Troy Brosnan, having fun as always getting slightly sideways!
Round 1 of the Nationals Series, held in the hills surrounding Adelaide at Eagle Mountain Bike Park was a big event and we are wrapping up our coverage with one of our biggest ‘Pick of the Pics’ to date. A range of images that convey the weekend, some feature bikes and some don’t! We also do a bit of a style check with multiple riders at the same location, enjoy!
The track offered some spectacular views from the top.Looking to the stars?! You pick the caption…Up close and personal!
Inside Line club president, Andrew Byrne, going for a different ride!
Deanos the machinos!
Sideways!Scrub-a-dub-dub!
Wild times!
Sending it!Style points?!
Matt from Matt Bird Media and Dean Lucas.Art….Ty from Captyvate Media was on hand throwing down some solid edits from the weekend, check them out if you haven’t already!The new downhill247.com singlet coming in Summer ’14…. MaybeLaying down the HP.We style checked riders on this corner in finals.
The man himself, Jase, from Jason Stevens Photography getting the bangers for you all!
You have to eat when you can living the dream as media! Tim Bardsley-Smith chowing down!Winners are grinners, Connor Fearon throwing down the horns!Thanks for coming along on the ride this weekend!
As always, plenty more coverage of racing to be up on the site, check back soon!
Downhill racing in Australia in Summer is typically a dusty affair and Eagle kept up the theme!
Round 1, day 3 and it’s action time! A short practice session in the afternoon before riders lined up, waited for the beeps and pedaled out of the start hut for near on 2 minutes of downhill joy! Well joy for most, there were a few crashes, that said, it could have been worse as Eagle is a track where you can’t let your concentration lapse at all. There are no fire roads to ‘take a break’, the whole track requires commitment.
Whoops! Slide outs on the loose gravel were common.Some riders could still find areas on the track to relax a bit and let it hang out, Will Rischbieth getting flat!A lot of riders were scrambling to find long sleeve jerseys as per UCI requirements, some were probably left with their second choice in terms of look! No such problems for Henry Blake who was looking good all weekend.Dean ‘The Machine’ Lucas used his overseas experience to get up to speed, looking fast very early on in the piece.
As the B group practice and racing finished a bigger and bigger crowd started forming trackside, the bottom finish arena with its tight switchbacks, rock drop and jumps proved to be quite popular.
To kick racing off we look at the Under 19 females, with Tegan Molloy the hot favourite she didn’t disappoint taking the win by some 20+ seconds from Ellie Wale (and setting the fastest female time of the day).
Tegan Molloy set the fastest female time of the day by posting a 2.25.79, very impressive to say the least!
Next we move onto the Under 19 male class, always a large group with riders keen to impress the powers that be so they can have the honour of representing Australia at the World Champs. Australian team coach and all round good guy, Jared Rando, was on hand over the weekend chatting with many riders, his years of racing knowledge invaluable. Talking to Jared he even said he may race a few rounds himself so look out for that (not that team Giant need any more riders, it seemed every second rider going past was on the team!).
Looking at results and we can see that Matthew McCorkell had a flying first run but couldn’t quite back it up in finals, eventually finishing 15th. The top 10 was a quality field, looking further at the top 5 revealed an excellent quality of riders. Aiden Varley was fifth, local rider Matt Taylor was fourth, impressive considering Matt’s tender age, in third just three seconds off the win was Ben Hill and in second Max Warshawsky. This left one rider, Andrew Crimmins, with the number one spot – he took the victory by some 1.96 seconds, made all the more impressive by the fact he had a mechanical during his run that couldn’t see him pedal the bottom section!
We had Matthew McCorkell pegged for a top 5 result before issues on the course put a stop to this.Third for Ben Hill, the rider who always has a smile on his dial!Max Warshawsky cornering hard for second place.A sign his form is red hot Andrew Crimmins took the Under 19 victory despite a mechanical during his run.
Moving onto Elite and more specifically the Women’s class we saw Danielle Beecroft step up to Elite and take the win in her first attempt, the ever reliable Sarah Booth was second with Michelle Crisp in third place.
Fifth place for Victoria Armstrong in Elite Women.
The pointy end of the day was the Elite Men, after seeding there was talk that riders would go under 2 minutes come finals. We would have to wait all the way until the last rider to see if this was true and while no rider dipped under the 2 minute barrier they got close! As with any Australian National race it was a very competitive field, names all through the top 20 were capable of pushing for a podium spot. With a DNF in seeding Angus Maddern hit the hill early in the piece and set the time to beat, his time of 2.08.66 was enough for 15th at the end of the day. Whilst we could talk about everyone’s run it was David McMillan who snuck in under the 2.05 mark at 2.04.36 to grab fifth and set himself up for a good series. With it being a three race series a strong start was crucial and David was understandably happy! Fourth went to Dean Lucas, a rider who we know is keen to hit the World Cups this year. Third place was the biggest unknown of the weekend, Josh Button returning to racing and showing he still has it! Sure enough the top spot came down to an SA showdown, first off was Troy Brosnan who took the hot seat at the bottom of his run. With only Connor Fearon left to come it was going to be a local win one way or another, tearing the last corners, as the crowd chanted his name, Connor crossed the line and up flashed his time: 2.00.89, a winning time! Made all the sweeter by the fact it was his birthday.
A successful return to racing for Josh Button, third place on a track he has done well at in the past.Troy Brosnan was looking good in his new green and gold kit, it certainly had the fans talking. A second place shows he is good form as we get closer to the World Cup season.Also sporting a new kit was race winner Connor Fearon, it also happened to be green and gold!Stoked! Here is a question for you, when was the last time Connor Fearon lost a race here?! He won this year, he has won two under 19 Champs here as well as the Under 17 ones, that is a remarkably good record!Happy to chat and stay out of the spotlight until the last minute at presentations Troy and Connor provided one heck of a race for us!
Join us in a few weeks for round 2, before then we still have a large (very large) number of pics to show you guys from the weekend.
Riders were a lot more comfortable on track today, the weather conditions may have played some part of this…
Back to Eagle today for practice and seeding, albeit in much cooler conditions! Riders were coming to grips with the tough conditions, we saw a few crashes but nothing too major.
Practice was split into A and B categories today. B practice (and seeding) was held in the morning but all riders were focused!Rain fell overnight, not that you would have known! There was still a lot of dust…It was Tegan Molloy’s birthday today and she managed to score the title of the fastest female in seeding, across all the classes, sounds like a good day!The Swell/Specialized team have had an interesting weekend with a snake (as in the animal) being found hiding out in the team accommodation!
Looking at the qualifying results revealed Andrew Crimmins had a solid gap in front of his closest competitor, some 4.57 seconds Matthew McCorkell. Andrew will be keen to impress this weekend with Kona’s World Cup mechanic in town.
Under 19 Men:
1. Andrew Crimmins 2:03.16
2. Matthew McCorkell 2:07.73 + 4.57
3. Max Warshawsky 2:09.61 + 6.45
4. Ben Hill 2:09.89 + 6.73
5. Aiden Varley 2:12.04 + 8.88
Under 19 Female:
1. Tegan Molloy 2.32.59
Fourth place for Ben Hill in qualifying.Fifth place in seeding for Aiden Varley, a quality field means the win could be any of the top five riders from seeding.
Moving on to the Elite classes and with her overseas experience coming into play Danielle Beecroft seeded first in Elite Female ahead of former Adelaide local Sarah Booth. The Elite Men was always going to be a showdown between the local riders, Connor Fearon and Troy Brosnan. In the end Connor took the number one spot by just over half a second from Troy with Thomas Crimmins a few seconds back. In reality, with no rain forecast for tomorrow, these positions won’t have any real influence on the final results.
Elite Female:
1. Danielle Beecroft 2:34.06
2. Sarah Booth 2:38.87 + 4.81
3. Michelle Crisp 2:39.36 + 5.30
4. Victoria Armstrong 2:49.68 + 15.62
5. Shelly Flood 2:52.78 + 18.7
Elite Male:
1. Connor Fearon 2:02.87
2. Troy Brosnan 2:03.40 + 0.53
3. Thomas Crimmins 2:05.55 + 2.68
4. Dean Lucas 2:06.37 + 3.50
5. Luke Ellison 2:06.90 + 4.03
Connor Fearon, number one in seeding!A huge contingent of riders are racing under the Giant banner, so much so it was hard to keep track of who was who! Will Rischbieth getting it done.It is not just about all the big name riders though as everyone starts somewhere!And while racing was serious there was still style to be had!If you have a crystal ball you probably already know who is going to win, for the rest of us we will just have to wait until finals!
The Australian National Series has kicked off in Adelaide at the Eagle Mountain Bike Park in what can only be described as warm conditions…. The mercury was over the 40 degree mark meaning everyone was just trying to stay cool! With a cool front coming in tonight conditions should improve. Check out some of our favourite pics from practice and keep in tune for all your nationals coverage. Ps if you are at the race come see us at our tent and purchase a t-shirt or our new limited Downhill247/Connor Fearon sticker.
The day started with the obligatory track walk, Dean Lucas throws down the horns!The Downhill247 tent was set up nice and early to provide everyone with shade!Being the first race of the series meant everyone was trying to come to terms with who it was going past them on the hill.Troy Brosnan blasts past with the pits in the background.Tegan Molloy shows the crowd how it is done.Riders were getting up to speed as the day went on.A few line changes were making things interesting.There was a lot of roost going on with all the dust in the air!Media were out and about to get the shot to bring to you guys!It was odd being at a race without everyone having race plates yet, makes it hard to pick riders who are on the same team. Often it comes down to little details such as helmets, gloves or often riding style!The downhill247 pool was getting put to good use!
The 2014 Nationals’ series will see us heading to some classic Australian race tracks.
With the 2014 Australian National Series about to kick off we thought we would quickly check out what is making up the series this year. Pretty simple, three rounds of downhill, the National Championships and the Oceania Championships make up the domestic season.
National Series:
1:17 – 19 January 2014
Eagle Park, Adelaide, SA
Round 1 sees us head to Eagle, a track that has held a lot of National rounds and champs in the past few years, it is the shortest track in regards to both time and length this series. Super technical there are always riders who get caught out on this beast, being round one it will also be interesting to see who’s training has paid off. The home track of both Connor Fearon and Troy Brosnan means a showdown is on the cards but will anyone else be able to rain on the locals parade?
A�2: 7 – 9 February 2014
Mt Buller, VIC
Next up we head to the Victorian Alps for round 2 at Mount Buller, this track is long and technical. It features a mix of single track and wide open sections, all at warp speed.A�Often described as one of Australia’s most ‘World Cup like’ tracks and much to the riders delight it is aA�chairlift track – remember pull the bar down!
3: 21 – 23 February 2014
Thredbo, NSW
The final round of the series sees another chairlift round on one of Australia’s oldest race tracks. If you haven’t been to Thredbo before then chances are you don’t know the meaning of arm pump! 5+ minutes of high speed downhill action, recently the track has been freshened up with the addition of some new features, most noticeably the addition of some big jumps. With only three rounds every race is going to count and we doubt it very much anyone will have a comfortable series lead coming to this race so it promises to deliver high speed racing!
Expect the National Champs in Bright to be epic in every way!
National Championships’
6 – 10 March 2014
Bright, VIC
This year National Champs heads to Bright, one of the most fun tracks on the circuit, as well as the steepest! There is a round a 400m elevation drop on this track, almost enough reason by itself to get there… If that isn’t Bright is a bit of a riders paradise with a huge range of trails for all skills and tastes not to mention aA�supportive community. This will be one of the last big races before riders head overseas for the international season so expect them to be turning it on.
Oceanias:
15 – 16 March 2014
Methven, Canterbury, New Zealand
This year Oceanias’ heads across the pond to New Zealand, a bit of an unknown course for us Aussies expect the locals to be out in force. With the Kiwis being one of the most dominant forces in world downhill at the moment it is going to be a tough race for the contingent that goes across.
It looks to be a good season, as always keep in the loop with downhill247.com!
Troy Brosnan looks down track through one of the first berms.
Welcome to Round 3 of the VDHS, hosted by Narbethong, a track that’s probably been around longer than you have. Not too far away from our last round at Granton, Narbethong promised to be a great track with plenty of good times to be had by everyone! The sun was shining and the track was slick, but as riders began descending the hill the sheen disappeared of the dewy ground the the magic sticky dirt came out to play.
Fabian Bill looking focussed aboard the new steed.Matt McCorkell dips into the same first part of the track.
All the riders were enjoying their time on track, with plenty of smiles at the finish line. Everyone was reporting the track was amazing fun, with the high speed sections pushing them as to how much they want to be wide eyed and let the brakes go. The track consisted of plenty of roots, small tree stump booters and drops, along with some solid, confidence inspiring berms.
Harry Ewings throws in some style through the woods.Angus Jackson pushes through the sun drenched fern forest.
As the sun set on Saturday there were smiles all round, with the track getting a thumbs up from all. Sunday rolled in with another cracking day, Practice started, and then rather quickly closed due to an injury down track that requried an ambulance, this in turn caused a sizable delay which meant event organisers took the step of cancelling seeding for all categories, this meant that practice would run a little longer to allow everyone to get a bit more track time, this would of worked fantastic if there wasn’t another injury soon afterwards, the track wasn’t entirely closed, it was left open on a yellow caution, however many riders on track opted to push and section the track as they rode down, this reduced the risk of missing further shuttles due to the ambulance being on track.
Ben Hill appears in a scene that could easily come from Life Cycles.
After the rider was cleared and the track re-opened to finish practice it all came to an end with plenty of the riders feeling a little odd with all the extra energy usually reserved for a qualifying run still in the tank. This meant for close racing, but Troy Brosnan was a step above the rest; putting in a sizable 10 second margin o his closest competitor. At the end of the day the podiums looked like this:
Trent Piribauer struggles with a nasty surprise that caught him off guard.
Elite Men:
1 Troy Brosnan
2 Liam Panozzo
3 Dean Lucas
4 Jesse Beare
5 Joel Panozzo
Elite Women:
1 Sarah Booth
2 Tegan Molloy
3 Carrie McLachlan
4 Anna Pauly
5 Ellie Wale
Grant Weighton peaks over the crest at speed.Dean Lucas hangs loose the finals drops into the jumpy section.Through the drops, always calm and collected!Kyle Coutts pushes past a massive tree, quite a cool feature!The rocky shuttle road took its toll on the shuttle vehicles, with many tires deciding they’d rather not stay inflated.Theres always a smile from this man, Jesse Beare pushes up track after the rider injury.Dean Lucas pushes hard through one of the longest berms on track.Clint White shows us some of the skills he acquired from running CWR.
