World Cup 7 – Day 2 – Hafjell

Today was the first day of practice here at Hafjell and it was a long day with an open practice session in the morning before the top 80 men/top 20 women had their own practice session. It was a fun day on the course though, the general consensus from the riders is that the track is a whole lot of fun and a good race track to boot!

The jumps at the top of the course saw the riders having some fun throwing down some big whips, this meant a fun day for everyone else watching!

Lets take a run through today’s proceedings;

It was a tentative start to the day with no one quite knowing what the cloud and fog had in store as everyone got on the gondola to head up to the top of the track…
Fortunately as the gondola went up it broke through to the sunshine and the weather stayed dry all day. On another note, check out the roofs of the local houses here in Norway, got green?
There was no shortage of riders serving up the style up the top of the track as Connor Fearon demonstrates!
Some riders were slightly more business orientated, such as Mark Beaumont and were keeping it race through the jumps. We could literally have a whole gallery of action from these jumps. There was a huge cable cam set up through these jumps, rumours were it was for an upcoming Anthills Film movie…
You can’t blame them though, no matter which way you look the scenery is fantastic as Josh Button demonstrates.
There’s more to the track than the jumps at the top! We sat in this rock garden and it doesn’t surprise us Steve Peat was the fastest in timed practice. He studied this rock garden for some time and then proceeded to hit it smooth and fast, won’t back down! Stevie Smith on the other hand ‘rode the buffalo’ laughing and hooting his way down, Josh Bryceland described it like “a monkey in a sidecart”. Josh was commenting that there still wasn’t an obvious line yet while Stevie was saying on this track because it is so fast in some places you are forced to take one line!
Before the riders hit the track the UCI actually went through and smashed out various rocks from what riders are calling the ‘rock jungle!’
Ben Reid threads the rocks and trees, there are numerous line choices all the way down the track.
Sam Hill didn’t hit the track in practice until relatively late, he did a few runs scouting lines, being a new track many riders were taking slightly longer to get up to speed.
Aaron Gwin was getting around on board a custom Trek made to commemorate his overall 2012 World Cup series win. Things weren’t going all his way, going down in the rocks, you can see the mud on his right shoulder.
This track is a physical one, you could hear how tired all the riders were near the bottom of the track!
If you didn’t know it was there you would miss it! Can you see the man carrying the torch cut into the side of the hill?
It was good to see Brendan Fairclough back riding, he was doing runs with Andrew Neethling and Sam Hill at various times of the day.
Damian Spagnolo always seems to be a bit of a dark horse, he was looking good today.
Conditions were good, the biggest issue today was the news the UCI may decide to lower the amount of points female riders are awarded in the series and thus reducing their value on a pro team for the overall teams classification. More news on this issue as we get it.

That wraps up the first day of practice, tomorrow the riders have another practice session followed by qualifying.

World Cup – Day 1 – Hafjell

The Scenery here in Norway is about as picturesque as it gets! The weather changes so quickly,as the locals say ‘four days all in one’! Expect some wet practice days but the forecast for finals is sunny at the moment.

The final World Cup is upon us, Hafjell Norway gets the honours of closing out season 2012. The overall men’s series may be decided but there will still be lots of action!

We hit up a track walk with Connor Fearon, Mitch Delfs, Luke Strobel and Kyle Sangers, plus a few other riders here and there, so lets check out the track;

Getting to the track is an adventure in itself, 11 minutes from the top of the Gondola to the start of the track by foot, at least the riders will have bikes!
Straight out of the start hut in the top right and into a big set of jumps, riders are tipping though that if they link everything up right the jumps might be too small!
From here riders hit one of many rock gardens on the track…
The track should deal with water well, even after yesterdays rain there were hardly any wet areas on the track.The sun and wind combine to remove the moisture pretty quickly, the wooded sections were the possible exception. With the large number of roots and rocks on the track expect it to be slippery if it does rain as forecast though.
The track is a mix of high speed open bike park style sections and forested technical sections. For a rider to do well here they will need to be strong in all areas of their riding.
The high speed sections are going to deliver riders into some of the more technical sections at full speed, this will get interesting…
This probably describes it best, some hard technical sections and some easier wide open sections. Mitch Delfs was estimating three to three and a half minutes for race runs?! The high overall speed maks it hard to estimate.
Here Connor Fearon points out a line to Mitch Delfs and Luke Strobel, riders are going to come into this section super fast so speed isn’t the problem it’s the super tight left hander directly after the gap that is though…
The tight left hander leads into this, a 50 metre rock garden…Expect mechanics to be flat out this week!
The rocks just keep going…
And going! You have to get this section right otherwise you are going to crash or lose all your momentum and struggle to get through the rest of the rocks.
Once the riders get through the rocks the bottom section of the track is fast and wide open, in general the whole track is pretty fast!
There was a lot of last minute preparation happening on the track today.
Some sections on the track had seen a bit more work than some other sections… Pretty cool!
Hafjell is a ski resort but this weekend the fans will be out for the downhill.
If you read Connor Fearon’s Inside Info you will know what his plans for this number 31 are!
No points for guessing whos bike this is! The name is on the top tube!
To get epic just add rider! We are expecting some truly epic riding here in Norway, downhill247.com will be bringing it all to you!

Practice starts tomorrow with most riders pretty keen toget out on the track.A�The race is actually on Saturday, we will keep you covered all week long!

South Australian State Series – Race 6 – Willunga

Willunga is an old favourite on the South Australian racing calendar and held a national round many years ago! Photo: Matt Bird Photography

This year the sixth and final race of the SRAM South Australian state series were held at Willunga.A� A venue that is a permanent fixture on the calendar, Willunga is known for being the fastest most open track of the year. Top speeds reach around 50km/h, the complete absence of trees to shield riders from the wind and the abundance of rocks hiding in the grass makes this track tough on riders and bikes alike.A� Much to riders surprise and delight a track that was raced in the late 90a��s was resurrected, and tuned to suit modern DH standards, was used.

The track used was an old track but albeit retuned for the race, some riders chose to really send this kicker, it was up to each rider. Photo: Matt Bird Photography

Going into this race the Elite men’s series was wide open with the top two contenders, Steve Gebert and Ngari Jenkins separated by 2 points (subjectively as it is a drop-a-round series).A� No surprise both riders were going for it, even in qualifications, where Steve qualified 1st and netted 15 points and Ngari flatted taking home 0 points and a large section of bunting.

Being the last race of the series meant there were riders thinking of the overall series rankings… Photo: Matt Bird Photography

In under 17a��s Callum Morrison completed a clean sweep of the series with his 6th race win from 6 rounds, he was reportedly disappointed with his run (that would have qualified him 3rd in Elites) and later that day went on to make amends in his un-official u 19a��s run setting overall the second quickest time of the day.A� He was followed by Cody Barker in 2nd and Hayden Vanderwolff in 3rd.

The u 19a��s series had already been decided before this round but that didna��t slow any of the riders down, series winner James Chambers came 2nd, Jake Adams 3rd with top honours going to Matt Taylor.

Overall Under 19’s Men winner James Chambers setting up for a turn. Photo: Matt Bird

Elite women was a shootout between Molly Payne and Jolene Knight, both of which having problems in their race run.A� Jolene flatted half way down the course and managed to ride it out, Molly had a bad crash in a rock garden but got back up to finish her run, unfortunately not fast enough and Jolene took the win and the series.

A return to racing for Angus Maddern after a lay off due to surgery

Elite Mena��s was a tough race with most riders going a lot faster in their final run, 5th place went to Angus Maddern, it was great to have Angus back as this was his first race back from shoulder surgery and he showed that he hasna��t lost any of his pace or style.A� In 4th place Steve Gebert, not a win but a good run.A� Bronze and silver went to Giant riders Craig Yates and Cameron Ryan respectively, the younger displaying supreme confidence gapping into the final chute where most other riders were on the brakes.A� But fastest time of the day, ultimate bragging rights and a gold medal went to Steve Marsh, this capping off a successful return to racing for the club legend. Steve walks away with the overall series too, this made Steve one happy camper and a deserving winner, Steve was consistent all season long.

With the State Series finished there is still one more South Australian race this year, the State Championships

The amazing weather also played a part in making it a successful and enjoyable weekend for all, and an excellent prelude to state titles which will be held 13th and 14th of October at Fox Creek.A� With 6 different winners from 6 rounds ita��s any ones guess who will be crowned state champion in 2012.

Inside Info: Connor Fearon – Leogang

Connor Fearon looked strong on the track all week and was a definite favourite! Photo: Phunkt

We all know how well Connor Fearon did in Leogang but lets hear what he had to say about the week;

Well, well, wella�� The 2012 World Championships is done and dusted! For me I had a lot more pressure on me for this race than the rest of the season for a few reasons- Its world championships, ita��s my last year racing as a junior and unlike world cups there is a separate category for juniors so therea��s a good chance I could leave with a decent result!
For this race I stayed with the entire Australian junior team for the week. Wea��re all good buddies and Jared Rando was there to offer his wealth of experience. For me old Rando is a good role model and I trust him more than anybody in the MTB scene so having him around was a good for the team. We walked the track on Wednesday and it looked pretty good. The top section was made up of bike park turns and a few technical wood sections. The bottom was good with fast rooted and rough sections. Unfortunately there was a big pedal halfway which I didna��t like but felt I could make up for it in the tech sections.

Riders popped over this jump before they had to pedal a bit to get to the next tech section which was followed by another pedal! Photo: Phunkt

Practice and timed practice was a lot of fun. I got to ride with my friends from home and we worked as a team to figure out the lines down the track. In timed practice I place 4th which was a little disappointing as my goal all year was to come away with a medal. I knew my weakness was on the pedal and that seemed easy enough to changea�� just pedal harder, right?

Connor is always strong on the technical areas but in his own words he had ‘to pedal more’ in some parts for his race run! Photo: Phunkt

I had a good warm up before my race run I had my mechanic Matty and Rando both there to see me leave the start gate. My run was smooth I pedalled hard for the flat section mid way. Coming into the final sections I backed it off a little bit because I had crashed there that morning in practise. I came through the finish line in 1st almost 3 seconds up on Jack Moir a fellow Aussie junior from then on I got knocked down to 2nd, then 3rd and stayed there until the end! I was stoked to come away with a medal!

The goal of achieveing a medal complete! Now one more World Cup to finish off the international season for Connor. Photo: Phunkt

Ia��ve achieved a lot this year but ita��s not quite time to go home yet Ia��m currently sitting in my lodge at Norway waiting for the final world cup. I want to finish in the top 30 overall unfortunately for me Steve Peat is sitting right in front of me in the standings so ita��s going to be a challenging weekend for me!

There you go, straight from Mr Fearon himself! We will check back in with him after Norway, as always expect, all the coverage of the race on downhill247.com!

World Championships – Pick of the Pics

Marc Beaumont finished 14th, he was hoping for a better finish than that though.

We are still buzzing from the World Champs in Leogang! We thought we would put up a few more pictures from the week, enjoy!

Troy Brosnan was looking good and a lot of people ‘in the know’ had him tipped to do well. With racing though, nothing is guaranteed!
There was a lot of amazing scenery surrounding the race track, we saw lots of animals to, we didn’t realise they had snakes in Austria!
Beer, the other Beer! Matt Beer was fast all week and finished 43rd!
The life of a World Cup photographer has plenty of highs but also plenty of challenging times, here Sven Martin ponders his next move whilst taking refuge from the weather!
Our favourite ride from the Champs had to be Bryn Atkinson’s rig, maybe it was because of the way he was riding it?!
What a view!
Third place in Junior Women for Danielle Beecroft was an awesome result!
Gee Atherton makes up one third of the ‘big three’, which also contains Greg Minnaar and Aaron Gwin, one them is always going to be in the mix! Second for Gee Atherton this time.
When the rain came it felt like it wasn’t going to stop! The course held up well though with the builders all to aware of the amount of rain that can fall in the Alps.
With the addition of new kickers, the jumps in the middle of the course were quite large! Not all riders were hitting them, Andrew Neethling shows us how it is done.
Understandably Greg Minnaar had to have a good look at the jumps before he would send them!
In the end though Greg got it right and to the victor go the spoils!

Another World Champs wrapped up!

World Championships – Day 4 – Leogang

The highlight of the day for us at downhill247.com was seeing Connor Fearon claim a thoroughly deserved third place! We have been long time supporters of Connor and know how much work he has done for this one race.

Another World Championships in the bag and what a race in so many ways! After a week that could best described as average, in terms of the weather, Mother Nature smiled on us and brought the blue sky and sun out for finals. The morning practice session was still very muddy and talking to the riders after their finals run, many said conditions on some areas of the track surprised them after a wet practice session.

Once practice was over and finals started the countdown was on…
The fans were out in force, obligatory support signs included!
This World Champs was Justin Leov’s last one after 10 years on the circuit.
If there was no action on the track you could count on some spectators to serve up some action. This corner at the bottom was Hecklers Rock style with Aussies and Kiwis partying! Their partying went well into the night with various degrees of success!

JuniorA�Women started the day off and it was Canadian Holly Feniak that upset hot favourite Tahnee Seagrave to take the win. After dominating the junior World Cup circuit Tahnee was displaced by the Canadian who had not raced any World Cups and was unknown to many. Third place was Australian Danielle Beecroft, this result was definitely not a surprise as we were aware of her speed from her racing exploits back home.

Danielle Beecroft started the day of well for Australia with the bronze medal, here she hits one of the more technical chutes on the track.

Junior Men were next on track and Australia had a real chance to stack the top ten positions with riders. In the end we had a very good result and lost out on the overall number one junior ranking by a single point to France.

A disappointed David McMillan crashed twice in his race run and finished 64th.
Luke Ellison jumping his way into 37th.
Thomas Crimmins came home in 31st place, while Joey Vejvoda, above, took 21st place.
Dean Lucas brought home 12th place and was happy with his result.
Jack Moir in his first World Champs placed 5th, a super impressive result, look out for him next year in South Africa!
Connor Fearon said he gave it everything and was happy with his run.
He took the hot seat at the bottom and had a nervous wait to see how his time would hold up.
The tension at a World Champs is always high but with two juniors having to do re-runs the tension was even higher.
In the end there were smiles all round for Connor’s third place and the collective efforts of the team! Aussie Aussie Aussie Oi Oi Oi!

Junior Women

1.A� Holly Feniak 4.01.62

2. Tahnee Seagrave 4.09.72 + 8.10

3. Danielle Beecroft 4.19.57 + 17.95

4. Geraldine Fink 4.22.63 + 21.01

5. Chloe Gallean 4.22.86 + 21.24

Junior Men

1. Loic Bruni 3.29.14

2. Richard Rude Jr 3.32.26 + 3.12

3. Connor Fearon 3.34.08 + 4.94

4. Noel Nieder 3.35.17 + 6.03

5. Jack Moir 3.36.98 + 7.84

…

12. Dean Lucas 3.40.72 + 11.58

21. Joe Vejvoda 3.43.13 + 13.99

31. Thomas Crimmins 3.46.80 + 17.66

37. Luke Ellison 3.49.82 + 20.69

64. David McMillan 4.04.21 + 35.07

With juniors finished Elite Women hit the course and in what is one of the feel good stories from the Champs, relatively unknown privateer Morgane Charre took the victory ahead of the biggest names on the circuit. It was a surprise but good to see.

Surprise! One that doesn’t happen often in this sport but happened in both Junior and Elite Woman this year, a relatively unknown rider upset the established names on the circuit. We would like to think Morgane could secure a factory ride now!

Elite Men was a really strange race, the feeling at the bottom when it became apparent Aaron Gwin had problems was an odd one. Many people wanted to see what he could do on this track. Gwin wasn’t the only one with problems, Steve Peat crashed on a flier of a run, as did Josh Bryceland who said he will looking back on this racing thinking ‘what could have been?’. Troy Brosnan’sA�horrendous overseas season and run of terrible luck here at Leogang continued, crashing within the first 100m of the track dislocating his shoulder.

Troy Brosnan in the morning practice, immediately after this drop is where Troy crashed in his race run.
Whoops, that shouldn’t do that! Aaron Gwin’s prototype brakes failed spectacularly on the most important run at the biggest race of the year! The mood at the Trek team was a very somber one.
With his race done Josh Bryceland put in for the crowd and the assembled media.
Steve Peat may have crashed in his race run but he still got his hands on a rainbow jersey, the UCI presented him a special edition Leogang World Championship jersey to honour his 20 years of racing World Championships. When Peaty spoke people were waiting to here news on his retirement but he dashed these claims by saying he still thinks he has a few more years left in him.
Bar Troy Brosnan’s crash Australia had another solid World Champs. Jared Graves powered home for 32nd place.
It was awesome to see Josh Button Crack the top 20 with 20th place, likewise for Mitch Delfs who tied with Andrew Neethling for 18th position. Bryn Atkinson who was looking fast all week charged home for 13th place and Sam Hill who had a lot of family support here in Leogang finished 5th, just 3.41 seconds off the win.
Timed practice showed what everyone could see, Mic Hannah had speed on this track. In the finals he came down and took the hot seat, he missed out on a podium spot by under a second finishing 4th.
Stevie Smith had a few loose moments in his run, including this corner at the bottom where he ran wide and almost snagged a pedal on the ground! It must not have slowed him down too much, third place at the end of the day.
One of the most consistent men in downhill racing, Greg Minnaar, finally took the top spot after last being there in 2003.
Once he knew he had won Greg Minnaar had a smile on his face that would stay there for the rest of the day and night!

Elite Women

1. Morgane Charre 3.50.65

2. Emmeline Ragot 3.51.85 + 1.20

3. Manon Carpenter 3.52.14 + 1.49

4. Floriane Pugin 3.52.27 + 1.62

5. Rachel Atherton 3.56.55 + 5.89

Elite Men

1. Greg Minnaar 3.21.79

2. Gee Atherton 3.22.37 + 0.58

3. Stevie Smith 3.23.00 + 1.21

4. Mic Hannah 3.23.93 + 2.14

5. Sam Hill 3.25.20 + 3.41

…

13. Bryn Atkinson 3.28.58 + 6.79

18. Mitch Delfs 3.29.77 + 7.98

20. Josh Button 3.29.99 + 8.20

32. Jared Graves 3.32.41 + 10.62

DNF. Troy Brosnan

With the 2012 World Champions crowned manyA�riders actually head to Norway inA�two weeks time for the final World Cup, expect full coverage from downhill247.com on this event too!

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