Mitch Delfs at the last World Cup of 2012 in Norway and as we now know, his last World Cup onboard a Kona, for 2013 expect to see Mitch and team mate Luke Strobel on Evil Bikes as their factory team.
After our initial Team Talk article (here), weA�heard a range of other newsA�for 2013 fromA�the industryA�butA�something thatA�we thought was worthy of a seperate post is where Mitch Delfs is heading for 2013.A�For 2013 Evil Bikes will have a factory team, with Mitch Delfs (and Luke Strobel)A�as theirA�World Cups riders. It makes sense to us as Luke has been linked to that move for months (The ‘Team Rumours’ twitter account was correct) and Mitch has always got on well with Luke so their would be good team dynamics. The new Evil bikes look awesome and should ride well, a World Cup factory team should signal a strong return to the scene for the company, after being a little quiet over the past few years for various reasons. Once more information is available we will let you know.A�It is awesome to see Mitch with a strong team for 2013, he is capable of good results, as his 11th place at the Windham World Cup showed and weA�are allA�keen to see him do well this year!
The pits for both the Australian domestic and the international season, are going to look substantially different for 2013.
Without doubt this has been one of the most intriguing off seasons to date, there has been some big changes, as well as some unexpected ones. With that in mind lets have a look at whereA�you can expect to see theA�Australians racing and on what.
Ben Hill – In his first season on the Clint White Racing program, Ben has started off with solid results in both the Tassie and Vic series, look as he pushes for Worlds selection later in the year.
Ben Power – Ben has been dealing with a injured hand but hopes to get to overseas later in the year to hit up some races in North America.
Bryn Atkinson – No real big changes for Bryn (and fiancee Jill Kintner) for 2013A�they are;A�”still riding for Norco, and running our own team. We’re both staying in the US this off season, so I’m not going to be at any Aussie races unfortunately”.
Caroline Buchannan – It was a nice surprise to see Caroline return to downhill for 2013, riding an Airborne bike Caroline has said she would like to race both downhill as well as 4X, not to mention her busy BMX program leading up to the 2016 Olympics, hectic indeed!
Chris Kovarik – Chris (and partner Claire) are still running the Kovarik Racing program which will see them attend selected races (such as Australian National Series races’) whilst continuing their successful ride clinics. A change for 2013 sees them on Fox suspension.
Connor Fearon – After a hugely successful 2012A�season Connor steps up from the junior ranks forA�his first season as a senior, still on Kona and unable to comment too muchA�on team commitments, with Mitch DelfsA�no longer on KonaA�don’t be surprised to see Connor as the soleA�team rider for 2013.
Crimmins Brothers – We thought we would cover both Andrew and Thomas together as a unit, both are racing for Giant Australia, expect their speed to continue to grow and watch as they make a push for Worlds’ selection.
Danielle Beecroft – After third at Junior Worlds in 2012, Danielle will continue riding Pivot Bikes for 2013A�and is “currently in talks with a major sponsor, that will help her in her quest to improve on her third place at the World Championships last year ” so expect more news soon.
David McMillan-A�David has continued with the Specialized Australia program for 2013, look out for David as he tries to head overseas later in the year to some international races. Currently the team has the 2013 alloy Demo with the carbon models landing in February.
We are super keen to see Dave have a good season this year, an off season scare with a crash at the dirt jumps hasn’t appeared to slow him down. He looks happy in this photo with his alloy Specialized, the carbon models are on their way (or maybe it is because he has got his hands on one of the super limited adition downhill247.com t-shirts?!) Photo: Ronnie Grammatica/toptobottom.it
Dean Lucas – Since returning form overseas Dean has been in good form at home on board his Kona, expect much the same in 2013.
Mitch Delfs – Mitch moves off Kona on to his new team, when we talked to him about he was coy other than saying he was “pretty stoked on the new gig” and he claims he will be on one “good looking bike”, more news as soon as we get it!
Jackson Davis – After success racing in Indonesia recently, Jackson will be racing for Specialized Australia this year at all the National races,A� when Sam Hill says Jackson has one of the best cornering techniques he has seen you definitely have to pay attention.
Jack Moir – After 5th at the 2012 World Champs inA�juniorA�Jack is in fine form and will be hitting up all the Nationals and as many World Cup races as possible. This year Jack is on the Yeti Australia team butA�our hot tip is that he will be picked up by the Yeti World Cup Team, watch this space…
Jack took his new Yeti to Thredbo to get some time on it before the Nationals start, from this photo it looks like he is pretty comfortable on it already! Photo: Ronnie Grammatica/toptobottom.itJack is pretty happy with his new set up and why wouldn’t you be! Photo: Ronnie Grammatica/toptobottom.it
Jared Graves – A strong start to 2012 in South Africa was the highlight for Jared’s World Cup season, in 2013 Jared is still aboard Yeti but focusing on the enduro downhill scene, something he should do well in considering his ability to train at the highest level physically combined with his bike handling skills. Expect Jared to help mentor Aussie Jack Moir wherever possible.
Josh Button – Unfortunately Josh won’t be heading overseas for 2013, a real loss for Australian downhill, Josh has the skills to become a real consistent top 20 prospect but has been hampered by bad luck. His constant knee injuries (which were often not his fault) have been what has really slowed him down, for 2013 Josh is trying to make it to the Thredbo and Canberra rounds of the National Series.
Rhys Atkinson – Rhys is back on board with Specialized and will look to regain the overall National Series title he claimed in theA�2010/11 season before heading overseas to race some World Cups.
Sam Hill – Big news saw Sam leaving not only his Specialized team but also long time team manager Sean Heimdal as he heads to Chain Reaction Cycles/Nukeproof, he willA�take over a raft ofA�existing sponsors, including SRAM so expect to see him on the Blackbox program for 2013 which means he won’t be riding Marzocchi as previously suggested.
Timmy Eaton – After a successful 2011/12 season Tim has changed it up slightly for 2013, getting on board the Giant Australia team, which could easily dominate this season with the depth of field it has signed.
Tracey Hannah – Tracey will be riding with brother Mic on Polygon Bikes, after a promising start to 2012 a big injury put a temporary hold on her return, Tracey is now back on her cross country bike, expect to see her fighting it out at the first World Cup in a few months.
Troy Brosnan – 2012 was a year Troy would rather forget, so much promise but cut short by injury, Troy is now back on his cross country rig and training hard for 2013, with new team mates expect Troy to be even hungrier after a ‘lost’ international season last year.
Will Rischbieth – Will has been recovering from an injury sustained last year but he will be back riding for Giant Australia in 2013 at Nationals across the country.
2013 is going to be an interesting year to say the least! There are plenty more riders who could have made this list, expect coverage of a huge range of races in 2013.
Make no mistake enduro downhill is here to stay, the format maybe massaged slightly but the discipline is going to blow up in the next few years!
Bright, Victoria played host to Round 2 of the Alpine Gravity Series, one of Australia’s only true enduro downhill races and series. With Elite Men taking overA�ten minutes to complete the course, there was some serious descending to be done!A�Sections of the BrightA�track would be considered just as technical as ‘traditional’ downhill races, in fact, after the first practice session many riders put their ‘all mountain’ style bikes backA�and brought out the full blown downhill rigs! The consensus being this track suited more technical style riders, as opposed to round 1 whichA�appeared toA�have favoured fitter riders more.
There was a wide range of bikes spotted under riders at this race, one area to pay attention to however, was bar width! Pine forest sections meant your standard 750mm style downhill bars could be a little tight in some sections!
Overall the event was run well, transport was ample, timing was spot on and of course the track was good! Around 100 racers enjoyed the day, the track started at the sameA�altitude hang gliders start their ride from and there was only one real big pedal slog at the bottom about 3 minutes. Results are as follows;
Elite Men:
1.A�Daniel Macmunn 10:02.37
2. Oliver Zwar 10:56.21 + 53.84
3. Tom Macmunn 10:59.13 +A�56.76A�
4. A�Ben Crundwell 11:23.17 + 1:20.80
5. Luke Dewar 11:30.47A�+ 1:28.10
Elite Women:
1. Jacqui Lovett 13:21.79
2. Lucy Brandon 16:23.19 +A�3:01.40
3. Amy Phillips 19:51.77 + 6:29.98
Event organiser, Ben Watkins, making his way down the track as a courier for the marshalls!
Continuing on with the enduro downhill focus, it has just been announced a World Enduro Series will start in 2013. Driven by Chris Ball, formerly of the UCI, he was one of the players that has lifted the World Cup Downhill series to where it is today. He is not going solo, rather,A�joining forces with organisers from events such as the Enduro Series in Europe and the Crankworx collective, they have created both a newA�series and a new association; The Enduro Mountain Bike Association. There is plenty of discussion going on within the mountain bike industry (and on the forums) whether the move away from the UCI is a good one. However, with the UCI not committing to one of the biggest growing areas within the gravityA�discipline, it was just a matter of time. Having done some riding with Chris Ball we can tell you the tracks he will select are going to be no walk in the park! Combine this with riders such as Dan Atherton and now Aussie Jared Graves, committing to the enduro format we areA�only going toA�hear more about enduro in the future, which is definitely not a bad thing!A�The race locations and final details of the new series haven’t been released yet but expect more details soon. What’s great is that events like the Alpine Gravity are already up and running here in Australia, getA�on board now and beat the bandwagon!
The new World Series is super exciting and with events already running here in OZ you have no excuse to not practice!
Get your style on! Locals and invited riders alike were putting in for the crowd!
The Specialized Asia Pacific Downhill Challenge is one event held simultaneously with a whole range of other events in Indonesia, think of it as the closest style ofA�event the region has to Sea Otter. We are just going to focus on the downhill, here is what Chris Berry had to say about the event as well as Junior Aussie Jackson Davis;
Looking back we realised that the only dry race we have had was in 2009. It has always been a wet race and I think thata��s what made the event different from other races around the region. The pros got to ride the track in all conditions, dry, intermediate and really wet. Summing up the comments from the riders after the track walk on Friday was that the track was quite mellow. Fun is the word when ita��s dry. For the first two runs the riders were still getting the feel of the track. Dan had a crashed at the entrance of the pinball section. Marc was looking super-fast, Mitch and Brendan was boosting the small chute trying to clear a section in one go. Neko was flying at the top section. Christian, the brother of Brendan, also decided to join the race and he was having fun riding the track. Jackson Davis was here few months ago and won his category. However, this time we were using different line which he thought was way better and so much faster. He was doing runs with the elite guys and tagging along was United Bike Kencana International upcoming rider Adrian Aakre. These two were flying and whipping all the jumps.
Nice! We have seen World Championships with smaller, less organised press sessions then that!Track walk time! Not sure about Brendan Fairclough’s choice in footwear though…
Just as they thought they had it under control in comes the rain! Then all of a sudden ita��s game on. Never have you seen so many pro riders hitting the deck and not once but a couple of times. Brendan Fairclough and Mitch Ropelato were telling us, never before had they rode a track that is like riding on tiles or ice…. Like last year, we see a lot of riders getting confused which tires they wanted to run. The whole weekend was like two seasons in one day. Wet in the morning and dry in the afternoon or vice versa. The track was drying out for seeding although rain fell after the official practice on Friday. Some riders are sticking with wet tires. The pros were running intermediate and cut spikes. The track was so much grippier than Friday and there was some fast action in seeding. Jackson Davis took the lead with 2.43.8. The Women Elite field only had 3 riders and they were all from Indonesia. This is one category we want to see more riders in the future. The Elite men was the last to come down as the clouds were rolling in.
Even though the track itself was quite mellow, the conditions and grip levels meant it challenged the best riders in the world!With such varying and different conditions bike set up was a real headache for some riders!
The Elite men started with Dan Atherton coming down 1st, the line he took was an eye opener and the speed he was carrying was mental! He posted the fastest time for the day with 2.29.3, Mitch Ropelato in 2nd, Marc Beaumont 3rd, Agung Fambudi the National series leader in 4th and Popo in 5th. Brendan FaircloughA�was way down in 10th and Neko MulallyA�in 16th. Young Aussie Jackson Davis took the win in the Youth category with 2.42.7, making it 2 from 2 for his Indonesia races this year. John Derrick Farr from the Phillipines came in 2nd, Abien in 3rd, Henri Fitra 4th, Multi Gangsar round up the podium in 5th. Adrian Aakre was just off the podium this time in 6th. The rain fell right after the seeding run and it didn’t stop until 11pm. The sun came out stronger then on Saturday, riders were taking the morning 1 hour practice time very seriously. The track was slippery and they all said that the track was so beat up making it harder to stay up right. The condition stayed the same until lunch time, then water came down like it was being poured from the sky. Some sections of the track turned into small streams! For the local riders, this condition is the best condition because the track has better grip and the mud tires can dig into the clayiest ground.
The locals were loving the wet conditions and the event in general!The locals stacked the top spots, testament to their ability in these conditions.
With the heavy rain falling more spectators were on the track, they wanted to see how the worlda��s best riders handled the technical parts of the track. They were cheering like mad for every Elite rider passing through. We saw riders crashing and falling as they tried to stand up. Dan Atherton finally wins it with 2.39.2, followed by his team mate Marc Beaumont in 2nd, Mitch Ropelato 3rd, Popo in 4th and Neko Mulally, despite a top section crash, still managed to get the last spot on the podium. Brendan Fairclough crashed at the pedalling section and this put him way down the order in 24th place.
What a cool event, look at the background! Good to see the locals show the rest of the world what they have and what they can do on a bike!The love of downhill is a world wide feeling, here we see some of the biggest names in the business riding with a local Indonesian junior. This is part of the reason the organisers invite the likes of Fairclough and Ropelato, to give their riders a chance to learn and progress, awesome.
We caught up with Aussie junior Jackson Davis and this is what he had to say about the event;
Well we were racing in a place called Bandung, about 3 hours out of Jakarta, the track we raced was called Chikole, which is actually part of a volcano. Last time I raced there in June it was dry but it was the wet season over there this time and after a few showers it was definitely the slipperiest thing I’ve ridden. The locals said ita��s something to do with the soil. The rain was kind of on and off all week which made the track pretty gluggy and slow to race on, it was a different track since last time, with a new top section which was probably the most technical part. Then there were some steep corners and drops, then it came to the old section where it was really fast, full of corners and breaking bumps and then the pedal… Haha the pedal section was probably a little over 30 seconds, with a few cool jumps along the way, which eventually led into some fun corners and jumps towards the finish! On race day I was lucky enough to have a semi dry run and ended up winning youth with a time of 2.42, which I was stoked with! At about lunch time was when the rain hit, making it a super wild race for the Elite boys definitely the heaviest rain all week! It was Dan Atherton taking the win with a 2.39, he was just too good for the local boys! All in all it was a sick event they really know how to put a show on up there big thanks to Andre Palmer, FJC, Specialized and Kabuto helmets.
Jackson Davis flanked with some of the heavy hitters in the downhill world! He did Australia proud and took the win in the Junior division.
With the event all done and in the books of history, the boys headed off to Bali for some relaxing time and to get a tan for few days. The organisers would like to thank all the participants and sponsors for making the event possible and even bigger this year. See you all next year…
Article and photos: Andrew Palmer/Christopher Berry
The Asia Pacific Downhill Challenge is quickly becoming one of the premier races in the Oceania area, it is great to see the love of downhill cross international borders. Photo: Andre Palmer.
The Asia Pacific Downhill Challenge is back again, it’s being held on the 16th-18th of November, this race has been held in Indonesia for the past few years and has been a favourite with riders and fans alike. The Cikole track is about three hours from Jakarta, a landslide on the original track facilitated the change to the new venue.A�This is aA�race that Aussies have traditionally been well represented in and done well, Sam Hill won it last year, other Aussies there included Troy Brosnan and Mitch Delfs. Unfortunately, this year, the sole Australian entrant is junior Jackson Davis but there are some big overseas names whoA�are signed on to race this yearA�including; Dan Atherton, Marc Beaumont, Brendan Fairclough, Neko Mullaly and Mitch Ropelato. This, combined with the fast locals such as Popo Ario and Pornomo, will see fierce competition for the $3000 USD first place prize! More news and updates as we get them.
Connor Fearon was having fun on some of the big jumps in Norway, the added style was a bonus for everyone watching!
We finish our wrap up of the 2012 World Cup series with Connor Fearon’s Inside Info from Hafjell, Norway. This is what he had to say;
Norway was the final round for the season and I was hoping to finish it off on a high note. The team got to Hafjell a few days prior to the race. Turns out there nothing to do there when ita��s freezing cold and raining. Despite being labelled a�?Europea��s #1 bike parka�? it turned out to be below average and we couldna��t ride the race track until official practice. The exchange rate there is through the roof as well it felt like I spent more coin in the last week in Norway than the other 4 months of the tripa��
So the start of the week wasna��t all that exciting I was hoping I would cheer up after walking the race track on day 1. The track has a few different sections. Some jumps and corners in the open sections I really liked. Once the track weaved into the wooded sections it became my nemesis, it got pretty slow, technical and awkward. Definitely far from my preferred type of course.
Connor hitting the main rock garden (or jungle as it was being referred to!) on the course, not sure if that is optimum foot/pedal position this time round!
During practice I tried my hardest to pick lines that would open up the track a little bit even if it meant going over rocks and taking wider corners. The coolest obstacle on the track was the massive natural gap halfway down the track. I dona��t think the course builders meant for this to be jumped but it happened anyway. I hit the gap in practice and race run for the fans even though I cased it every time and might have been slower it was still the most fun I had on the track!
My race run was pretty solid until the last sections of the track where the wind picked up a lot and it felt like I was going backwards. I got blown badly by the wind on the last jump and almost crashed, doing this I stomped the ground pretty hard with my leg and hurt my knee which stopped me from pedalling to the finish. I got 38th position in the end which was disappointing because I moved back in the overall (Although beating Peaty still who had a problem in his run).
So my first full world cup series is done and dusted and Ia��m just about ready to head home now! Ia��ve learnt a lot in this season that will help me improve myself for the next world cup season. For now ita��s time to go back to Australia just in time for summer, have a good off season and come out swinging next year!
So Connor’s last race of the season might not have quite gone to plan but he still finished up 34th in the overall, combined with his 3rd place at World Championships, that’s a very impressive season! What will happen next year, downhill247.com will keep you in the loop!
