25th for Connor who was trying to match his plate it would seem, he will drop that number at the next few rounds we are sure.
Let’s check in with Connor Fearon as he gives us the Inside Info on World Cup number 1 for 2014! Over to Mr Worldwide himself:
Last time I raced here I finished in the 60’s with a good run and that was my worst World Cup result ever. I’ve trained hard this off season to change all that. I was excited for the season to start and get back into racing with my new team mate Andrew Crimmins. As far as the team goes not much has changed. I still have my trusty mechanic Dupelle working on the Kona. Matty had already set my bike up with an air shock and single ply tyres to help bring the weight down to move along the pedal a bit faster. The track walk showed a lot of changes the track builders have made since I was here in 2012. A lot of the top section had been diverted and remade with the inclusion of a few very technical rock gardens. Apart from that the track was the same with the lung burning pedal and 4x style bottom third. My first few runs made me realise how hard the top section was going to be now with the added rock gardens. Everybody on trail bikes looked like they were struggling a bit. I opted to put my coil shock and downhill casing tyres back on. My plan was to make as much time at the top half and figure out the pedal section when I get to it. Unfortunately my team mate Andrew Crimmins crashes badly on the first practice day and broke his kneecap in half… He’ll be back eventually and will get to the top step I’m sure.
Roaring into the finishing area you can be sure the riders were hurting. Connor has been training hard in the off season and it shows!
Qualifying was good. I put a solid run down and pushed hard through the technical sections. I qualified 26th. I really want to stay in the top 20 this year, statistically this is my worst track but it made no difference to my expectations. With racing on Saturday there was no practice day after qualifying, just a short session before racing. I made a few changes to my lines in some sections that would help me go faster. My race run was really good only some minor issues at the top and set my lungs on fire throughout the whole pedal section. Overall it was pretty good. I finished in 25th, to be honest I’m a little disappointed and I expected better of myself this season. After looking at the split times I was happy with my effort on the pedal. I was 18th at the last split then went back from there… Now my focus is on the cairns World Cup in a week where I really want to be up there in the results. Thanks to my sponsors for making this season possible- Kona, Fox Head, Maxxis, Giro Shoes, SRAM, Rock Shox, Avid, Yakima racks and Breese High Performance.
Next stop for the world cup is no where other than Cairns Australia!
The first world cup of the year is always tough because you never know who has been doing what during the off season. One thing is certain, Steve Peat and ripping, he again showed us despite being near on 40 he can mix it with the best, foot out style!
The first world cup for season 2014 is done and dusted, this finals report from South Africa also happens to be the 300th article up on downhill247.com happy days all round! The crowds came out and lined the track with most down towards the bottom section where riders had to it big jumps after 3.5 minutes of flat out pedalling and exhaustion further up the track. The day kicked off with the junior classes, whilst it is great the juniors get recognised in their own category it means they don’t feature on the live broadcast. So if you’re not lucky enough to be trackside you can’t see just how fast these riders are going and believe us they are flying!
It was young American Luca Shaw who took the victory and the overall leaders jersey followed by Loris Vergier and in third Amaury Pierron. For the Aussie contingent it was AidenVarley in fourth who got everyone back home in Australia off their seats! Aiden matched his qualifying position, a great result for Aiden.
Junior Men
1. Luca Shaw 4:15.267
2. Loris Vergier 4:17.257
3. Amaury Pierron 4:23.668
4. Aiden Varley 4:27.376
5. Benjamin Boutie 4:29.731
Luca Shaw, one of two bike riding siblings, took the first junior win of the year and made sure America took out both male classes for the day.
Next up we saw the women divisions hit the course, there were three Aussies to watch out for, one junior and two senior riders. By default as the only junior rider to line up and take on the track here in South Africa Tegan Molloy claims the overall leaders jersey. Her race run didn’t quite goes as planned with a crash in the rock garden but she dusted herself off and finished her run. Moving onto seniors and Danielle Beecroft just missed a top ten in 11th place. The best Aussie result goes to Tracey Hannah in 6th place, no doubt she will be looking to do a lot better than that in Cairns in 2 weeks.
Check out those crazy fans in the background! The noise of chainsaws filled the last gully! Tracey Hannah pushing hard to the finish line, 6th place was her reward.
In the end a fresh new face grabbed her first world cup victory, after a successful transition from juniors Mannon Carpenter showed that she has made the jump and is now a contender in seniors too. Rachel Atherton did well to beat her sickness into second place and Jill Kintner put her 4X/BMX background to good use to take 3rd.
Senior Women
1. Manon Carpenter 4:34.923
2. Rachel Atherton 4:38.831
3. Jill Kintner 4:44.041
4. Myriam Nicole 4:44.651
5. Emmeline Ragot 4:44.662
6. Tracey Hannah 4:48.045
7. Tahnee Seagrave 4:52.285
8. Morgane Charre 4:52.400
9. Emilie Siegenthaler 4:58.117
10. Fionn Griffiths 5:00.973
Her first win and we are sure not her last, Mannon Carpenter on her way to gold.
The last class of the day Senior Men, with 80 riders battling it out it was set to be a good afternoon and it didn’t disappoint! We watched the Green To Gold team race their first Senior Men’s race, with Chris Barlin and Brent Smith finishing 68th and 65th respectively it was a successful debut. Dean Lucas cracked the top 50 in 49th with Jack Moir a few positions ahead in 46th, finishing just ahead of Jack was second fastest qualifier Josh Bryceland who lost his chain and couldn’t pedal, he ended up a not too shabby 43rd. Brook MacDonald and Brendan Fairclough have had better days in the office with 35th and 37th placed finishes respectively. Nick Beer crashed aboard his custom Devinci and finished 29th one place ahead of Danny Hart in 28th.
28th for Danny Hart but this was never going to be a track where he would be a favourite. Check out the extreme photo stance of old mate on the left!
Moving up the results we see Connor Fearon in 25th, a solid result and as usual we will have his Inside Info for you all – watch this space! Bryn Atkinson was less than 0.5 of a second ahead in 23rd, with such close times a second could easily move you up 5 positions.
25th for Connor who was trying to match his plate it would seem, he will drop that number at the next few rounds we are sure.
Home town rider Andrew Neethling was 17th one place behind Steve Peat, an honourable mention to Cam Cole in 12th who is a coming back from a A�nasty run of injuries but showing he still has it. Whilst South Africa has never been his strongest track we were surprised to see Gee in 10th, not a bad result but after 2013 double digit results are rare! One place ahead and the highest flat pedal finisher was Sam Hill. By this stage it was still Mic Hannah who was in the hotseat as he came down earlier on in the day, with a lot of heavyweights not getting close to his time it looked like this might finally be his day… The young guns of Loic Bruni, Troy Brosnan and Sam Blenkinsop couldn’t displace him and finished 4th, 5th and 6th respectively. Greg Minnaar, arguably the danger man here for Hannah came down and looked fast but even with the crowd egging him on couldn’t knock Mic out of the seat. Had he finally done it, with just one rider to come Mic was still on the hot seat. Aaron Gwin was up at the first split and the second and as he blasted into the finish area he was up there too. Proving a point to his doubters Gwin is back, Mic finished second, so close! We are sure Mic will get one back next round in Cairns.
Podiums are always good! Top 5 for Troy Brosnan.So close! Second for Mic Hannah, this will make him hungrier for a win in Cairns.Aaron was quicker everywhere, are we going to see a repeat of 2011/12 where he was unstoppable?Thumbs up! Winners are grinners, no unlucky 13 around here!There’s a fair chance next races podium could look like this but will it be a different order?
What a race and it answered many questions but created a few new ones too! Will Gwin be unstoppable? Can Mic use this to win in Cairns? Will Stevie Smith be back in time to shake things up? Will a young Aussie such as Connor or Troy bring something exceptional out of the bag and show the world how Aussies ride on home soil?
Senior Men
1. Aaron Gwin 3:59.344
2. Mick Hannah 4:01.381
3. Greg Minnaar 4:02.168
4. Loic Bruni 4:02.237
5. Troy Brosnan 4:02.675
6. Samuel Blenkinsop 4:03.387
7. Sam Dale 4:05.347
8. Neko Mulally 4:05.705
9. Sam Hill 4:06.195
10. Gee Atherton 4:06.243
Tune in for Cairns where we will be going all out for our home world cup, Aussie Aussie Aussie!
Before then there is still plenty coming up on the site.
Back, back again Shady is back tell a friend, actually sorry that should be Gwinny is back! First place in qualifying and sending out a clear message to his rivals.
Well, well, well,who picked that? Results from qualifying here in South Africa are complete and there is definitely a few eye brows being raised in the pits. Aaron Gwin showed everyone he is back finishing some 2.5 seconds ahead of Josh Bryceland, who has been training hard during the off season. Fellow teammate and pre-race favourite Greg Minnaar was in position 3 just 0.1 behind Josh, it was then a Lapierre double with Loic Bruni (how fast is this kid) and Sam Blenkinsop rounding out the top 5.
Conditions in South Africa are warm and dry, as you can see riders are just railing turns with traction no problem.
In 6th place was Australia’s own Troy Brosnan, the next Aussie was Sam Hill in 9th place, a bit of a gap back to Bryn Atkinson in 23rd. Bryn spent some time in the local hospital after a concussion during practice but got the all clear from the quacks to suit up and race, fortunately he did as all the points riders can get for the overall are super valuable. Connor Fearon was a few spots back in 26th place and ready to pull the trigger on Saturday (for this race the finals are on Saturday instead of the usual Sunday). In his first senior men’s world cup Dean Lucas grabbed a super respective 41st. With only a few weeks on his new bike Jack Moir was 52nd, watch out for Jack this year as his speed improves. In their first world cup Green to Gold racing had all their riders qualify, Brent Smith in 62nd and Chris Barlin 74th (their female rider Danielle Beecroft also qualified). The biggest surprise was Mich Hannah in 92nd, having a moment on the track, possibly related to a mechanical but being a protected rider he will still ride finals despite finishing out of the top 80.
Fastest Aussie in quallys was Troy Brosnan in 6th place, he would want to come out of the race with a podium at least…Local Andrew Needling never seems to have the best race at his home track. At least he looks stylish though… We know he wants more than style points though. He is also rocking plate 12 just like junior Aussie Aiden Varley who also happens to be riding a Giant to confuse everyone!Greg Minnaar booooosssstiinggg! The jumps here are big and riders are clocking close to 70kph. Third in qualifying but you can’t argue with his record here.
Looking at some of the other results Gee Atherton crashed and tumbled down the results to 15th (see what we did there!). Brendan Fairclough rode his trail bike to 28th and Brook Macdonald crashed finishing 66th.
In the women’s race Manon Carpenter showed she means business, first place by over 9 seconds ahead of Rachel Atherton who had to take her IV drip out to go to the track! Emmeline Ragot was thrid, Tracey Hannah fifth. We saw Danielle Beecroft in 13th at her first senior race. Junior Tegan Molloy was 16th and will give her more confidence as her experience increases.
In 13th place let’s hope the 13 turns out to be lucky for Danielle Beecroft.Manon Carpenter qualified first and looks like the rider to beat at the first round of the year.Style check! Marc Beaumont passes with flying colours, scrub-a-dub-dub!
Junior men was taken out by American Luca Shaw, Loris Vergier was second and Taylor Vernon third, these names might not be common place but as the season continues and the years roll on it’s the juniors who will be making inroads tot he senior classes. One name you should recognise in fourth is Aiden Varley! Riding well we would love to see Aiden crack the top 3 this weekend, fingers crossed!
Luca Shaw was the fastest junior with our own Aiden Varley in fourth place yeewww.
Racing will be taking place on Saturday so check back soon for all the action.
Greg Minnaar ‘won’ practice, nothing surprising considering he has won 3 out of the past 4 UCI events here, not to mention some of the local South African races. Make no mistake he is the man to beat here.
Practice is done for the day here in South Africa, an interesting day, there were still a few trail style bikes kicking around under riders but there were a lot more ‘light’ downhill bikes. Specialized, Devinci, Chain Reaction just to name a few were all getting around on beefed up trail style bikes, so less travel than full on downhill bikes but more beefy than regular trail bikes. Riders were sporting triple clamp forks to deal with the new rock additions.
With defending champ Rachel Atherton battling sickness (but expecting to start the qualifying run tomorrow) Emmeline Ragot grabbed the fastest timed run for the ladies.In fact Emmeline’s team mate Loris Vergier took out the junior men’s practice so Lapierre is looking like the team to beat. Add into this Loic Bruni and Sam Blenkinsop contending the men’s race and they may walk away with the teams point lead this weekend.
Disappointing times for the Kona team with junior rider Andrew Crimmins out after crashing in the ‘Money Maker’ A�section of the track, the crash leaving his knee cap in two pieces… Now on his way back to Australia the world champs in Norway will become his focus. A real shame as he has the potential to mix it up in the juniors with anyone. He wasn’t the only rider to succumb to the track here in Pietermaritzburg, Innes Graham went down and broke his ankle or foot. We also saw Bryn Atkinson eat dirt but not sure how he pulled up afterwards, hopefully fine!
Never a nice sight, Andrew Crimmins being stretchered out. He will be back and charging soon.Mic Hannah looked good, with a string of podiums here we all know he can get the job done. Will his new 27.5″ ride be enough to tip the balance in his favour? We will find out Sunday.Oh yeah, that is a classic Sam Hill shot right there, feet up laying down the style and dust going every where! 6th in timed practice shows he has his lines sorted. In typical Sam Hill fashion he was taking some pretty unique lines in the rock sections.
Tomorrow sees qualifying and a true indication of who has been training hard in the off season, catch you soon!
Yes sir you are correct this is the first world cup race of the year, thanks for reminding us it is race number 1!
World cups are back! The 2014 season has kicked off in South Africa, home of the 2013 World Championships and Downhill247 as always is bringing you all the action! Today was the track walk day, a chance for riders to check out the track and see any changes. Having been on the circuit for a few years now most riders knew where the track would go but what they weren’t expecting was what was in their way, rocks! The course builders have been busy adding big rocks to make it a ‘proper’ downhill track, this raises the question, medium bike or full size downhill rig? Check out some of the antics from the walk below, it looks casual but believe us things are going to get serious real quick here in Pietermaritzburg!
Protection is essential! Manon Carpenter knows the drill and puts the sun hat to good use, with a few seasons under her belt now she will be a real contender for the overall.It might be sunny now but just a few weeks ago the track was under a deluge of water! The dust and heat are back, the conditions in South Africa are unforgiving at the best of times.Aaron Gwin was talking to himself? Or maybe it was for that microphone he had clipped to his t-shirt! Having absolutely dominated the field for 2 years everyone knows he can do it but the question still remains has he found his mojo again?This team represents some of Australia’s best chances to take the win. The Hannahs have tasted success here before but they haven’t taken a double world cup win, something they must want pretty badly.Time to reflect? Or a cheeky display pic for your social media profile?Don’t back down! Old School and the current World Champ check out the track. How many people have one of these two penciled in for the win?Young Dean Lucas throws the horns! Moving up in the world to Senior Men and the World Cup Devinci team he will be looking to make a good start to the season here.Is Sam Hill looking slimmer to you? With an off season dominated by recovering from injury he looks fit and ready to go on a track that, by his own admission, isn’t his favourite!
Now we are keener than ever for the bikes to be rolled out and practice to get underway! Check back soon as we bring you all the action from practice.
As excitement builds for what lies ahead, Wednesday practice went ahead for juniors, including our Aussie contingent. The hardpacked, dry track won’t change dramatically between now and race day (unless the weather does), it’s time for riders to lock in their lines and get their head in the game. We’ve also seen a number of custom rigs for certain riders, notably Steve Smith on a prototype Devinci and the CRC/Nukeproof team on “country specific custom” rides. What will this mean come racing? All we can say is, these riders wouldn’t be doing it if they weren’t onto something. Lets see where this goes…
A welcome change after the wet weather in Mont-Sainte-Anne, Pietermaritzburg’s predictable surface lets riders really open up. Here Luke Ellison sends his way down the mountain. After placing 2nd in the National Series, Luke has good opportunity here in South Africa.Brent Smith, focused through the iconic lower section of the track. On a fast, dry track our Aussie riders are at home, which is an advantage come racing on Friday (Juniors only).Caroline Buchanan is in a good position coming into to the event. Consistently performing in BMX racing, and now presented with a fitness-intensive trail… We’re on the edge of our seat!Tegan Molloy and Danielle Beecroft are proudly running Australian Jerseys in the Junior Women’s class this weekend. Pictured, Tegan attacks a rocky section. It’s clear why the World Cup comes back each year to Pietermaritzburg, it’s a tough trail that tests endurance and pushes riders to their limits in speed and technique.Tasmanian rider Ben Hill steezing it up on the Rocky Mountain Flatline. While downhill racing is a serious affair come race day, we know all riders all do it for the same reason: FUN. And what’s more fun than a big whip?
Stay tuned for updates from Pietermaritzburg World Championships 2013.
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