The Asia Pacific Downhill Challenge is quickly becoming one of the premier races in the Oceania area, it is great to see the love of downhill cross international borders. Photo: Andre Palmer.
The Asia Pacific Downhill Challenge is back again, it’s being held on the 16th-18th of November, this race has been held in Indonesia for the past few years and has been a favourite with riders and fans alike. The Cikole track is about three hours from Jakarta, a landslide on the original track facilitated the change to the new venue.A�This is aA�race that Aussies have traditionally been well represented in and done well, Sam Hill won it last year, other Aussies there included Troy Brosnan and Mitch Delfs. Unfortunately, this year, the sole Australian entrant is junior Jackson Davis but there are some big overseas names whoA�are signed on to race this yearA�including; Dan Atherton, Marc Beaumont, Brendan Fairclough, Neko Mullaly and Mitch Ropelato. This, combined with the fast locals such as Popo Ario and Pornomo, will see fierce competition for the $3000 USD first place prize! More news and updates as we get them.
Jack Lumb navigating through a random rock patch mid-way down the track.
Round 2 of the VicDH Series saw the sun shining, lets hear from Jase Stevens as he gives us the lowdown on the event;
Welcome to Mt. Tarrengower, Round 2 of the Victorian Downhill Series. The suns out, the rocks are ready to destroy anything they come in contact with and the dust… well it seems its turned up again. The camera equipment just loves all the dust! If there was to be a stereotypical Australian Downhill track this one might just tick all the boxes, red Australian dust, rocks, and just a ripper of a day. As practice started you could see the track starting to be pulled apart by heavy braking and hard cornering.
Maldon gets straight into things, not messing about at all, a couple of berms and your thrown right into the thick of it, coming into a rock drop/garden and from there on for a significant stretch ita��s rocks and flats. The top section of the track claimed it fair share of riders and tubes, even through the early practice sessions. From the rocks you descend into some smooth berms, as practice progressed the berms got looser and looser, by the time race runs came around some of the exits were like dust traps making it vital the riders kept as much speed as possible.
Brent Harwood finding his line through the top rock section
The track then descends down a ridge line where the rocks seem to disappear and some jumps come through, getting progressively larger as your come down the track. It was very interesting to watch riders styles change as the day progressed, as the landings became softer and softer more and more riders opted to stay super low and scrub all the jumps. From my stand point this certainly looked much quick and appeared much more stable on landing and having to turn.
Dean Lucas cruising over the double.
As qualis began to quickly approach and riders stared to ease off the runs and the dust began to settle the wear on the track became apparent with plenty of the corners becoming rutted out with dust hiding those ruts, yet some parts of the track seemed to be untouched.
Ben Hill charging through the dust on the final corner to take the win in U/19s, no brakes and death gripping, nice!Rick Munro keeping it upright on one area of track that didn’t deteriorate as much as some other sections.
As qualis began the riding was stepped up and everyone found another gear, rocks and bumps that appeared to just be an obstacle suddenly became kickers to clear large sections of track, new lines came out and the speed generally went right up a notch.
Jacqui Lovett showing everyone that the girls can go just as fast in the rough stuff.Andrew Peck shows us one way of attempting the rock garden.Jack O’hare has a different line in mind.And Dean Lucas has a winning line in mind making sure that the rock garden simply becomes scenery as he claims air time over most of the rough stuff.
Race runs begin and one thing is rather evident, therea��s going to be mechanicals at this round. Plenty of riders suffered the misfortunes of flat tyres and other problems, and other suffered offs over the whole track.
This was the story of the day for so many unlucky riders.Not so for Aiden Varley who absolutely pulverised the top rock garden at full speed.
As the elite riders began their runs the track really started to get properly loose, just holding on to the end of the day. The final part of the track became a spectators dream as every rider came through faster and faster creating roosts from the loose berms as the rip down on the pedals to squeeze every last second they can out of the run.
Ashley Maller pushes even harder getting both wheels loose on the soft stuff.
As the top elite riders started coming down times started falling and each rider started taking over the hot seat. As Connor Fearon came over the line and took the hot seat there was only Dean Lucas to come. He appeared through the trees and cleared the road gap with ease smashing the final berm but oddly not pedalling, as the bike goes past it sounds rather unhealthy, pushing for every last second Dean ghosties the bike over the line for the win, only on later inspection do we see the issue Dean battled with to take the win.
How you win a race when your bike looks like this is beyond us.Elite mena��s podium. Interstate galore, nice to see a Victorian take the win.
Final results were:
Elite Men:
1. Dean Lucas
2. Connor Fearon
3. Rhys Atkinson
4. Tim Eaton
5. Trent Piribauer
Elite Women:
1. Sarah Booth
2. Tegan Malloy
3. Shelly Flood
4. Jacqui Lovett
5. Kelly Bayliss
U/19 Men:
1. Ben Hill
2. Aiden Varley
3. Mathew McCorkell
4. Ben Kelaart
5. Eliot Webb
All images and words in this article are credited to Jason Stevens, to see some more of his fantastic work follow this link;
The second round of the Tasmanian Gravity Series was held south of Hobart at ‘The Lea’ near Kingston.
Our contributor on the ground, Andrew Palmer, gives the rundown of the weekend; This weekend saw the second round of the 2012 Tasmanian Gravity series held at The Lea in the statea��s south. Tasmaniana��s downhill series has had a re vamp for 2012 with the addition of shuttles on Saturday at every round for practice as well as new locations added to the calendar. Many hours of work have gone into the track over the last few months to prepare it for the race, with major changes to improve drainage and the flow of the track overall.
Christina Sergeant was coming into this race off the back of victory at round 1.
Both Saturdaya��s practice ride and Sundaya��s racing saw great weather providing excellent conditions for close racing. There was a great turn out with over 60 riders participating in the race. The womena��s category was won by Christina Sergeant, her second win for the season she was followed by Jill Brady in second place.
The business end of the day was Under 19’s and Elite Men, pictured above is Ewan Favretto.
The closely contested Under 19a��s category was won by Clint White Racinga��s Ben Hill, followed by Brent Capel while Tom Gibson placed third. The Elite category was taken out by Kaine Cannon, also his second win for the series coming second place was Andrew Weatherhead and Josh Fuller in third.
Ben Hill from CWR continued his good form taking out Under 19s.Brent Capel, second in Under 19s.Tom Gibson rounded out the top three in Under 19’s.Experienced rider Kaine Cannon took out the Elite Men’s race.Andrew Weatherhead, second in Elite Men.Josh Fuller in practice, giving it a bit of style. Josh finished third in Elite Men.
Overall a great weekend was had by everyone with no major injuries or mechanical issues. The state series continues on December 15th and 16th on the North South track at the Glenorchy Mountain Bike Park.
An amazing year for Connor Fearon, which included a third place at the World Championships, has been recognised by Cycling Australia with the presentation of the Junior Mountain Biker of the Year Award.
Capping off a remarkable season, one that hasn’t even finished yet, Connor Fearon has won the Cycling Australia Junior Mountain Biker of the Year Award. Connor started off the year winning the Under 19 Australian National series and National Championships before embarking overseas for the international season. His first complete international season saw him finish 34th overall as well as third overall in the junior series, the year has been highlighted by his third placed finish at the World Championships. Connor joins names such as Rennie, Cory, Hannah, Hill, Delfs, O’Connor & Brosnan in winning the award, a massive achievement!
Straight to the pool room! Connnor was his usual modest self when we talked to him about his award, down playing its significance!
We would prefer to be downhilling but when we can’t some of these apps might just be the next best thing?! A downhill247.com app anybody?
As much as we would like it you cana��t be out downhilling 24 hours a day 7 days a week! With that in mind we thought we would share a few of the apps we have stumbled on that will help you get your fix when you are not on the bike or checking out downhil247.com and we are not just talking about mapping where you went for your ride! Some of these are free, others are not, if you know of any cool apps we have missed let us know as there are thousands available. Of course apps are different depending on what phone/software/etc you have so keep that in mind!
Maintenance;
ThereA�are a multitude of apps for getting your rig running before you hit the trails, apps such as Bike Repair HD or Bike Doctor allow you to get answers to commonly asked bike repair questions. However,A�dona��t expect specific technical questions related to your exact make and model of downhill bike to be answered though.
It is like having an expert in your back pocket, okay so it might not be as knowledgeable as the mechanic at your trusty LBS but it can help you get out of a jam!
Air time;
This is pretty cool as it allows you to a�?see your hang-time and degrees spun, and hear out loud how high you go with every jumpa�?, it also allows you to see your acceleration. This app works best if a few mates have it so you can compare each othera��s jumps, either that or hand the phone around between runs. Having a leaders board is a nice way to finish it off.
Think you have your mate covered over that jump? Find out for sure.
Training;
The choice of apps that will map your ride is huge, a large multitude of these will now allow you to time sections, whilst the timing may not be super accurate like you would get at a race it will allow you to see decent improvements in time. Strava is popular for this, remember though that you maybe tagging a trail that is illegal/secret and if you choose to share this with the world people will know exactly where it is and where you were!
Specific areas;
If you are riding in an unfamiliar area, you may be able to get an app specifically for that area. For example, Whistler Bike Park has an app, they even do one for Crankworx! These may be produced by the bike park, local government authorities or even other riders and each vary in their complexity, features and cost!
If you are heading somewhere new for a ride, check whether an app is available you never know!
Apps you hope you never have to usea��
Apps such as Yodel let you designate an area and approximate time of return that trusted people can see, if the ride doesna��t go as planned one button click allows the user to send all their information and location to these people. Hopefully this is one you never have to use!
Games;
Are these the next best thing to riding your bike?! Probably not but they can help fill in some time, Steve Peat has his own game, there is also a new for 2012 is a game called a�?LinesDHa�� and there are others out there but dona��t expect realistic graphics or amazing user inputa�� You have been warned!
Steve Peat has his own downhill game, what a legend!We don’t think you will get confused as to whether you are actually riding or not though as this screenshot from DHlines illustrates! Still it is good to see developers spending time on downhill games.
Juice Defender;
You may consider some of the apps available, such as Juice Defender, which limits battery use when you are riding so you can ride the whole day without flattening your battery completely. If you have used tracking or high power requiring apps you quickly realise your batteries wona��t last that long!
Various apps;
Whilst not being downhill specific there are thousands of apps out there which are handy when riding, anything from weather apps that will let you know what conditions you will be riding in to apps such as Photoshop Express which allow you to edit images before you use a Facebook app to show the world. Sometimes you need to get away from the screen and pick up a magazine in your own hands, flick through and smell that new magazine smell! If you cana��t do that you need a an app, fortunately [R]evolution mountain bike magazine has an app in which you can get all their issues, when you are not checking out downhill247.com of course! Chances are if you have thought about it there is an app for it!
Dona��t forget if you are taking your phone out into the wilderness with you that you may need to get some extra protection for it, how many times have you crashed and forgot it was in your pocket or thrown it into the back of the shuttle vehicle and watched it roll around? Depending on what phone you use depends on what cases you can get but shockproof and waterproof are a minimum. Just like apps you can really go over the top with accessories for your phone such as covers, extended batteries, etc. no need to get too caught up just go ride!
This shot of Brad McDonnell is a great example of an image submitted by a spectator at the race, great shot Frank Templeton!
After the recent South Australian State Champs we have been overwhelmed with the number of people sending in photos from the event, we love it though! So here are a few of our favourites from the race, to any budding photographers out there don’t be shy to hit us up on email (contact@downhill247.com) and show us some of your shots, you just never know they might end up on the site!
Race winner in Elite, Connor Fearon, taken by Ian Jones.Henry Blake captured through the lens of Matthew Gibson.James Chambers getting sideways as taken by Frank Templeton.Matthew Gibson got his pan just right with this shot of Will Badger.
Some great shots, we always like to share downhill related images and stories with the world, you know what to do!
