Today we wanted to do something a little different for everyone, so we aren’t writing this report, today we are handing over the reins to Max Warshawsky, our fastest Junior of the day, the words are his and the images will be picked by him also.
Riders were greeted to a even dustier and blown out course today, with the rain staying away overnight and throughout the day. Although it didn’t seem to make the track any slower, just more sketchy and wild with some big ruts and holes forming in most sections.
Racing kicked off with the Junior Men’s category which saw times drop a lot quicker from qualifying yesterday. The crowd was pretty nuts from early on in the day with chainsaws being a regular down the hill. I managed toA� have a clean run down the hill and it was just good enough to hop into the hot seat andA� bump Andrew Crimmins into second with 7 riders left to go. I didn’t end up staying there too long but still stoked to end up in 6th and Andrew in 7th. The Brit Taylor Vernon ended up putting together a pearler for the win, in front of the homeboy ‘merican Luca Shaw and Loris Vergier in third.
The women came next with Teegan coming down first and taking the hot seat, but only quickly as the women started crossing the line, the times were very tight throughout the women until it came to the top ladies, then the times started spacing out, with the top girls taking large chunks out of each others times. Micayla Gatto had a huge crash which closed the track and got Tahnee Seagrave a re-run, it also meant that Manon Carpenter put a 6 second gap on her closest competitor. Emmeline Ragot came down to take the hot seat, and Rachel Atherton couldnt better her time, leaving Emmeline with the win for the day
This left only the men, the main show, right for the start the times were really close with the hot seat changing lots and the gaps being sub 1 second. Mick Jones came down on a flyer and took the hot seat for quite some time, edging out both of his team mates. He stayed on the hot seat until Sam Blenkinsop came down and knocked him off, this started the hot seat swap again, with Troy Brosnan taking the seat and then Aaron Gwin, leaving just Josh Bryceland to try and take the win. Times were close at the first split, sub 1 second again, but by the second split Josh ahd increased the gap to over 2 seconds almost ensuring he took the win. This makes Josh this seasons first repeat winner.
Junior Men
1. Taylor Vernon
2. Luca Shaw
3. Loris Vergier
4. Niel Stewart
5. Thomas Estaque
Elite Women
1. Emmaline Ragot
2. Rachel Atherton
3. Tracey Hannah
4. Manon Carpenter
5. Tahnee Seagrave
Elite Men
1. Josh Bryceland
2. Aaron Gwin
3. Troy Brosnan
4 Sam Blenkinsop
5. Brook Macdonald
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Words: Max Warshawsky Photos: Jason Stevens Photography. Facebook: www.facebook.com/jasonstevensphotographyA�or follow @jasonstevensphotography on Instagram