Victorian Downhill Series Archives -

We share the top of the hill with these guys!

Bright is the home of the final race for Victorian Downhill Series. Now we know you have seen all of our coverage from Bright of the Australian National Championshipsa�� So we wanted to make this one a little different, no one enjoys seeing the same thing over and over, so we sent Jason out with a challenge! He has to shoot the entire track with a 300mm lens, for anyone who has been to Bright, you will know ita��s not really an open track, so thata��s quite a challenge (a 300mm lens is super zoomed in if youa��re wondering why a 300mm would be hard!).

Alex Swann gives us some horns on the walk to the start ramp.

Nato throws in some style in the fast drop section towards the first corner.

Bright has turned on the weather again, though there was an awesome storm Friday night, the track didn’t seem all that effected in a negative way at all. By the time practice started on Saturday the track was in unbelievable condition, with more and more riders passing over it, it became tacky, and there was no dust! A rare sight at Bright, and a really strange feeling, we almost missed the dusta�� Almost!

Shanon Hewitson pushes through the warm sunlight that added to the great conditions.

Jackson Davis navigates around the trees at the bottom of a steep shoot.

With the track being so sticky riders were gathering confidence at rapid pace! Some getting carried away, and the track put them back in their place, with many small crashes and off track excursions. As the sun started to lower through the trees the track started to dry slightly, but not to the point where everything was dusty. Riders who have ridden here before, either for champs or in free time were enjoying the improved track conditions, the new riders were loving it too, the steepness a little daunting for many riders though.

Oskar White uses his size to sneak through some trees.

Then tracks this photographer down...! — Then tracks this photographer down…!

Rhys Atkinson bursts into the open over the road crossing at high speed.

Then drops into the wooded section, no time for the awesome views!

Kyle & Darcy Coutts wait for brother Damon to appear out of the woods.

Sunday morning arrived and there was a heavy dew around, it didn’t seem to penetrate the trees though. However, the track did generally get slightly moister, keeping everything super grippy. We had a chat with local, Aiden Varley before practice and he claimed the track would be dry and dusty by race runs, surely this local knowledge was an advantage. As riders rolled down throughout practice it appeared Aiden was right on the money, with the track drying quickly and catching a lot of riders out, with the crashes becoming more and more theatrical throughout the morning, with some providing quite a scare for both the riders and us spectators watching.

Trent Piribauer throws in some style over the little kicker in the open.

Benny Hill won't be outdone and also throws in some signature style. — Benny Hill won’t be outdone and also throws in some signature style.

Hannah Beeton navigates some roots in some amazing natural light, no flashes here!

Elijah Marinov pushes hard out of the roots.

Ben Kelaart cruises down, satisfied with surviving the steep root section.

As qualifying came around the track was almost dry, not to the point of inhaling kilograms of dust but still very dry, this meant some of those ruts were becoming very slippy and extremely deep. Qualifying seemed to run seamlessly and we saw no crashes of extreme measure nor mechanicals.

Team mate, Jackson Davis also making the most of the afternoon sun.

Dean Lucas entering one of the steep off camber sections at high speed.

Elliot Ried had a weekend of misfortune, this shot sums it up well.

Dean Lucas, entering the final corner much faster than anyone else we saw

With qualifying complete racing started. Some of the loose rocks and wayward roots began playing havoc with the bikes as riders pushed harder and harder, many finding their way to the bottom with mechanicals, especially broken chains and derailleurs.

At the end of the day the results ended up as follows:

Men

1. Liam Panozzo

2. Dean Lucas

3. Oliver Zwar

4. Rhys Atkinson

5. Ricky Clarke

Women

1. Tegan Molloy

2. Ellie Wale

3. Sarah Booth

4. Liching Li

5. Carrie McLachlan

Post race chats. Hashtag: lifestyle — Post race chats.
Hashtag: lifestyle

Yeah, this is a long lens, and a darn good challenge!

Well that wraps up the racing for the Victorian Downhill Series, a big thanks to Jason Stephens Photography for their hard work, let’s not muck around they killed it with the 300mm challenge this weekend!

Images and report:A�Jason Stevens Photography

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Instagram:A�@downhill247

Round 1 of the Victorian downhill series saw us in Shepparton and the view was great!

3-6-3-0 represent! Round one of the Victorian downhill series saw us hit up Shepparton (3630)A�- well actually we went to Mount Major which is about 30 minutes from Shepparton but close enough. It was round one so everyone was keen to get back to racing, it was hard to pick some people as there were new kits and bikes getting around.

Rocks were the name of the game, after 5 or so bikes lost their rear derailleurs to this rock the marshals came out swinging!

The track was rocky as usual, Shepparton actually held the Oceania Championships’ a few years ago so we will give you a quick brief of the course; the top goes across the ridge before riders had to negotiate several rock gardens as the course started to turn across the face of the hill, a few more rock gardens before some wide open flat corners and some big jumps into the finish, did we mention there were a lot of rocks?

We lost track of the number of mechanicals we saw riders having, either losing derailleurs or the air from their tyres/tubes!

All the rocks made for some awesome riding though with whole rocks flying as riders came charging through!

The rocks did catch some (a lot) of people out though! Hopefully everyone recovers quickly and we see you at round 2!

Talking about rocks, this rock got dislodged in a rock garden midway down the track but it didn't stop rolling and made it's way almost all the way down the hill, dangerous for sure but not what you would expect to see coming towards you, it was more likely to be a bike/rider! — Talking about rocks, this rock got dislodged in a rock garden midway down the track but it didn’t stop rolling and made it’s way almost all the way down the hill, dangerous for sure but not what you would expect to see coming towards you, it was more likely to be a bike/rider!

The weather was interesting over the weekend, to say the least. Saturday saw hot and sunny conditions leaving a lot of people sunburnt! Sunday morning was much the same but just after qualifying a storm blew in coating the track with water and turning the ground wet on top but dry underneath making racing interesting.

As per usual transport ran well and everyone was happy doing runs, yeeww!

Overall numbers were probably down a little as riders are a little bit more picky as to which races they do these days but the pit set up was still impressive and there were a lot of smiles on riders faces.

QualifyingA�saw the usual suspects up near the tops of the time sheets, names like Lucas, Piribauer and Swann for Elite Men, Molloy and Wale for Elite Women and Morrison andA�Varley for the Under 19s. With racing though nothing is guaranteed, especially when you factor in the number of mechanicals and the prevailing weather conditions…

Fresh from racing World Cups, Dean Lucas was the hands down favourite and donned the number one plate. Photo extraordinaire, Jase Stevens, does his thing in the background!

13, unlucky for some... — 13, unlucky for some…

And sure enough… As qualifying finished the weather changed, wind and water hit the mount and threw uncertainty into everyone’s minds!

All morning we watched the weather closing in, hanging ominously above us.

When it came it left the top part of the soil wet but underneath it was wet, good luck guessing what to do with conditions like that!

The weather didn't seem to worry some riders who just kept on blasting! — The weather didn’t seem to worry some riders who just kept on blasting!

Racing, the most important part of the day! Much like practice all weekend there would be mechanicals and crashes, most of the big names kept away from this though. The Women was taken out by Tegan Molloy in emphatic fashion, she is really on a role lately. Under 19’s was unusual in that the fastest qualifier Callum Morrison, came down first, followed by the second fastest qualifier, etc. Different from the usual but something we don’t think is going to happen at the next round. In the end Aiden Varley took the win by over a second and a half from Ben Hill andA�third was Hayden Stead.

Tegan Molloy is on a role and took the victory here by close to 15 seconds!

Riley Horsman holding it wide open in Under 19's. — Riley Horsman holding it wide open in Under 19’s

Callum Morrsion ended up in fifth place.

Elite Men, the business end of the day and looked like all that would stop Dean Lucas was a crash or mechanical, fortunately for Dean he stomped the win by six seconds, second was Tom Wyatt and third Richard Kreuzer. The Elite Men dealt with the conditions unfazed and showed everyone how it was done.

No surprises really, Dean Lucas takes out round 1!

Not everyone had the run they wanted though...! — Not everyone had the run they wanted though…!

If it wasn't a mechanical chances are it was a crash that meant riders had less than ideal race runs! — If it wasn’t a mechanical chances are it was a crash that meant riders had less than ideal race runs!

Matt Swann had a less then perfect run and ended up down the time sheet, expect him to be back next race though!

Riders were going Mach 1 in the rock gardens!

Ina Jones on his way down, look closely.... — Ina Jones on his way down, look closely….

And you will see his derailleur with a mind of its own! Fortunately this was during qualifying!

Overall a great first round and we still have so much more to show you! Tune back soon…

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Tag: Victorian Downhill Series

VicDH Round 6 – Bright

Victorian Downhill Series – Round 1 -Shepparton