Last weekend saw the first round of the 2015/16 National Series, held at Mt Taylor in Eastern Victoria. As the official beginning of the season, this round would set the precedent for the growing Nationals campaign by Mountain Bike Australia. With the annual Cannonball festival the following weekend at nearby Thredbo, this round was a good chance for everyone to dust off their bikes and their skills, simultaneously getting covered in a lot of dust.
Jackson Davis, once again riding for Specialized Australia styles it up over one of the floaty doubles that had riders cranking throughout the lower end of the course.
Though there had been much upset regarding a severe lack of rider transport on Friday, a last minute dash by organisers, and a heavy helping hand from support crew and family members would see 7 buses and 5 trailers manned for the rest of the weekend. A 50-60 minute shuttle turnaround left plenty of time to ponder lines and rest the legs for the draining descent through rocky chutes, loose switchbacks and flat pedal sections.
Cabbage patch kept riders on their toes; a high-speed, high-commitment section featuring a double drop – littered with cabbage sized rocks as the name suggests
Jake Newell tearing up a berm mid-course, his Summum having no trouble with the rough and loose course.Rhys Atkinson, taking time from trail building to get into the new race season. Rhys would take 12th place in racing, 1 second behind his seeding time with a 4.14:61.Flat tire, flat corner styles.
In the Female category there were several hot picks for the win, and though Tegan Molloy had had a big crash during Saturday’s practice, much of the crowd held faith that she might just pull it all together for the race run. With Mondraker riders Sarah Booth and Kellie Weinert, along with Pivot rider Danni Beecroft back from injury, and Norco rider Michelle crisp a�� things were sure to get interesting.
Sian Ahern; new recruit to the Bilt Bikes team was in form all weekend. Having previously flown under the radar at state and national events, Sian will be one to watch this year since joining a team. To match her seeding run time would have seen her grab 4th place in Elite.Vic Armstrong taking on the Cabbage Patch garden with no trouble. A rough bout of health stole the weekend from Vic, we might see her true form at Stromlo in a couple of weeks.
Flagged by the commissaires for wearing his USA jersey during practice and seeding, Deano Machino opted to source local Melbourne apparel for the sake of racing.
In a typical Aussie gum forest, catching a clear angle of the track was tough at times. We are lucky that the series this year will take us to 4 unique venues, each with their own atmosphere and colour palette. Who says racing can’t be pretty?
Tegan Molloy giving it some during racing a�� despite a solid run she took 3rd, one fifth of a second behind Danni Beecroft. Mondraker’s Sarah Booth took the Elite Womens’ title – 8 seconds ahead of Danni & Tegan.Matt Dinham is a machine. Balancing his final years of school, whilst competing in road, XC and Downhill events, each with stellar results. This round Matt took 2nd in his XCO race and 1st place in the Downhill.
Kellie Weinert, consistent and strong in her approach to all riding placed 4th this weekend. Kellie will give the Elite girls a reason to push hard this series to keep their ground on the podium.Troy Weinert, sister of Kellie has a great role model to be riding with, and it shows in his early speed as a youngster. Troy took his U15 title with a time that would’ve landed him 2nd against the Elite Womens podium.There were plenty of ways to go down in Cabbage Patch, and so many close calls during racing.The man of the hour, Jack Moir grinning after a false start and re-run wouldn’t wreck his mindset for racing. A super-fast run would see him elude Muddy by 4 seconds and take the win, while setting a course record at Mt Taylor. Just a few days after jumping on his new Intense M16, Jack must be feeling pretty good about the new bike.
Elite Men:
Jack Moir
Graeme ‘Muddy’ Mudd
Josh Button
Liam Panozzo
David McMillan
Elite Women:
Sarah Booth
Danni Beecroft
Tegan Molloy
Kellie Weinert
Michelle Crisp
Check out the full results from Sunday’s racing by clicking here.
Thanks for reading our coverage of the 2015/16 Nationals opening round. On December 11-13 we visit Mt Stromlo, home of the 2009 Worlds, and a familiar spot to many of our favourite riders. Let’s see what goes down there!
The USA jersey didn’t last long on race day, the airways were almost in a state of panic over Dean’s anti-patriotic move. For everyone else though, it was a bit of fun.
