Downhill is an individual sport but one where a team still plays a huge part in your success. Not saying good riders wona��t do well without a good team but if they had to take care of; the logistics of getting to the race, their schedule for the weekend, work on their bike and all the other facets a team looks after, it is going to be a whole lot more challenging to get the desired result.
If you have been following the Australian downhill race scene lately, you would have no doubt seen the Trailmix-Procon Racing team in action. A�Based in Victoria
the team racked up close to 10,000kms on the road travelling to events, that
doesna��t include heading over to New Zealand for Oceanias! Riding on the team
were Lewis Winton, Jai Motherwell, Ricky Clarke and Olly Zwar.
Talking to team manager Lewis Kerr, the question of a�?how did the team come
about?a�� brought this reply; a�?The team first came to mind back in February of 2011, at Adelaide National Championships. I noticed a distinct lack of proper support for junior riders who may not have been quite at the top yet, but with the right development definitely had the potential. I worked on the proposal for close to 6 months before I even leaked any of the details to the public and the team got their bikes, kits and first photo shoot in late September 2011. It was like Christmas had come early!a�?
Lewis is at the forefront of addressing a glaringly obvious problem, why are there not more domestic race teams in Australia? We have some of the best riders in the world, with a revitalised Australian National series and other big event such as the Vic DH series now seeing huge numbers of entrants (not to mention worldwide press coverage) you would think there would be more Australian teams. Lewis gave us his take on why there arena��t more teams a�? I believe it is possibly due to a lack of corporate involvement and commitment to the racing scene from sponsors, but at the same time, we as the bike industry cana��t just sit back and expect it to fall into our laps. We have to be proactive and think ahead of the game and set ourselves apart. Everybody in the Australian scene is already operating on a shoestring budget and possibly not seeing any returns for their investment. I wanted to attack the whole a�?team situationa�� from a
different aspect and give the industry a bit of a shakeup, showing the public
that if a 21-year-old student can do it, it can be done by anybodya��.
These statistics from the team should give an interesting insight into the team;
– Over 700 runs completed in practice, qualifying and racing over the season.
– 13 different races attended.
– Coldest conditions were Thredbo in the rain and sleet, hottest conditions were Adelaide in 40+ degrees.
– Over 20 fresh tyres easily, not including what was already on the bikes.
– Punctures, we were very lucky with, we didna��t have a single mechanical issue during a race run all season until the last rider down in the last race of the season. That was super frustrating after having a clean record all season!
– Over 60 days on the road.
After his success with the Trailmix-Procon team, Lewis isA�getting involvedA�with the team management of theA�Kona Australia team.A�Here at downhill247.comA�we hope to see more teams coming onto the scene. It is interesting to see what is required to make a team happen and what the logistics are but without doubt the reward is worth it and you may have a future World Champion start out on your team!