It was an eerie feeling at the top of the mountain with the bushfire smoke blanketing the surronding valleys.
The 2013 National Series has kicked off at Mount Buller for round 1 and it is good to be back racing, 170 people signed up for a weekend on the famous ‘International’ track. The weather forecast was initially for rain on Friday afternoon but that didn’t occur leaving a very dry and dusty track for practice and seeding on Saturday.
A rocky track was compounded by big holes and ruts as the dry conditions saw the track blow out.However, there was no time to hang around and smell the flowers…
Being the first round of the series there were lots of new bikes and kits to see, with many riders having to get used to new set ups. There were also lots of new riders and riders stepping up age categories.
Kovarik Racing have recently switched to Fox suspension and Chris was making adjustments down the track but said the new parts were good.There were some faaasssttt juniors on the track who left us amazed.
By the time practice was over aA�few injuries during practiceA�had reduced the size of the field and left a few others a bit sore. Injury claimed Timmy Eaton who suffered a broken elbow, all the best on your recovery! But after all the dust had settled from seeding (which took some time believe us!) the results looked like this;
Under 19 Female
1. Danielle Beecroft 4.33.68
2. Elle Wale 5.19.00 + 45.32
3. Gemma Greentree 12.40.05 + 8.06.37
Under 19 Male
1. Thomas Crimmins 3.29.34
2. Luke Ellison 3.31.42 + 2.08
3. Aiden Varley 3.32.90 + 3.56
4. Brent Smith 3.33.01 + 3.67
5. Peter Knott 3.34.67 + 5.33
Elite Female
1. Lisa Mathison 4.08.42
2. Claire Buchar 4.11.01 + 2.59
3. Caroline BuchananA�4.16.75 + 8.33
4. Shelly Flood 4.22.82 +14.48
5. Kelly BaylissA�4.36.31 + 27.89
Elite Male
1. Sam Hill 3.21.19
2. ChrisA�Kovarik 3.24.28 + 3.09
3. Jack Moir 3.25.62 + 4.43
4. Connor Fearon 3.26.57 + 5.38
5. Rhys Atkinson 3.27.88 + 6.69
With the length of theA�track a lotA�of the results were relatively close, expect racing to beA�close too. We wouldn’t be surprised if the winner of Elite Men just ducks under 3.20 but this all really comes down to how much the track blows out.
Thomas Crimmins was the fastest of the Under 19’s in seeding, all the top Under 19’s looked fast though!Sam Hill was looking comfortable aboard his new bike and 1st in seeding proved this.Chris Kovarik crashed in practice but that didn’t faze him, 2nd in seeding.Connor Fearon, 4th in seeding as Phil Piazza watches on…
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.
The next round of the Victorian all mountain series is happening over the 12th and 13th of January at Myrtleford, no doubt many of you will be racing itA�(or wanting to!) and we just had a chat with course builder Ben Watkins about what to expect from the event. To say Ben was pretty excited about what was in store on the ‘Breckenridge Trail’ would be an understatement!
“This is one of the best trails I have ever built” If you have sampled some of Ben’s other trails then you would know this is a big statement!
The new singletrack has had a lot of gone into it to help the flow, in Bens enthusiastic words; “The trail I am using for the Myrtleford Yeti Cycles Elevation round, is a trail called Breckenridge trail. Ita��s in a myriad of old hard core moto enduro loops, fouby tracks, and tech mountain bike descents, winding down the side of a huge mountain with tons of these tight sharp steep little “valleys” on the way down.
This gives the trail an amazing yet unique mix of long, flowy descending sections, which then gives you enough speed to get up the other side of a short sharp little climb. The bonus of this is that you drop a ton of vertical elevation but then you get most of that back again without a massive climbing effort, so it feels like an endless roller coaster ride.
I did a few days hiking with a high end GPS which helped me to see a�?the whole mountaina��, even though you cana��t see over the next ridge in the thick forest. This helped to pick which direction to go, which old trail to use, and which ones to let die. Picking out some of the diss-used trails and rebuilding those, along with piecing together some amazing new linking sections which have amazing terrain has given us what seems like “the perfect trail” for all mountain, super D, or gravity based enduro riding.
Even though there is a lot of old trails there from long ago, the erosion from heavy rain had destroyed a lot of it, so by the time I added new links or whole new sections, rebuilding the old trails meant that pretty much I ended up with what looks like five kays of brand new single trail. This did allow for more interesting and creative new lines, and this trail as a whole is definitely a step in the right direction from the Bright trail, and more interesting from a riders perspective too.
The elevation drop is close to 1000 vertical feet, and after the first lay out of the track it was five kays long. It has since had two un interesting sections removed, but also an amazing new section added, so it will be interesting to see the times and the actual new trail length, as Bright was 3.5 kays taking ten minutes.
A lot of riders have asked me “whata��s the track like?” as a builder I think this one is the best, and most creative Ia��ve ever built. As a rider, I cana��t wait to thrash it!”
Rocks, lots of rocks! Make sure you have your bike set up for the conditions.
For more info head over to the Facebook or site or hit up their website, as usual expect a full report on the site after the event!
Hard to believe but 2012 has come and gone, here are some of our favourite images that explain the year as it happened, soA�without much further a do, let’s have a look back pictorially;
January
The year kicked off with the second round of the National Series at Mount Buller. After taking out round 1 of the National Series, Troy Brosnan continued on his winning way at Mount Buller taking out the race by over five seconds from team mate Sam Hill.
February
We did an Inside Info with Josh Button (here) as he recovered from an injury he sustained at the 2011 World Championships.The third round of the National Series saw Troy Brosnan take win number three in Elite Men, Connor Fearon won Under 19a�?s, his second National Series race victory in a row.The National Champs were held in Adelaide at Eagle Mountain Bike Park in hot conditions, Adelaide welcomed some big names including Jill Kintner who was in Australia over summer.
March
The final National Series race was held in a wet Awaba, Connor Fearon won Under 19’s, Troy Brosnan crashed and finished second, so close to a perfect domestic season, he won three of the four National rounds and the National Champs (as did Connor Fearon in Under 19’s). The first World Cup kicked off the season in South Africa and it marked a successful return to international racing for Tracey Hannah as she took the win. Photo: PhunktIt was Greg Minnaar who took the win in the men’s category at his home World Cup.
April
The traditional season opener, Sea Otter, kicked off and saw Jared Graves claim victory in his return to full time downhill racing. Photo: Dean Henthorn.
May
Chris Kovarik took out Newtons Nation in Bathurst. We dropped the news (in a world exclusive?!) that Specialized would be releasing their carbon demo to the world at the Val di Sole World Cup.We did an inside info with Troy Brosnan at around the same time he injured himself in Leogang.
June
June was a month full of World Cups starting with Val di Sole in Italy.
Dean Lucas raced his first World Cup at Val di Sole.Connor Fearon was looking for a good result on a track that suits him, he finished a solid 41st.The next World Cup race was across the Channel at Fort William, as usual Sam Hill donned his pink kit for charity and auctioned off his bike after the race.
Heading to North America for round 4 saw the Australian junior team join the World Cup circuit in preparation for the upcoming World Champs.
David McMillan was one of the juniors who raced gaining experience for the World Champs, on tracks totally different to those in Australia.Junior rider Jack Moir finished 44th at his first World Cup, an amazing effort!
July
The Windham Word Cup saw Mitch Delfs bring it home in eleventh place, his best result for the season.Downhill247.com turned one year old!We did an Inside Info on the Trail Mix – Procon team.The Val d’Isere World Cup provided the first flat pedalled winner of the season, unfortunately it wasn’t an Aussie but rather Kiwi Brook MacDonald, Sam Hill crashed during his race run but showed real promise leading up to the World Champs.
August
Downhill247.com version two went live.Mic Hannah finished second in the Canadian Open during Crankworx, one of the biggest events of the year. Photo Owen Perry.
Mean while the various state series here in Australia were in full swing;
The South Australian State Series saw the return of Troy Brosnan from injury.The New South Wales Series saw a wet weekend of racing in Lithgow.David McMillan won the CORC race at Isaacs.
September
September was a big month for downhill247.com we hit the ground running in Leogang, Austria for the World Championships’ the biggest race of the year!
The first medal for Australia was Danielle Beecroft bringing home third in Junior Women.Junior Men had varied results but overall Australia finished second in the team’s rankings.The ranking was helped by Connor Fearon’s third place finish!The Senior Women’s race saw a surprised Morgane Charre take the win!Not everything went as planned in Senior Men for Troy Brosnan as he crashed injuring his shoulder, the rest of the Australian contingent had a successful outing, highlighted by Mic Hannah’s fourth place.This was the story of the day for Senior Men, Aaron Gwin and what was apparently a double brake failure.Greg Minnaar 2012 World Champion.Shortly after the World Championships we headed to Norway for the final round of the World Cup Series.The top section of the track saw a lot of style being thrown down, as Connor Fearon demonstrates!Norway saw Greg Minnaar debut his new set of stripes!Norway delivered Stevie Smith his first World Cup win and it was smiles all round.We introduced video’s on to the site with a 100% original video from the 2012 New South Wales State Series at Mount Stromlo.
October
October was another busy month as many State’s held their State Chanpionships’A�among other events.
Connor Fearon took out the State Championships, on board a short travel trail bike none the less…Our coverage of the VicDH Series kicked off from Mount Taylor, this is arguably the biggest series in the nation, here Ben Hill comes home for third place. Look out for an Inside Info of Ben in 2013.Over 150 riders hit Ourimbah State forest for the N.S.W State Champs, which we delivered another exclusive video edit for.
November
November saw the second round of the 2012 Tasmanian Gravity series held at The Lea in the statea��s south.We went to Welcome to Mt. Tarrengower for round 2 of the Victorian Downhill Series.We covered the Specialized Asia Pacific Downhill Challenge for the second year in a row, this is quickly becoming one of the premier events in the Asia/Oceania area!Thredbo and the legendary Cannon Ball Run hosted round five of the NSW/ACT State Series.Just as the World Enduro Series was announced we covered round 2 of the Alpine Gravity Series in Bright, Victoria.
December
The year comes to a close in December but there was still plenty of happening on the site!
Round three of the Victorian Downhill Series from Kinglake produced some of our favourite and most popular images, including this beauty of Timmy Eaton taken by Jase Stevens.We did an Inside Info with Callum Morrison, a name for the future!Round three of the Tasmanian State Series was the last race we covered for 2012!Finally we counted down the days to Christmas!
Well 2012 was certainly an amazing ride, we hope you enjoyed it as much as we enjoyed bringing it to you! 2013 here we come!
Round three of the Tassie downhill series was held over the weekend at Glenorchy Mountain Bike Park.
Hobarta��s Glenorchy Mountain bike park played host to round 3 of the Tasmanian downhill seriesA�over theA�weekend. The race took place on the new North South track, which makes ita��s way from Mt Wellington, descending down into the mountain bike park. The Race course began as the track entered ita��s final downhill section into the park before crossing the shuttle road onto a cross country descent full of tight berms andA�then finallyA�connecting onto the lower section of the Nationals DH course finishing with a straight of large jumps.
Event organiser, Matt Wood, gets accustomed to the new track the riders were racing on.
Saturdaya��s practice saw wet, muddy conditions which was a change for the notoriously dusty track. Many riders used the day to discover the flow of the track and experiment with different lines, as it wasA�the first time the course has been used for DH racing.
Simon Palmer getting use to the track and the conditions.
When Sunday morning came the track had dried out a fair bit, with riders gaining speed and finalizing decisions on bike set up and line choice. A total of 65 riders competed in the event, with a range of different styles of bikes to combat the varying terrain, everything from cross country bikes, all mountain rigs and full DH bikes.
Different riders were choosing different bikes for the conditions, here George Newham chose the little bike and it must have paid off, second in Elite!
By the time Sunday afternoon came the track had well and truly driedA�out with loose dust starting to reveal itself. When qualifying came around, most riders chose to hold back and not push as hard during the flatter cross country sections of the course in an effort to save some energy for their race runs. After a short break riders were quickly shuttled back to the top of the course to begin their final run for the weekend.
Win number three for Christina Sergeant this season!
The Women’s category was again won by Christina Sergeant, her third win for the season. The Under 17a��s was won by Dan Booker followed by Connor Greatbatch and Ewan Favretto placing in third. Under 19 series leader Ben Hill took out first place closely followed by Brent Capel in second, with Simon Palmer rounding out third place. The Hotly contested Elite mena��s category was again Won by Kaine Cannon, George Newham placed second and Aaron Oates in at third.
Dan Booker took out the Under 17 Men’s class.Ben Hill’s awesome season continues taking out another victory in Under 19 Men.Simon Palmer placed third, here he leads Dan Booker and Billy Johnstone down during practice.Elite Men’s winner Kaine Cannon negotiating the jumps near the bottom of the course.George Newham got the little bike down the hill and into second place, what a nice tactical manoeuvre!Rounding out the top three was Aaron Oates.
The state series continues on February 2nd and 3rd at Wilmot in the statea��s north.
All photos and the articel credited to Andrew Palmer.
