Round 4 of the South Australian Insideline downhill series finds us back at Fox Creek for another weekend of wet and wild racing. Leading into the race with weather forecasts looking worse than average a last minute track change was in order to keep riders flowing all weekend!
Saturday rolled around and found riders all around SA sweeping in to there favorite coffee shops for a morning cuppa before heading out to brave the slick conditions that Patto’s Curse was sure to offer. With plenty of fast off camber, tech switch backs and spectator favorite jumps the track is plenty fun to ride and tested many racers fitness.
Sunday came around and the weather cleared up mid way through morning practice, making track conditions change dramatically and put last minute tyre changes for some racers at the top of the to do list.
As racing started first up was elite and under 19 seeding, with mostly familiar names at the top of the list race runs were sure not to disappoint! As riders came down cleaner and cleaner it was sure the track had gone from a mess to hero dirt and times kept inching closer to that sub 2 minute mark.
Elite women came next and Philippa Rostan put in the fastest time of the field, followed closely by Moira Love and Laura Kelly rounding out the podium.A�As the racing was coming into the business end of things under 19s came down the hill, with the crowd getting rowdy and commentators getting more and more excited. Darcy Grooby came down to put down a smoking time of 2.06.93 to put him into the hot seat. Cameron Heading, Henry Hunt and Drew Gartery came down the hill getting close but no cigar, as Darcy Grooby took out another under 19s podium by a considerable margin of 4.6 seconds.
With only the elite men’s field left at the top of the hill racing got underway and saw times dropping considerably. As racing goes some pushed too much and got caught out, while others managed to stay rubber side down and put down quality race runs. Sully Fleming came down and put down a solid run to put him into the hot seat, only to be knocked off by Conor Clancy by less than half a second. With big names left at the top we were sure to see the bar raised and Luke Reynolds was the first to do so sitting himself into the lead with 5 riders left to go. Cam Ryan once again came down on his trail bike and was the first to break the 2 minute mark for the day with a 1.58.44! With everyone waiting for the top seeded rider to come down it was a green light for Angus Maddern as he crossed the line with a smoking time of 1.57.63 to take out the elite men’s field for round 4 at Fox Creek Patto’s Curse.
That’s all from me, another quality weekend of fast racing done and dusted (or maybe that should be mudded!). See you next time back at Eagle Mountain Bike Park for round 5 of the Insideline mountain bike downhill series!
See the full results here:A�http://www.insideline.com.au/index.php/results/2014-race-results/race-4-fox-creek-patterson-s-curse-2014
Words Aaron Pelttari (Aaron would like to thanks Monza Imports, Bicycle Express & Bouwmeester Composites). Images in this article from RFPhotographics like them on FacebookA�hereA�or follow on Instagram @rfphotogrpahics
Facebook.com/downhill247
Instagram:A�@downhill247