Day 3a��the grand finale to wrap up an outstanding weekend of riding and it certainly didn’t disappoint! A legendary track, one that will beat you and your bike up if you don’t pay it respect! That said it is a blast if you get it all right…

Troy Brosnan had qualified first the day before so he was the man to beatA� but with such a stacked field of talented riders from Australia and overseas it was anyone’s race to win. In the woman’s Tegan Molloy had qualified first and was set to take the win in all the events she had entered.

With the final practice done and dusted it was time to race! There were a large number of contestants and the majoirty had a great time (there were a few crashes but overall it is a fair bet they still enjoyed themselves in the grand scheme of things).

As the times dropped and the speeds got faster it was both Tegan and Troy who both took the win. Conor Fearon came in second after a gnarly crash in practice up on one of the big senders. Sam Hill Rounded out the podium. Tegan was joined on the podium by Sian Ahern and Lisa Mathison.

Well this rounds out the coverage from the 2015 Canonball festival, its been a superb weekend organised by Thredbo MTB team with non stop action all weekend long. If you haven’t made it out to this event definitely put it on your hit list.

Words & images: RFPhotographics (FacebookA�hereA�or follow on Instagram @rfphotographics).

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Day 2 was another busy day of events beginning with the Maxxis Flow Motion Cup, one run down the 8min Koziosko Flow Trail, this was one for the enduro bikes to come out and play.A�The course over the weekend had become dry, rough and dusty with the pounding of practice.

Tom Crimmins took the pro men win and Tegan Molloy once again won the pro woman.

The next event on the cards what the ODI Whip Wars, with riders throwing down the biggest, most stylish whips and any different tricks being awarded $50 notes if the crowd approved. Connor Fearon was the one judged to have the best whips on the day taking them past 90 on all occasions but really closely followed by Mayhem Dave McMillan. Also throwing down some of the biggest whips on the day.

Stay tuned for Day A�3 action with the Toyota Australian open downhill to come.

Words & images: RFPhotographics (FacebookA�hereA�or follow on Instagram @rfphotographics).

Get more content onA�FacebookA�orA�follow us on Instagram: @downhill247

Day 1 of the biggest downhill orientated mountain bike festival in Australia certainly lived up to its name. Kicking off the events for the weekend was the SRAM Dual Compressor, a 4X style knockout competition.A�Not to be confused with dual slalom, riders don’t have to stay in lanes they are free to go where ever they want, and of course rubbing is sometimes racing.A�The course offered up a variety of features from flat cut grass corners to berms, inside lines and kickers everywhere for the riders to scrub.A�Racing was close with many close battles witnessed.A�Taking out the pro men was none other than Blake Nielsen and taking out the Pro Woman was Tegan Molloy.

As the sunset and the lights came on to host the Rockshox Pumptrack Challenge.A�A freshly built course modeled after the courses seen in Rotorua and Whistler, made by the guys at Dirt Art.A�The course performed brilliantly allowing riders to tip into the corners at max angle and gain huge speed out. The riders raced against the clock with the top 5 progressing to a shootout to decide the winner. Again it was close racing with Remy Morton taking out the winA�and once again Tegan Molloy took out the pro woman.

For full results see Thredbo MTB

Stay tuned for Day 2 & 3 action with the Maxxis Flow Motion Cup, ODI Whip Wars and Toyota Australian open downhill to come.

Words & images: RFPhotographics (FacebookA�hereA�or follow on Instagram @rfphotographics).

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Last weekend Thredbo Resort, situated in the breathtaking Snowy Mountains, recently held the second ever Cannonball Festival. There was some big money up for grabs and a variety of events over the three day weekend to cater for not only the big names in attendance but also the recreational rider. In preparation for the event, the Thredbo MTB team had made a few alterations to some of the tracks and had the legendary Cannonball DH race track in form to offer some great racing. However, there was nothing they could do to keep the wet and wild weather at bay. But that certainly didn’t put a dampener on things.

Local rider and current DH world champion Tegan Molloy had an unlucky weekend. She crashed during practice on Sunday morning which put her out of the Australian Open DH. This made it easier for Queenslander and world class racer Tracey Hannah to take the win in the pro female category.

After the race we caught up with Andrew Crimmins to have a chat about the race.

Downhill 24/7 – Hey Andrew! Congratulations for the win!

AC – That was crazy. I definitely thought Sam was gonna be faster than what he did but … I’m on top spot!

DownhillA�24/7 – We didn’t see you much on the mountain… were you hiding your lines!?

AC – I wasn’t really hiding lines. Sunday morning I wanted to see what the track was like so I let other people ride first to see if it was gonna chop up or gonna stay dry. I definitely knew the track so that was a bit of an advantage I guess. I didn’t really have to do so many runs considering it was pretty wet.

DownhillA�24/7 – And mate, what about the Flowmotion Cup? You didn’t race it?

AC – I planned on racing if Flowmotion Cup was on Saturday but just because I didn’t really want to do two races in a day. I wanted to save my energy for the downhill.

 

All in all, a good weekend with a multitude of different types of racing!

Images and report: Ronnie Fabrizio Grammatica (www.ronniegrammatica.com) follow on facebook.com/ronniegrammaticaphotogrpahyA�or Instagram @ronniegrammatica

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