There were a few thunderstorms over nightBut by morning the weather had cleared and the views were nothing short of epicUnfortunately Aiden broke his wrist in practice, but those views!
Overnight we had some rain dampening the track and leaving it a little more tacky in some places, but also much more slippy in other areas, from the second the track was open we saw this slippery-ness catching out many riders. the dampness had aided slightly in the wooded sections though, with the track showing signs of much more rain than we were aware had fallen. A notable victim of the track today was Aiden Varley, who unfortunately has broken his wrist, fingers crossed it will heal up quick and in time for some of the North American races. He is in good spirits, getting inspiration from Sam Hill injury a few years ago where he raced one world cup post injury and won world champs.
Luca Shaw basks in the warm morning sunshine
The Sun was out today though, drying the track quite rapidly, and leaving the forested areas very loamy and loose, with some dust flying in the second woods, the first woods seemed to have a much more compressed dirt which ended up being very slippy with the moisture being draw in from the previous part of the track.
With the morning complete, timed practice begun, seeing riders come down quite spaced apart oddly, how ever as the sun beat down here in Leogang the rides began flowing. With only a short time to go in timed practice the dark clouds surrounded the track and the heavens opened, with light rain at first, but then much heavier rain, leaving the track slippery, muddy and very wet. With enough time left in practice many opted to do a wet run, to ensure they were practiced up in case race day was similar, however by the end of the timed practice the sun was back out and drying the track back out.
Images: Jason Stevens Photography (@jasonstevensphotography or on Facebook)
Welcome to Fort William, Scotland, a classicA�world cup track. Today’s weather was predictably Scottish with cold weather and low clouds. Scotland does however have some amazing scenery when the weather wants to play along.
Today we took a walk down the track with Australian local team, Green To Gold. Consisting of Chris Barlin, Danielle Beecroft & Brent Smith.
The top section of track hasn’t changed at all from previous years, with the signature Fort William open-ness and white rock faces. Its still rough and arm pump inducing. it has however received some love with some of the rougher sections being smoothed slightly.
We spotted Danny Hart out on his track walk as well, looking cool as a cucumber, will the local Brit be on the podium this weekend?We also spotted this old face. Any guesses as to who it is? We have heard he is here with the his countries national junior team
As we make our way down the track we come to the wooded section, a part of the track not many see at home on the telecast, this was bunted a little differently this year, leaving riders with few lines in certain sections which was a bit different, as usually the woods are bunted to allow multiple lines, however as we walked further down into the woods they did open up and become a labyrinth of lines.
From here the track dives over the newer addition to the track, the road gap and into a high speed section with a few berms and wall rides. Then we pop out into a favorite of most spectators, the high speed jumps section, and then into the hip jump and down to the finish line.
We can’t finish off without sharing a bit more of that epic scenery!
World cups and the world champs are the pinnacle of our sport. The racing, the tracks, the atmosphere, the teams, the losers and the winners!
Here at Downhill247.com we live for downhill, 24 hours a day 7 days a week! Hence the name Downhill247 in case you didn’t know…. So for us world cup races are a massively exciting time for us. We thought we would give you a run down on what to expect from us this year. It is exciting for us to announce Jason Stevens Photography will be on board providing a range of images for your viewing pleasure, those familiar with the site will know how high quality his work is and we can’t wait to see what he produces overseas this year.
Downhill247, all lit up!
So what else is happening for 2014? Well as usual our resident world cup racer, Connor ‘Mr Worldwide’ Fearon is back on board providing his usual run down of his race experience. With a good off season under his belt we are keen to see him move up the ranks of the results and ensure he is right at the pointy end of the field.
We are quietly excited to see what Connor can do this year at the World Cups, remembering last year he cracked a top 10 at Leogang.
We actually have another big announcement but we will keeping that under wraps for just a moment longer….
Let’s have a look at how the 2014 season is going to shape up, obviously the big news is the return of the world’s best riders to Australia, we last saw them in 2009 at the world championships in Canberra. Cairns in the far north of the country gets round 2 of the downhill after riders head to South Africa for round 1.
2014 Season:
From
To
Name
Venue
Class
Country
24.04.2014
27.04.2014
UCI World Cup XCO / XCE / DHI
Cairns
CDM
AUS
07.06.2014
08.06.2014
UCI World Cup DHI
Fort William
CDM
GBR
14.06.2014
15.06.2014
UCI World Cup DHI
Leogang
CDM
AUT
31.07.2014
03.08.2014
UCI World Cup XCO / XCE / DHI
Mont-Sainte-Anne
CDM
CAN
07.08.2014
10.08.2014
UCI World Cup XCO / XCE / DHI
Windham
CDM
USA
21.08.2014
24.08.2014
UCI World Cup XCO / XCE / DHI
MA�ribel
CDM
FRA
02.09.2014
07.09.2014
UCI XCO/XCE/XCR/DHI WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
Hafjell
CM
NOR
Interestingly enough for the rest of the world Cairns will be one of the great unknowns, as overseas riders won’t be sure what to expect. At least most Australians will have an idea of the unique dirt in the area and being a home race it allows us to enter an additional number of juniors, as well as local wildcard riders, for the race.
For the other rounds it is the French round of Meribel that will see riders nervous with what to expect. Fortunately the area has held quite a lot of French national races and is rumored to be quite a technical course.
Exciting times ahead, make sure you check back for our big announcement soon.
World Champs is the pinnacle of our sport and to represent your country is an immense honour!
Now that the Australian national series, championships and Oceanias have been run and won MTBA have announced the Australian national junior team for 2014. Heading over toA�Hafjell, Norway, A�from the 2ndA�to the 7thA�September 2014 to represent OZ are a fine crop of young riders!
No real surprises in the list as below, congratulations to all those that made it and as usual Downhill247.com will be bringing you all the action!;
Welcome to Indonesia! Fitting in with the local dress.
We told you about one of the most epic races of the year earlier with our article on the 2013 Asia Pacific Downhill Challenge but now let’s hear from one of the invited riders, David McMillan, here he gives us the low down on a crazy week;
You get to go to some pretty crazy places when your racing a bike and Bali is one of the last places I thought I’d be doing it. I got an unexpected call about a week before asking if I wanted to come to Bali and compete in a one off race called the Asia Pacific Downhill Challenge, of course I couldn’t say no. Specialized and FJC Clothing hooked it up and I was on my way a few days later with a bike, board shorts and a few t-shirts.
Stepping off the plane I was instantly hit with a massive heat wave, it was crazy hot all week. We stayed in a place called Swan Keremas Villa which is apparently a pretty epic surf spot. I don’t think I’ll ever stay in somewhere so nice again for a race week haha.
Press conference times! We have been to World Cups less organized than this!
The track was built by Gary from Trail Scapes. It had an awesome view looking over the ocean and had a bit of everything. Loose, slippery, dusty, rocky, technical are a few words to sum it up.
Practice rolled round after a few days of hanging out by the pool getting our tan on. I felt a bit rough on my bike having not riden it since Loegang World Cup. I found the track quite challenging with a lot of off camber parts and narrow shelves. After a few practice runs I got my head around it and had lots of fun with the other riders.
Dave getting his eye in and his wheelie on!
The fans in Indonesia are crazy! Always wanting your photo and autograph. We had an autograph signing and the line went for ever. They just love it and make the atmosphere really cool.
The fans just lapped it up! Loving having some of their hero’s riding their home tracks.Crowds lined the track going crazy for all the riders!
I qualified in 6th place just behind the big guns and knew I could have improved my run. Eric, The Lord of Bali hooked us up with a scooter for one night which was pretty fun, we ended up driving it to the track on race day fitting in with all the locals.
Race day was the hottest day for sure, constantly sweating and trying to cool down was hard. We had 2 practice runs then went up and watched some of the local riders try for gold in their categories. My team mate Jackson Davis won the junior category putting together a decent run holding it wide open on the bottom loose section.
Race run for me was not ideal being very messy with a small bobble near the bottom. The winner was the last man on the hill making for exciting racing with Troy taking the win by half a second.
Not the perfect race run but still smashing it as always!Last rider down the hill and Troy took out the race.
We had a pretty loose night out afterward with all the Drogan (drongo-bogan) Australians and other racers. The whole experience was so cool And I can’t wait till next year to come do it again! Thanks to everyone who made it possible! Special thanks to Specialized and FJC clothing.
The Asia Pacific Downhill Challenge is becoming one of the premier events in Australasia/Asia and for good reason too!
Here we are back at that time of the year again, the 2013 Asia Pacific Downhill Challenge. This is the race that everyone in the region looks forward to. As usual we wanted to up the ante again to keep things interesting and make a new challenge every year for the riders. After moving around every year, finally this year United Bike and the people of Bukit Tengah Klungkung join together to build us a permanent downhill track. Thanks to Eric and Komang who managed to convinced the chief of the village and all the villagers.
A permanent track has been built in the area as Kazuki Shimizu shows us on his way down.
Garry Patterson from Trailscapes Australia was chosen to do the building together with me and Eric. It was my 1st time to open up a new hill and scout for possible lines. Helped by the local diggers it’s not as hard as we thought. The hardest thing is actually getting your idea across the digging crew as Bali have their own language and dialek. We are lucky enough that Garry can operate machinery too…. which makes life easier for us. We are able to speed up the building and finished everything just in time. The track is located on a hill that is right next to the ocean. The view is just breath taking. I really enjoy spending time building the track no matter how hot it is…. the view will cool you down!
That view… All the way down to the beaches of Bali!
When the track was open 2 weeks before the race, most of the local riders were stunned and we received a lot of phone calls saying how good the view was and how gnarly the track is. We hit our goal once again. Everyone was struggling but enjoying the track at the same time. The loose soil, rocks, and so many off cambers sections made everyone think how to ride and what line to choose. Some sections are quite steep, so much so that some riders choose to sit it out and rather watch then race! The aim when building the track is to be able to get the Oceania Champs or World Cup race to Indonesia in the future. Track length is about 1.5km for Elite and 1.7km for the B line.
Troy Brosnan is a crowd favorite everywhere he goes but in Indonesia they went mad for him!
Troy Brosnan, Adam Ahmed, Yuki Kushima, Jackson Davis and Adrian Aakre are the usual big name suspects for this event. This year included in the mix were Wyn Masters and David McMillan. They were excited when they saw the track. Nothing like the previous years, where most of the riders would say, it’s like an XC track or that it was too easy so they didna��t need to practice that much. This time they all asked for more practice time right away!
The track was tough and riders asked for more practice to come to terms with it before racing it!
Come Friday for the official practice the track was open in the morning until lunch time, for all Masters category, Women open and Veteran. The track was so loose and we have few riders injured on their first run, nothing really serious and everyone was still able to walked away from their crashes.
David McMillan had his first Asia Pacific Downhill Challenge experience and loved it! Expect to hear more as we go behind the scene with Dave soon…
This year we got new faces joining the race, Wyn Masters, David McMillan, Takuya Aoki, Kazuki Shimizu, Tracey Hannah, Fabien Cousinie and Guillaume Cauvin. It seems the event attracts more riders every year.
The crowd was going crazy at the event, Wyn Masters showing everyone how it is done!
When we opened the track for the fast boys to practice, the spectators were pretty loud in some technical sections. The pros made everything looks easy. Whipping the hip jumps, scrubbing the doubles and making the technical drop easy…. I was blown away by their riding too. It feels like we have a World Cup race, watching how these guys do runs after runs. The scorching heat of Bali sun doesn’t stop people from coming out and watching, by the end of the day you see their faces and arms were burnt but they got had smiles on their faces. Garry and I went up to see how bad the track condition was after all the riders skidding around it all day. Surprisingly the track held up very well and the only thing we needed to fix was just the racing line and few of the safety nets, apart from that it was all is in good condition.
Rain overnight still wasn’t enough to keep the dust down but after all everyone had to race in the same conditions!
The rain fell pretty hard on Friday night butA�sadly not hard enough to make the track less dusty the next day. A few riders put in few runs in the morning practice and said that the track was better than yesterday. WithA�better grip on track, we would expect the riders to push some more to put in a good time. We were also expecting some gnarly crashes at the famous section called “Kill Bill” full of rocks with couple of technical lines to choose. The fastest line attracted a few good riders to try, some made it and some ended up in the ambulance with a broken arm, collar bone and big cuts from the rocks.
Some sections of the track were really make or break, get it wrong and it was game over, Jackson Davis threading the needle.
The steep rock section towards the finish line also claimed a few riders. Yuki Kushima walked away from the most spectacular crash of the event I would say. He was coming in fast and the rear give away high sided him from 3/4 of the way straight to the flat bottom. It’s almost like you fall from the 2nd floor. You feel the ground shaking as he hits the dirt. You should be able to find the video on instagram or may be youtube now. Took him a while to gather himself and finish his seeding run. The Ninja is one tough kid.
Seeding results top 5 for Men Elite
1. Troy Brosnan 2.16.886
2. Kazuki Shimizu 2.19.765
3. Wyn Masters 2.20.336
4. Guillaume Cauvin 2.21.107
5. Fabien Cousinie 2.21.287
Finals day and you could feel the intensity as riders are putting their game face on. The price money of $10.000 USD in total for the Men Elite is up for grab. Troy Brosnan has been having bad luck in his final run a few times at this event and would really want to put an end to it. Afos Katana had a technical problem on his seeding run and will be starting first. Pornomo from UBK team was the fastest local rider and is a regular on the podium every year. Our fastest rider Popo Ariosejati was injured so he had to sit it out this time. He was there to cheer on his team mate and all Indonesian riders while promoting the new brand line up by United Bike, The Patrol Mountain.
This shot just gives you an idea of how steep some of the sections on the track really were.
Tracey Hannah took an easy win in the Women Open, with no threat from her competition. She won by almost 38 seconds from the 2nd place. She decided to enter the Elite Mens race as well.Men Expert, Ismail Nurdin from UBK was 9 seconds faster than the fields on seeding. He crashed near the finish and managed to grab 2nd overall. Master Expert category also a good one to watch as most of the riders use to be in the Elite in their prime time. Setyawan Hoho won the seeding by almost 4 seconds and he said he played it safe for final. That nearly give Paul De Klerk from West Australia the win, Paul was 0.003 back. Really close hahaha…..
Jackson Davis sorted out the issues he had during seeding and took the win come finals.
In Junior, Adrian Aakre took the seeding from last year’s winner Jackson Davis as he crashed at the top section. Not in final though, Jackson put his head down and put down the time of 2.26.354 a good 2.3 seconds off Adrian in 2nd place and top 10 in Elite. Local boy Abien also better his time and took 3rd with 9.1 seconds back.
Yuki Kushima charging one of the rock sections on the track.
Finally the category that everyone is waiting for, Elite final run…First rider left the starting gate is Afos Katana, he did a run that put him up on the hot seat for a long time. The 2.18.935 was seemed to be hard to beat as we see riders after riders fail to dethroned him from that seat. Dave the Drogan McMillan (we will explain Drogan in another article coming soona��) had a crash, Wyn Masters came into the finish with one of his knee pad falling off to his shin, Tracey Hannah put a shamed to some of the boys when she delivers a 2.29.376 that puts her in 12th overall. Fabien Cousinie was closed but almost a second off Afos’s time. Kazuki Shimizu, runner up at the Asian Championships this year finally beat the time with 2.18.796 almost 200th of a second quicker. His time didn’t last for long as Guillaume Cauvin came in with 2.17.217. All eyes on the last man down, Troy Brosnan. I think everyone was holding their breath as it felt quite long until we saw him coming out of the woods. Soon enough we saw him dropping into Sonjon section and into the Suksma rock with good speed. He hit the last chute and pedalled right away. Then it felt like a moment of silence for ages, before the crowd erupted as the MC announced Troy’s time of 2.16.322, faster than his seeding run too. I think all of his fans are happy to see Troy back in his winning form again.
Troy Brosnan took the win and the dollars, boy didn’t the crowd just love it too!
It was another great weekend and we hope everyone had a blast too. Healing vibes to all the injured riders. On behalf of the organizer Orange Sports Communication and all of our partners and Sponsors United Bike, Patrol Mountain, Specialized, Shimano, FJC, Castle, Kabuto, TLD, Maxxis, Pro, Park Tools, Daihatsu, Funn, Formula Bike, McDonalds and Surya Husada Hospital. Also the Government of Bali Province, we would like to thank everyone who came down to race or just spectating. You helped us make this event another one to remember. See you at the next Asia Pacific Downhill Challenge
