Today was qualifying and the best day of conditions yet!
With the sun shining and the birds chirping (they were mimicking the course marshal’s whistles’) today was qualifying day and what A�a day it was. The track had some noticeable lines starting to appear down the course for riders to take but the rock garden near the top was still catching people out, much like the whoops mid way down.
There were still a few wet slippery sections on the track catching people out.
We have listed the top results in class below as well as some shots from the day, enjoy:
Harry Bush qualified second in the junior men’s class, we are hoping to see plenty of Aussies on the podium tomorrow.The juniors had all sorts of style!A tough day for Finn Illes who had an incident during his run.The Aussies making the most of the home track advantage!Jackson Frew blowing past.There are a lot of eyes on these 2 this weekend, the Hannahs are as local as you get!Mik qualified second and Tracey third.In fact there were Aussies all through the top 80.#svenapprovedLoic Bruni making shapes…Innes Graham on the hunt…Luca Shaw negotiating the ‘Alien Tree’ section.
Tomorrow is the big day, check back for our finals report soon.
Cairns has some interesting wildlife but we are not the Irwins so let’s get on with it…
Here we are, Cairns in far North Queensland, for the second round of the UCI World Cup series. Everyone remembers 2014 and the mud bath that was… After a dry track walk everyone was positive. Unfortunately there was some rain that fell during the day that made the rocks super slippery. The track itself hasn’t changed much from last time we were here but the forecast is looking positive for a drier race.
Riders at the top before they drop in and start their runs…
There were a few crashes over the day that meant practiced was put on hold and time on the bike was shorter than expected but let’s look at the action.
Rachel Atherton taking on the course early in the day.There are a lot of juniors racing this weekend, their green and gold jersey was easy to spot.Even the world champion wasn’t immune from the rocks…Stevie Smith is back and boosting!Aaron Gwin is holding the number 1 plate after the first round, he was 5th in timed practice, Loic Bruni was the fastest.The juniors is as hotly contested as ever, we hope to see an Aussie on the top step.We would love to see an Aussie on the top step in the senior classes, with Tracey Hannah fastest in timed practice this is definitely a possibility.Brendan Fairclough going OTB! He went down hard and wrecked his helmet but we saw him punching runs fast later in the day so he must be okay.
He got up and kept charging later in the day though!The wooded sections were quite dark when the clouds rolled over throughout the day, Troy Brosnan laying down a top 5 time in timed training.Sam Hill looking to drop his number at his home race!
The juniors were walking the track after practice.Connor Fearon boosting as usual.Warp speed..
Any reason to go back to Thredbo is enough for us!
After a long summer of MTB action, Thredbo played host to its final raceA�event for this season, The Red Ass NSW State Series Round 1. Timed nicelyA�between the end of Australian National Series and the beginning of theA�World Cup season it was a great opportunity for local racers to settle intoA�the enjoyable atmosphere that is state racing.
State level racing is always fun and enjoyable because it is not as cut throat as Nationals!
Race day was looking to be spot on after yet another perfect day in theA�NSW Alps for practice on Saturday. However, come Sunday cloud hadA�rolled in and filled the valley, providing a concerning outlook for the day.A�Thankfully, the dull conditions didna��t last long with the cloud lifting aroundA�mid morning. Riders were blessed with spectacular views as the chair rideA�to the top lifted them out of the ominous cloud ban into perfect blue skies.
Saturday practice saw some dreamy conditions, with blue skies just like this there was no complaining.
We awoke Sunday to some doom and gloom though…With think cloud and fog rolling in.Riders were even above it!Come race time it had mainly sorted itself out.
Seeding and racing were both run on Sunday, with the seeding actionA�kicking off at 11:30am. The track was in great condition with the openA�sections drying up and the forest holding some moisture after the recentA�rain. Riders were kept on their toes by the varying conditions for their raceA�runs.
Good conditions for most of the track had the riders loving it, you just had to make sure the sections of the track that weren’t perfect you were on your game.
At the pointy end of the Elite Mena��s racing it was a close battle betweenA�Brent Smith, Oliver Zwar and Joel Willis. The final standings saw Oliver Zwar,A�take it by a nose over A�Brent Smith with Joel Willis in a close third. Zwar wasA�in great form, carrying on from his fifth place standing at the BrightA�National Championships.
In a rich vein of form at the moment Olivar Zwar took out the win for the Elite men.
In the Elite Womena��s race it was Kellie Weinert taking the win, a well deservedA�effort after a solid season of National racing. Sian Aa��hernA�stepped up from juniors this weekend to land herself on the second spot of the podium, in front of Sarah Booth.A�Once again it was another excellent weekend of racing up at ThredboA�and a very competitive start to the NSW state series.
Foot out party!Whips for shows, corners for dough $$$Kicking dust trails!The female classes saw plenty of good racing.David ‘Mayhem’McMillan.
Words and images: Ben Stevens Photo, follow them on Facebook or Instagram @benstevensphoto
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It was good to get back into the mountains but Mother Nature really wanted to test us this weekend…
Racing is back and more specifically the highest form of racing in our sport – World Cups. It was Lourdes, France that played host to round one just as it did last year. Being the first round meant that we were still adjusting to all the team reshuffles that have occurred during the off season.
There were some familiar faces getting around the pits.You feel those with a familiar team and bike set up might have had some advantage but in this sport nothing is a given.Remy Morton all smiles!
Overall the track itself was similar to what we have seen in the past but the weather this year really made the event interesting. Large amounts of rain made the track very slippery – during practice and qualifying it seemed as if there were more people crashing during their runs then those staying upright! By the finals, for the senior men anyway, most of the moisture had disappeared meaning their first run on a dry track was the run that counted!
Not quite chairlifts but at least you didn’t have to ride and with the cold any extra heat was a bonus!Steve Peat starting off what will be his final World Cup season…
The juniors is always an interesting race, especially at the start of the season, you never know who is going to come up on top. It was Finn Illes who was victorious, no doubt we will see more of Finn this year but there are plenty of other fast juniors, including Aussies who will be in the mix.
Tracey Hannah matched her plate with a 4th placed finish. Let’s see what she can do in Cairns!Manon Carpenter will be hoping to repeat her 2014 season where her form was red hot, this race she was still on the podium in 3rd place.Tahnee Seagrave is looking fast this year finishing second. As has been a trend over the past few years Rachel Atherton took the win, the first on her new bike/team.
The crowd in Lourdes was just crazy, even over the live feed you could hear them let a lone track side. This amped things up even more come finals.
Dean Lucas is one hard man… if you saw his crash you would no why! Here he looks up the hill at what could have been – in the top 15 before he crashed… roll on CairnsSam Hill with an unfamiliar plate on the front of his bike… he will come good as the season continues.The big jump into the final arena saw riders with one last challenge before the finish line.
Some random musings we noticed were; a few fast (relatively unknown) Frenchman putting in flyers to finish strongly, mainly Flo Payet in 12th and Amaury Pierron in 5th! Riders who took a chance either crashed or got rewarded with a strong finish.
9th for Connor Fearon will have him confident coming into his home World Cup.Josh Bryceland looked blistering across the top of the course, this translated into 6th place.Troy Brosnan came home in 4th – we can’t wait to see his kit for Cairns!Fastest qualifier and at his home World Cup – Loic Bruni was enjoying life!Fastest through the splits by some 2.5 seconds until it came undone… and with it his first world cup victory.New team and he still managed to show everyone how it was done… Aaron Gwin with a near perfect start to the season!Smiles and a thumbs up from Mr America.A great start to the season… roll on World Cup number 2.
The next round sees riders heading down under to Cairns and boy are we excited about this!
The MTBA National Championships are arguably the most important event on the Australian mountain bike calendar and this year were held in Bright, Victoria. We covered the event wit previous articles but we had some images that hadn’t seen the light of day… until now! Enjoy our Pick of the Pics from Bright.
For the third year in a row we saw Bright hold the MTBA National Championships’ and again we saw some familiar names on top of the podium. The day was dry and started off, as per usual, with practice sessions for the various categories before moving into racing. A good crowd formed on the hill and the commentators did their best to wind everyone up! We have a range of photos to show some of the highlights of the day, enjoy:
Riders had plenty of time between practice and racing to recover.Of course everyone relaxes differently…The day was a beauty.Those views!Practice was fast..
Everyone was doing their thing.Focus.Berm blasting…
With practice done it was time for racing. The best place to see the results is via the MTBA website, it was interesting to see the battle in Under 19s – the attention was on Jackson Frew andA�Remy Morton, two of the more established names in the field. In the end it was the slightly less well known rider, Josh Clarke who took the win, with Jackson and Remy second and third respectively.
Remy Morton took third place.Jackson Frew claimed second place.Josh Clark Slaming into berms, just baller and taking the win!
So like that we had a junior men’s champ we also crowned Sian A’hern as the junior female winner. Moving onto the senior men’s and it was much the same as the past years with Troy Brosnan taking the win. It was a similar story in the women’s category with Tracy HAannah agian taking the win, points for consistency to these two!
As we saw last year, Troy Brosnan and Tracey Hannah were the winners again.Connor Fearon took second.Josh Button took third.Dean Lucas took 4th place…Yeah Dean!One of the highlights of the week was seeing Oliver Zwar riding fast all week. He was rewarded with a 5th place finish.Sam Hill had an off the track excursion in his race run.Luke Ellison riding through the golden light and dust!Woooooo!Filming away…
We have lot’s of images to show you from the week that was, check back soon!
Images: Downhill247 and RFPhotographics (FacebookA�hereA�or follow on Instagram @rfphotographics).
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