Downhill is an outdoor sport and we are at the mercy of Mother Nature, the South Australian State race at Fox Fast was a perfect example of this. It was wet, really wet! Ask the racers though and they will tell you it was still a blast to race.
Fox Fast saw a flurry of activity on the track leading up to the event to get it up to racing standard. A solid effort by all those involved saw a good race track prepared and ready, then the rain camea�� As we said earlier Mother nature had her own plans though and unfortunately a few sections of the track werena��t quite as bedded in as the track builders had hoped. Saying that though, racers we talked to still had a blast.
As the name suggests, Fox Fast, is generally a fast track, the mud slowed some riders down quite a lot though. One interesting rule initiated on the weekend was where riders couldna��t make it up the a�?bus stopa�� section on the track, they could stop, take a five second penalty and then go around it! Thata��s the first time we have seen that at a race, Elite, Under 19 and Expert categories didna��t have this option though.
A few big crashes on Saturday proved that riders were still going hard and the conditions were catching riders out. Spiked tyres were out in force with all sorts of mud shedding techniques being employed. People were trying anything, with varied results, Mr Sheen on the tyre to keep the mud from stickinga��?! Whatever works for you!
Heavy rain fell on Saturday night, so conditions were the same on Sunday as riders had experienced during Saturdaya��s practice. The big news from the weekend was Troy Brosnan is back and riding again. He confirmed he is heading off to Canada for Crankworx before heading back to Austria for the World Championships! But back to Fox and Under 19s hit the course and we saw some huge time blowouts due to the conditions. James Chambers took the victory in the Under 19 category.
In Elite Men you would have been brave to bet on anyone other than Troy Brosnan, World Cup speed doesna��t lie, sure enough Troy came home some five seconds ahead of Tyson Schmidt. It is worth noting the podium was stacked with riders from Adelaide Commencal Racing, another small privateer style team raising the quality and professionalism of teams across the country. Second through to fifth place were all separated by less than a second, showing just how tight racing is in the Elite category.
Under 19
1. James Chambers 2.33.11
2. Conor Clancy 2.45.82 + 12.71
3. Jake Adams 2.46.12 + 13.01
4. Toby Cosh 2.50.97 + 17.86
5. Sam Keogh 2.56.21 + 23.10
Elite Men
1. Troy Brosnan 2.19.69
2. Tyson Schmidt 2.24.76 + 5.07
3. Steve Gebert 2.25.52 + 5.83
4. Steve Marsh 2.25.63 + 5.94
5. Darren Hobby 2.25.69 + 6.00
The next race is Willunga, what will the track builders have in store for that race?