately not improving on his 27th on this track last year.
Connor’s team mate Mitch Delfs unfortunately crashed which obviously pushed him well down the order, he finished 79th. He was disappointed but lucky to be alright! Jared Graves had a run that was average at best, by his standards at least, finishing in 55th position. After an awesome result in South Africa Mic Hannah needed a good result here to keep up there in the overall. Unfortunately, much like his sister earlier, his run was just not quite what he was looking for. 32nd for Mic Hannah and a clear demonstration on just how different the two tracks are.
For the Aussies this left two riders to come down the hill, Josh Button and Sam Hill. Josh came first and put together a solid run, even more so considering he is recovering from knee surgery. He just missed the top 20 and came in 22nd place, not a bad effort for an Aussie that “didn’t become a bricklayer or a drunk”, as Rob Warner described him during his commentary. Josh qualified in seventeenth so by this time some big names had come down the course and we were moving into the heavy hitter territory. Stevie Smith was in the hot seat after an amazing ride with dislocated finger/broken hand. Next came the Kiwis, Sam Blenkinsop took the hot seat from Stevie (who would eventually finish tenth) by just 0.08, this track definitely suiting the gloveless wonder! After Sam came team mate and all round nice guy, Cam Cole. He returns to racing after a nasty broken arm he sustained at last years World Champs. He came drifting through the last corners to take the hot seat from his team mate. Danny Hart had a lot of expectation to deliver a crazy loose run at Val di Sole, he had a solid run but not what some were expecting. It was Sam Hill we were keen to see, he looked good but not blisteringly fast, his inside line coming into the final corners just reminded us though, when he gets it all together, he can still put down an epic run. Seventh for Sam, the highest placed Aussie. Next into the hot seat was Gee Atherton who won his World Championship title here a few years ago. This left Greg Minnaar and Aaron Gwin to come. Greg had a fantastic run to take the hot seat but by the first split everyone knew Aaron Gwin was yet again the man to beat! He demolished the field by over 7.85 seconds, a truely remarkable run! What will the other riders be thinking coming in to Fort William next weekend?!
Senior Men
1. Aaron Gwin 3.10.58
2. Greg Minnaar 3.18.43 + 7.85
3. Gee Atherton 3.18.97 + 8.39
4. Marc Beaumont 3.19.51 + 8.94
5. Cam Cole 3.20.32 + 9.74
…
7. Sam Hill 3.21.08 + 10.50
22. Josh Button 3.26.98 + 16.40
32. Mic Hannah 3.29.00 + 18.42
41. Connor Fearon 3.31.54 + 20.96
55. Jared Graves 3.35.33 + 24.75
79. Mitch Delfs 4.12.91 + 1.02.33
Tune back for more World Cup reports and World Cup 3, Fort William soon!
Yet again guys,,, Good Pic’s & a Good read !!!!