World Cup Round 2 - Fort William

Bryn Atkinson is always a bit of a dark horse, which I am sure he doesn't mind but after qualifying 40th we are sure he is looking to climb up the ranks come finals. It was awesome to see the other Atkinson, Rhys make the cut in 72nd too. — Bryn Atkinson is always a bit of a dark horse, which I am sure he doesn’t mind but after qualifying 40th we are sure he is looking to climb up the ranks come finals. It was awesome to see the other Atkinson, Rhys make the cut in 72nd too.

Qualifying for the first World Cup in Fort William is done and dusted, literally as the conditions are still hot and dry. Ironic that this year some of the berms have been concrete lined, presumably for the rain but this year that’s not required! The Aussies had some solid results as a whole – a few heart breaks; David McMillan finished 81st… This means he missed finals by literally a few hundredths of a second.

After a disruption to her pre-season by the way of a broken collar bone, Tracey is back on a new bike and keen to perform. 8th in qualifying and more room to improve. Australia's two junior females had mixed qualifying results with crashes factoring in, 24th for Danielle Beecroft and 34th for Tegan Molloy. — After a disruption to her pre-season by the way of a broken collar bone, Tracey is back on a new bike and keen to perform. 8th in qualifying and more room to improve. Australia’s two junior females had mixed qualifying results with crashes factoring in, 24th for Danielle Beecroft and 34th for Tegan Molloy.

Results below are below, backing up his fastest practice was Mic Hannah qualifying 4th, Troy Brosnan came in 13th – I am sure his bad luck has run out so the 13th spot won’t bother him. We were super excited to see Mitch Delfs in 18th, a top 20 at the first race would set him up for the season he is capable of.

Elite Men:

1. HART Danny 4:41.094

2. ATHERTON Gee 4:41.270 +0.176

3. BLENKINSOP Samuel 4:42.275 +1.181

4. HANNAH Michael 4:44.911 +3.817

5. SMITH Steve 4:45.193 +4.099

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8. HILL Samuel 4:47.635 +6.541

13. BROSNAN Troy 4:49.516 +8.422

18. DELFS Mitchell 4:51.347 +10.253

31. Connor 4:54.122 +13.028

40. ATKINSON Bryn 4:55.937 +14.843

45. GRAVES Jared 4:57.068 +15.974

58. MOIR Jack 4:59.893 +18.799

72. ATKINSON Rhys 5:02.207 +21.113

81. McMILLAN David 5:03.281 +22.187

106. VEJVODA Joe 5:09.674 +28.580

112. McCARROLL Sean 5:11.811 +30.717

126. McKILLOP Lachlan 5:19.116 +38.022

139. BARLIN Chris 5:24.516 +43.422

Super excited to see Mitch Delfs aboard his new Evil come into 18th during qualifying. With a new team he will be keen to make a good impression.

Junior men saw good results for the tram, highlighted by Dean Lucas and his 5th place, he will be shooting for a podium this weekend and isA�more than capable of doing so.

Junior Men:

1. VERNON Taylor 4:54.689

2. NIEDERBERGER Noel 4:57.116 +2.427

3. VERGIER Loris 4:57.980 +3.291

4. JONES Michael 4:59.292 +4.603

5. LUCAS Dean 5:01.366 +6.677

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8. KNOTT Peter 5:04.733 +10.044

12. VARLEY Aiden 5:10.688 +15.999

13. CRIMMINS Thomas 5:11.379 +16.690

31. SMITH Brent 5:26.059 +31.370

32. ELLISON Luke 5:27.720 +33.031

5th in qualifying and ready to pull the trigger on a podium spot Dean Lucas is on a mission.

Women:

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8. HANNAH Tracey 5:35.113 +21.375

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24. BEECROFT DanielleA� 6:12.743 +59.005

34. MOLLOY TeganA� 6:58.573 +1:44.835

Danny Hart was the fastest qualifier and after injury last year he has a point to prove. He has never won the Fort William World Cup will this be his year?

The juniors are in a separate category to the Elite this year, which has its pro and cons. If you want to see the results as they happen you will need to keep an eye on the live timing on the UCI website.

If you are watching the race live it will be late night in Australia but well worth it. We will have the full results and news from finals after the race.

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