Tasmania Archives -

The Tasmanian downhill series is upon us again with round 1 held at The Lea in the states south over the weekend. The notoriously flat and rocky track had a tune up over the winter with a bit of smoothing out done to the course as well as adding a couple of new jumps and and wooden drops to keep things interesting.

Seb O'hollaran passes the The Lea cheer squad mid-flight off a log drop. Support from the crowd heightens the excitement! — Seb O’hollaran passes the The Lea cheer squad mid-flight off a log drop. Support from the crowd heightens the excitement!

Rock gardens were a notorious traffic jam — Rock gardens are a notorious traffic jam during practice.

Saturdaya��s practice saw 69 riders competing with plenty of new faces on plenty of different bikes everything from dirt jump hardtails to 29er enduro bikes to full downhill bikes.Saturday afternoon saw some light rain causing certain sections of the track to become a bit boggy for sundaya��s race.

Australian downhill is synonymous with 'rocks', as a few riders found out. — Australian downhill is synonymous with ‘rocks’, as a few riders found out.

Remy Adderton dropping in... — Remy Adderton dropping in…

Kaine Cannon powers through a rock garden during practice, finalising his lines before punching out a top run to take Elite Mens.

Sunday morning had perfect weather for racing, with not a cloud in the sky which luckily retained for the entire day. Riders punched out the practice runs all morning for some last minute tune ups and familiarisation with the track.

Ewan Favretto punches down the trail, comfortable and focused on the bike.

Even event director Matt Wood found some time for runs at The Lea. Perks of the job, hey!

Doug Austin leads Connor Greatbatch OVER the rock garden during practice.

Dereck West styling it up and getting low through the rough stuff.

Racing went relatively smoothly apart from Hamish Johns taking a spill and having to be taken away in an ambulance (Hea��s ok now) – the stoppage on the track caused some of the fielda��s race times to be thrown off resulting in race times having to be taken from the seeding results instead. A�Aside from this Dan Booker managed to take the win in Under 19a��s followed by Simon Palmer and Ewan Favretto. To no onea��s surprise Kaine Cannon took the win in Elite with Ben Hill and Remy Adderton closely behind.

Dan Booker on pace - staring the camera at full pace isn't usually a good thing, but he pulled it off. Next time give us a wink? — Dan Booker on pace – staring the camera at full pace isn’t usually a good thing, but he pulled it off. Next time give us a wink?

All race runs should start with a power wheelie.... Dan Booker taking off. — All race runs should start with a power wheelie…. Dan Booker taking off to 1st place in the U19s.

Dan Booker coming in to land on his Norco Aurum.

Ben Hill punching colour and style into the Tasmanian wilderness, yeeeewww!

Ben again, holding it wide on a tricky rock corner.

Adam Oates hitting one of Dirt Art's wooden features. — Adam Oates hitting one of Dirt Art’s wooden features.

Riders had to be wary of webs like this; they're no catch barrier! More of an unnerving inconvenience of "where's the spider?!" — Riders had to be wary of webs like this; they’re no catch barrier! More of an unnerving inconvenience of “where’s the spider?!”

Thanks to the event sponsors Track X, Ironhouse brewery, Bike Ride, Dirt Art, Hill St Gourmet meats and many others.

Photos & Words: Andrew Palmer

Josh Fuller 3rd elite — The second round of the Tasmanian Gravity Series was held south of Hobart at ‘The Lea’ near Kingston.

Our contributor on the ground, Andrew Palmer, gives the rundown of the weekend; This weekend saw the second round of the 2012 Tasmanian Gravity series held at The Lea in the statea��s south. Tasmaniana��s downhill series has had a re vamp for 2012 with the addition of shuttles on Saturday at every round for practice as well as new locations added to the calendar. Many hours of work have gone into the track over the last few months to prepare it for the race, with major changes to improve drainage and the flow of the track overall.

Christina Sergeant 1st Womens (3) — Christina Sergeant was coming into this race off the back of victory at round 1.

Both Saturdaya��s practice ride and Sundaya��s racing saw great weather providing excellent conditions for close racing. There was a great turn out with over 60 riders participating in the race. The womena��s category was won by Christina Sergeant, her second win for the season she was followed by Jill Brady in second place.

The business end of the day was Under 19’s and Elite Men, pictured above is Ewan Favretto.

The closely contested Under 19a��s category was won by Clint White Racinga��s Ben Hill, followed by Brent Capel while Tom Gibson placed third. The Elite category was taken out by Kaine Cannon, also his second win for the series coming second place was Andrew Weatherhead and Josh Fuller in third.

Ben Hill 1st U19's — Ben Hill from CWR continued his good form taking out Under 19s.

Brent Capel 2nd 19's — Brent Capel, second in Under 19s.

Tom Gibson 3rd 19's — Tom Gibson rounded out the top three in Under 19’s.

Kaine Cannon 1st Elite mens — Experienced rider Kaine Cannon took out the Elite Men’s race.

Andrew Weatherhead 2nd Elite — Andrew Weatherhead, second in Elite Men.

Josh Fuller in practice, giving it a bit of style. Josh finished third in Elite Men.

Overall a great weekend was had by everyone with no major injuries or mechanical issues. The state series continues on December 15th and 16th on the North South track at the Glenorchy Mountain Bike Park.

Words and all photos credited to Andrew Palmer.

Tag: Tasmania

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