Back in beautiful Bright for the Australian MTB National Champs.
Thursday saw sunny sky’s and warm weather for Track walk. With the weather turning the complete opposite for day 1 of practice on Friday. Rain fell for all morning and early afternoon leaving the track wet and slippery especially on the roots in the forrest.
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Round 1 of the Nationals Series, held in the hills surrounding Adelaide at Eagle Mountain Bike Park was a big event and we are wrapping up our coverage with one of our biggest ‘Pick of the Pics’ to date. A range of images that convey the weekend, some feature bikes and some don’t! We also do a bit of a style check with multiple riders at the same location, enjoy!
As always, plenty more coverage of racing to be up on the site, check back soon!
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Round 1, day 3 and it’s action time! A short practice session in the afternoon before riders lined up, waited for the beeps and pedaled out of the start hut for near on 2 minutes of downhill joy! Well joy for most, there were a few crashes, that said, it could have been worse as Eagle is a track where you can’t let your concentration lapse at all. There are no fire roads to ‘take a break’, the whole track requires commitment.
As the B group practice and racing finished a bigger and bigger crowd started forming trackside, the bottom finish arena with its tight switchbacks, rock drop and jumps proved to be quite popular.
To kick racing off we look at the Under 19 females, with Tegan Molloy the hot favourite she didn’t disappoint taking the win by some 20+ seconds from Ellie Wale (and setting the fastest female time of the day).
Next we move onto the Under 19 male class, always a large group with riders keen to impress the powers that be so they can have the honour of representing Australia at the World Champs. Australian team coach and all round good guy, Jared Rando, was on hand over the weekend chatting with many riders, his years of racing knowledge invaluable. Talking to Jared he even said he may race a few rounds himself so look out for that (not that team Giant need any more riders, it seemed every second rider going past was on the team!).
Looking at results and we can see that Matthew McCorkell had a flying first run but couldn’t quite back it up in finals, eventually finishing 15th. The top 10 was a quality field, looking further at the top 5 revealed an excellent quality of riders. Aiden Varley was fifth, local rider Matt Taylor was fourth, impressive considering Matt’s tender age, in third just three seconds off the win was Ben Hill and in second Max Warshawsky. This left one rider, Andrew Crimmins, with the number one spot – he took the victory by some 1.96 seconds, made all the more impressive by the fact he had a mechanical during his run that couldn’t see him pedal the bottom section!
Moving onto Elite and more specifically the Women’s class we saw Danielle Beecroft step up to Elite and take the win in her first attempt, the ever reliable Sarah Booth was second with Michelle Crisp in third place.
The pointy end of the day was the Elite Men, after seeding there was talk that riders would go under 2 minutes come finals. We would have to wait all the way until the last rider to see if this was true and while no rider dipped under the 2 minute barrier they got close! As with any Australian National race it was a very competitive field, names all through the top 20 were capable of pushing for a podium spot. With a DNF in seeding Angus Maddern hit the hill early in the piece and set the time to beat, his time of 2.08.66 was enough for 15th at the end of the day. Whilst we could talk about everyone’s run it was David McMillan who snuck in under the 2.05 mark at 2.04.36 to grab fifth and set himself up for a good series. With it being a three race series a strong start was crucial and David was understandably happy! Fourth went to Dean Lucas, a rider who we know is keen to hit the World Cups this year. Third place was the biggest unknown of the weekend, Josh Button returning to racing and showing he still has it! Sure enough the top spot came down to an SA showdown, first off was Troy Brosnan who took the hot seat at the bottom of his run. With only Connor Fearon left to come it was going to be a local win one way or another, tearing the last corners, as the crowd chanted his name, Connor crossed the line and up flashed his time: 2.00.89, a winning time! Made all the sweeter by the fact it was his birthday.
Join us in a few weeks for round 2, before then we still have a large (very large) number of pics to show you guys from the weekend.
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The Australian National Series has kicked off in Adelaide at the Eagle Mountain Bike Park in what can only be described as warm conditions…. The mercury was over the 40 degree mark meaning everyone was just trying to stay cool! With a cool front coming in tonight conditions should improve. Check out some of our favourite pics from practice and keep in tune for all your nationals coverage. Ps if you are at the race come see us at our tent and purchase a t-shirt or our new limited Downhill247/Connor Fearon sticker.
Tune back for the next installment soon!
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Welcome to the final round of the Australian National Downhill Series! Nestled in the alpine country of Victoria there were hints this track would supply the goods. As competitors began showing up and walking the initial part of the track, from the bottom upwards, excitement grew and even grown men began to giggle with jitters of excitement as the track unfolded before their eyes.
First practice opened and every rider was emerging over the finish line wide eyed and large mouthed. The track was certainly delivering everything that everyone was hoping for. While chatting with Sam Hill he described the track as ‘a mini Val Di Sole’ which we agreed with completely. So, what did that mean? We’re pretty sure it meant you better watch out, because we all know just how well Sam Hill and Val Di Sole go together. As the practice began flowing the track started to wear in, lines began to form, ruts were dug and the dust gathered. Come Friday evening there was so much chatter about the pits of just how fun the track was that no one was actually concentrating on just how to find a fast line yet.
As the sun rose on Saturday and crowds gathered around the pits the first shuttles went up, the dust was un-settled and the racing began. Riders began picking lines, Sam was finding lines no one else could and everyone else had the joy of watching world class riders perform on a proper downhill track. As qualifying rolled around the clouds began to gather and the rain began to fall, would this affect qualifying? Would the dust become mud and turn this place into Sam Hills playground? The rain grew heavier, but the thick pine forest held back the moisture and after only a hand full of riders the dust kicked up yet again and the track seemed almost untouched by the heavy showers. Sam Hill appeared first as he held the no.1 plate, as he went past you could see that another gear had been engaged, could anyone catch Sam? Jack and Connor went past and the dust began to hang in the air, making it difficult to see much at all, would having an early qualifying run become an advantage due to visibility? Only time would tell. Troy having the number 32 came through much later in the field but looked just as quick with the visibility not seeming too much of an issue at all. As the final qualifier crossed the line it was pretty apparent that Sam Hill was in fact the man to catch on this track, Sam walked away Saturday with a commanding 9 second advantage over his closest rival; Jack Moir.
Race day arrived with a brisk and damp morning, but again after only a couple of riders the track was back at its dusty best. The track opened for practice and many did only one run to check the track for any new ruts that had been formed through the days earlier racing. As racing began riders began to tumble, bikes began to suffer and the course showed its teeth. Many riders were suffering mechanicals and coming off. It seemed if you could keep both wheels on the ground and stay upright there was a good chance you could walk away with the win. As the top ten began to traverse down the hill times began to tumble, as Troy passed the finish line he took the provisional hot seat with only Jack Moir and Sam Hill to come. Jack appeared around the corner and pedalled hard but couldn’t quite make up the time, this left only Sam Hill to come, the former team mates were in for a battle, would Sam keep it on the vertical and come down with a winning time? Sam appears around the corner pedalling hard, eyes flash from the clock to the track as we watch Sam manual over the line for the win by 1.10s.
This left Sam with a National Series white wash, claiming the fastest times at each round, not only for the finals, but also for qualifying and giving him a solid overall, a warning sign to competitors in the upcoming World Cup? There can only be one winner on the day, but as everyone walks away from the track there really are only smiles, this track had delivered some excellent racing and was a favorite track for many this National Series.
Article and images: Jason Stevens
Fast and dry conditions set the stage for the second round of the 2013 Subaru Gravity Cup series at Thredbo, similar to what we experienced last round at Mt Buller. The weather was good, just a little windy, and the atmosphere was great, with a good number of spectators turning up to cheer the riders on.
The Thredbo crew did a good job getting the track ready for the race with the course nice and smooth all the way down to the bottom. It was good to see that they also made a few changes on the track to make it faster.
Ask many a rider an they will stay this course isA�the hardest in the series. By the time the riders get to the bottom of the track their energy is spent and they dig deep to muster up enough energy to pedal to the finish line, trying to get the win.
Round 2 hasn’t changed the overall rankings, with Sam Hill and Caroline Buchanan continuing to lead in the Gravity Cup rankings for their respective categories.
With a short seriesA�we are rapidly drawing to the end!
Article and images credited to: A� RonnieGrammatica.com
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