Old faithful Willunga… It seems like we are reporting on a downhill race here every second month or so! We aren’t but fortunately everyone seems to like it. We headed about an hour south of Adelaide for round 3 of the South Australian state series and were met with a fun course and reasonably good weather.
Ah those views! Not that the riders got to take them in as they were riding, at least the local residents could!There is always a good turn out for the local races and riders seem to enjoy themselves whatever they are riding!
The track this round had a few slight changes, mainly in the way that it was bunted. Feedback from riders was that initially the bunting changes weren’t favoured but after a few runs and riders had things dialled then it was actually quite fun!
You can actually see the majority of the track from near the bottom as it winds up the hill.Sorry Steve but the puppy appears to be more popular!The pits were loaded with boys and there toys! (there were some females racing too which was great to see!)
In regards to racing, there were a few crashes but the main challenge for riders seemed to be punctures! This definitely resonated true through the elite men’s class with Matt Taylor, Simon Buzacott, Cam Ryan and Ngari Jenkins all getting final run flats!A�That’s part of racing though… The Elite Men’s winner, Curtis Dowdell, kept his good form up and it looks like he will A�be making a serious charge for the overall title. All the results from the weekend can be found here;A�http://www.insideline.com.au/index.php/results/2015-race-results/race-3-willunga-2015
Crashes and flats were the order of the weekend!Things were serious in the pits…. at least by the looks of this photo they were!Out on track tucking was the name of the game for the lower half of the course.The middle section of the course was where the drifting was to be had…… And the top part of the course was the rocky sections!It really was quite wild watching riders through the middle sections.Ian ‘Buffalo’ Jones snagged second the weekend after recently stepping up to the 650B world.Sion Buzacott throws some horns.607 on the plate, 7 on the gate…It almost rained, a few sprinkles came down after finals fortunately that was the extent of the rain!Conor Clancy comes into the final arena at warp speed!The camber and wide open turns near the top had people going sideways!Elite men’s winner Curtis Dowdell charging the rocks.Those views!The Adelaide Independent Racing guys run a type ship and lift the profile of the sport here in South Australia.Andy Murnane has been racing for what seems forever, he still has speed though!Considering there has been a bit of rain recently the track was quite dusty in sections!Just you and your bike…Lurking in the trees.Skills!Keeping it low for the dough…Race weekends seem to blur past sometimes.A few changes in the track kept riders on their toes.The Elite Men’s podium.These races are always good for riding with your mates.
After the racing most people went home for round 2, the World Cup in Austria. Our coverage from that race will be up soon! Meanwhile we will have some more photos from Willunga to show you so check back soon.
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Round 3 of the National Enduro Series headed to Fox Creek.
Over a sunny weekend in the picturesque Adelaide Hills round 3 of the National Enduro Series was run by the Inside Line Mountain Bike Club. It was great to see that the trails were totally different from the last National Enduro race held there, it always makes it more fun when the trails are fresh.
Fresh trails had everyone cheering.Fortunately the weather was on the organisers side, the trails can get pretty wild at Fox when there is rain about so this was definitely a good thing!
In total the distance was about 21 kilometers (Strava anyone?!) but the fire road climbs added extra challenge. All in all this took the top guys about 2.5 hours to complete, for the more casual racers the time increased as they hung out with their mates on the transition stages.
21 kilometres will do that to you…The rewards were worth it though and their were happy faces to be found left, right and centre.Mmmm hero grip, yes please!The grip levels meant the corners would really be railed.
Results:
1. Christopher Panozzo
2. Ben Cory
3. Dave West
4. Simon Buzacott
5. Cameron Ryan
Christopher Panozzo took the win ahead of Ben Cory by 10 seconds before a trio of fast locals filled in the next three positions, all the riders agreed the conditions were great and the selection of trails was fantastic.A�Stage 4 (Duck and Weave) seemed to be a favoriteA�among riders. To keep things interesting the last stage (Steep) had a big pedal at the end which saw everyone using theirA�last bit of energy. At the time of writing we didn’t have access to the female results but head to the Inside Line website where they will shortly appear no doubt!
Elite Men’s winner Chris Panozzo with an interesting line, it obviously did the trick!Former Junior World Downhill Champion Ben Cory puts his bike handing skills to good use and took second place.Eyes on the prize, 3rd place for Dave West.Believe the hype or should (that be Buzz!) Simon Buzacott in 4th place.Cameron Ryan looking stylish on his way to 5th place.Sometimes you just need those carbs…!Get it in, getting your finger into the timing chip reader is harder than you think after pedaling like a rider possessed!Ex Local Jackie Schapel making full use of the riders ability to turn the unlucky (depending who you talk to) number 13 plate upside down.A legend of the mountain bike game, Micheal Ronning put in a strong showing and almost cracked the podium in the process!The whole weekend blurred past, that’s a good thing!Hunched over for that optimum race positioning!A lot of locals (Matt Kelly pictured here) came put which was great to see.
That wraps up round three of the Enduro National Series.
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A good turn out enjoyed the beautiful weather and track improvements.
Hard to believe Round 2 of the South Australian State Series has been run and won! Time flies when you’re having fun… It was to Eagle Mountain Bike Park, host of multiple state and national rounds over the year, for round 2. The track had received a few changes for this race, most notable was the new finish area, riders were now taking a much straighter line into the final hip jump and therefore much more speed. We saw a few riders get unstuck come finals in the corner after the jump, Conor Clancy was one who was on a flyer before he decided to introduce his head to the ground. Another common comment (there’s a tongue twister for you) was that the way the track had been bunted really helped the flow so kudos to the tireless trail pixies who did that!
The new finish section meant riders were coming into this hip jump hot!A few interstaters who have been hanging around the fine state of South Australia rocked up to show us they are no slouches on a bike!There were a lot of the boys in blue out over the weekend, a popular choice!The riders really have to concentrate at Eagle, the track is very unforgiving.Foot out flat out!Henry Blake charging.‘I believe I can fly…’ Kaneophoto sending it!There were a few flash rigs getting around the pits over the weekend.In fact there were quite a few new rides on display!
Eagle on an enduro bike, a scary thought for some but no sweat for Simon Buzacott!That tongue placement!Remy Morton boosting! He will shortly be heading overseas to continue with the world cup series, good luck Remy!The top part of the track was relatively fast as always.There was a good spectator turn out, noise always helps!Jackson Davis absolutely sent the final step down, the crowd loved it!I wonder what Connor Fearon was thinking? ‘To take a selfie or not?!’The middle section of the track was relatively unchanged.Possibly the only image of Cameron Ryan ever taken with his front air in the air but not turning down!13 on the plate, unlucky for some but only if you’re superstitious!Riders sent this slight gap and then were hard on the brakes for the following corner.Sussing lines, these council workers, sorry race team were hard to miss in their fluro kit!Varying amounts of facial hair, all giving the thumbs up for the weekend!Getting nice and personal!Conor Clancy before he met the ground!Red goes faster right….Remy Morton rides ridiculously fast for his age!Taking the win with pure World Cup speed Connor Fearon was always the one to beat.The style was on show and the sun out! Good times.My arms went this way and my legs went this way… RFphotographics explains!Ian ‘Buffalo’ Jones, another rider on a shiny new steed this weekend.A very successful comeback for Curtis Dowdell this weekend.Plenty of support!Pow pow! Locked and loaded, let’s hope Connor Fearon can get the same result in Fort William! Pull the trigger…
See you at the next race!
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It wasn’t only the UCI World Cups that kicked off over the weekend! With almost as much hype, interest and fanfare the South Australian State Series run by Insideline started at Fox Creek. The track is an old favourite of the club and brings a smile to the face of many a rider!
They say a picture says a 100 words, lucky RFPhotographics was there to capture them, enjoy the images below:
Lucas Pitt winding through the trees.Jackson Davis is visiting from Melbourne and came out to race.The track used ‘Patto’s Curse’ has some reasonable sized jumps on it including this one at the bottom.Simon Buzacott got back from Crankworx Rotorua and no doubt has been riding some gnarly trails so the small bike wouldn’t have fazed him.The 2015 season looks like it will be an interesting one with fresh faces at the top of the podium. Conor Clancy being one of those.Yeeewww party shirt!Cameron Ryan took the win at round 1.It is always great to see the girls come out and race.A lot of people used smaller travel bikes, often these suit the conditions better.Photo G Matt Bird on the other side of the lens!
Conditions were dry and dusty.Sending it sideways!
To see all the times and results head over to insideline.com.au
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Maybe they are talking about whether they made it in to our Pick of the Pics report…. maybe not!
Okay let’s keep the good times from Bright rolling! Photographers really enjoy shooting at Bright, a combination of plenty of features and some amazing light means everyone is happy, especially as the riders love the track. We will let the images say the rest, enjoy!
Connor Fearon exiting the rock garden which had seen some work from last year.The YVC Team were there in full strength and looked good!Chris Kovarik wasn’t afraid of the rocks.
Dean Lucas working his way through the trees.Graeme Mudd had a cracker of a National Series and scored a strong top 10 result in Bright.Joel Willis one of the young downhillers in the circuit chasing the opportunity tor represent his country at the World Championships.Chris Pannozzo didn’t have an ideal final run but was still positive!Andrew Crimmins tipping it in!This corner saw plenty of action all week!Troy Brosnan negotiating one of the most technical parts of the track.Leaving dust trails like Wile E Coyote!Dropping in.
Jack Moir coming into the chute.
More pics to come….
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The morning of finals always has a different feel… and we don’t just mean it is because the alarms go off a few hours earlier than practice days!
Wow, another National Championships done and dusted (literally!), the record books look very similar to 2014 but more on that later. Rain actually fell over night Saturday but it was so minimal there was no real evidence of it come morning, it certainly didn’t alter the state of the track.
Nice place for a race, the town of Bright is great and very welcoming.Off into the final part of the course.
A final couple of practice sessions on Sunday allowed riders to see what state the course was in, really if you didn’t have your lines sorted by now you were in trouble!
There were plenty of crashes on race day before and during finals.Matt Taylor was one of the unfortunate riders to succumb to crashing, get well soon!
Of course healing vibes to those riders that did crash, there were a few that were more severe than others but from what we have heard most people have been checked out of hospital and are just looking at a few days on the couch!
This crash initially looked harmless but was one over the weekend that had the rider missing the event, get well soon!There was plenty of good riding exhibited though, not just crashes!One comment from riders with the early practice session was the sun beaming into their eyes!This did make for some nice photos though! Joel Willis navigates the sun and the rocks!Another comment from riders was how much lines were changing as each run the track seemed to change.Team Brosnan arriving for finals, we would like to show you more of Troy’s bike but can’t as it is featuring a few sneaky changes Specialized don’t want released yet!
For those who survived practice there was racing, group B raced first and they were just after lunch, it was group A (the premier classes) who kicked off racing at about 3 O’clock. By now there were spectators lining many parts of the course, some mountain bike fanatics and some were locals who came to support the event!
The finale to the whole event was the downhill finals and it was one fantastic show!
Starting off with the Junior Women there were two finalists and much of that could be put down tot he track, it was very intimidating but it is national championships and it should test the skills of the riders. In the end Ellie Wale who has been riding well all season prevailed over Sian A’hern.
Next up was Junior Men and at the risk of sounding mellow dramatic as each rider came down the times dropped, this just kept happening, no rider was really holding the hot seat for too long before their time was beaten. Put this down to seeding that sorted out the majority of the pack, to be fair as well the riders that were in their last year as a junior rider and who have spent time overseas (hence have more high pressure racing experience) fared better but this was to be expected! Some notable exemptions were Jackson Frew and first year Junior rider Remy Morton (who admittedly has had plenty of overseas experience!). In the end it was Andrew Crimmins who took first ahead of Remy and then Max Warshawsky who had a slight bobble in third.
First place; Andrew Crimmins.Second place for Remy Morton in his first Junior (Under 19 year).Jackson Frew came in third.
Keeping with our theme of results as per seeding Elite Women was much the same with rider after rider beating the previous time, with such a dominating performance last year it was going to be difficult for anyone to beat Tracey Hannah and she prevailed just (even with a crash on the first corner of the track) showing she is currently Australia’s fastest female on a bike!
Wearing the evidence of a crash Tracey takes the win by 3 seconds. The flannelette on her left arm is to hide the Australian flag sleeve she won last year, an interesting rule means she wasn’t allowed to display it or could have been fined $2000.Tegan Molloy grabbed third in her first senior year!
Elite Men racing and there was much debate around the pits about who would make the podium, there was any number of riders who could make the top 10, it was going to be tight. Would it be A�one of the locals such as the Pannozzos or would it be an experienced world cup rider like Chris Kovarik or one of the new age of talent like Lucas, Moir, Fearon or Brosnan claiming the win?
As we saw all day times dropped as riders kept coming, despite the deteriorating track, riders would inch further ahead by a couple of hundreds of a second before a new group would come through and drop the time by a few seconds. This went on all race. The top five was Mick Hannah who had sustained an injury during practice, Jack Moir on his new bike in fourth, a confident Dean Lucas who excels on this type of track, a fast looking Connor Fearon in second and none other than reigning champion A�Troy Brosnan in first place. It was late in the day when champagne was sprayed and riders headed home after a great weekend.
2015 National Champion Troy Brosnan.Connor Fearon was looking fast all week, second on the day!Third place for Dean Lucas.Fourth for Jack Moir aboard his new bike.Not quite the result Chris Kovarik was looking for but 10th in a stacked field is a strong effort.Jackson Davis was pinned, top 5 pinned before he crashed!Slideways!There is a lot of time to fill when it comes to racing sometimes, David McMillan makes friends while Tim Eaton captures the proof!
See results below;
Results from MTBA (http://mtb.subaru.com.au/):
Junior Women:
Junior Men:
Elite Women:
Elite Men:
Man and machine!The coveted winners jersey.Plenty of laughs once racing had finished.Great to see some international experience at the Australian races.At this point he knew he had mucked up!
Plenty more pictures to come so check back soon.
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