Round 1 of the Victorian downhill series saw us in Shepparton and the view was great!
3-6-3-0 represent! Round one of the Victorian downhill series saw us hit up Shepparton (3630)A�- well actually we went to Mount Major which is about 30 minutes from Shepparton but close enough. It was round one so everyone was keen to get back to racing, it was hard to pick some people as there were new kits and bikes getting around.
Rocks were the name of the game, after 5 or so bikes lost their rear derailleurs to this rock the marshals came out swinging!
The track was rocky as usual, Shepparton actually held the Oceania Championships’ a few years ago so we will give you a quick brief of the course; the top goes across the ridge before riders had to negotiate several rock gardens as the course started to turn across the face of the hill, a few more rock gardens before some wide open flat corners and some big jumps into the finish, did we mention there were a lot of rocks?
We lost track of the number of mechanicals we saw riders having, either losing derailleurs or the air from their tyres/tubes!All the rocks made for some awesome riding though with whole rocks flying as riders came charging through!The rocks did catch some (a lot) of people out though! Hopefully everyone recovers quickly and we see you at round 2!Talking about rocks, this rock got dislodged in a rock garden midway down the track but it didn’t stop rolling and made it’s way almost all the way down the hill, dangerous for sure but not what you would expect to see coming towards you, it was more likely to be a bike/rider!The weather was interesting over the weekend, to say the least. Saturday saw hot and sunny conditions leaving a lot of people sunburnt! Sunday morning was much the same but just after qualifying a storm blew in coating the track with water and turning the ground wet on top but dry underneath making racing interesting.As per usual transport ran well and everyone was happy doing runs, yeeww!Overall numbers were probably down a little as riders are a little bit more picky as to which races they do these days but the pit set up was still impressive and there were a lot of smiles on riders faces.
QualifyingA�saw the usual suspects up near the tops of the time sheets, names like Lucas, Piribauer and Swann for Elite Men, Molloy and Wale for Elite Women and Morrison andA�Varley for the Under 19s. With racing though nothing is guaranteed, especially when you factor in the number of mechanicals and the prevailing weather conditions…
Fresh from racing World Cups, Dean Lucas was the hands down favourite and donned the number one plate. Photo extraordinaire, Jase Stevens, does his thing in the background!13, unlucky for some…
And sure enough… As qualifying finished the weather changed, wind and water hit the mount and threw uncertainty into everyone’s minds!
All morning we watched the weather closing in, hanging ominously above us.When it came it left the top part of the soil wet but underneath it was wet, good luck guessing what to do with conditions like that!The weather didn’t seem to worry some riders who just kept on blasting!
Racing, the most important part of the day! Much like practice all weekend there would be mechanicals and crashes, most of the big names kept away from this though. The Women was taken out by Tegan Molloy in emphatic fashion, she is really on a role lately. Under 19’s was unusual in that the fastest qualifier Callum Morrison, came down first, followed by the second fastest qualifier, etc. Different from the usual but something we don’t think is going to happen at the next round. In the end Aiden Varley took the win by over a second and a half from Ben Hill andA�third was Hayden Stead.
Tegan Molloy is on a role and took the victory here by close to 15 seconds!Riley Horsman holding it wide open in Under 19’sBen Hill took second place.Callum Morrsion ended up in fifth place.
Elite Men, the business end of the day and looked like all that would stop Dean Lucas was a crash or mechanical, fortunately for Dean he stomped the win by six seconds, second was Tom Wyatt and third Richard Kreuzer. The Elite Men dealt with the conditions unfazed and showed everyone how it was done.
No surprises really, Dean Lucas takes out round 1!Not everyone had the run they wanted though…!If it wasn’t a mechanical chances are it was a crash that meant riders had less than ideal race runs!Matt Swann had a less then perfect run and ended up down the time sheet, expect him to be back next race though!Trent Piribauer on his way to 4th.Riders were going Mach 1 in the rock gardens!Ina Jones on his way down, look closely….And you will see his derailleur with a mind of its own! Fortunately this was during qualifying!
Overall a great first round and we still have so much more to show you! Tune back soon…
Mount Beauty, an old favourite for what seems like forever!
Mount Beauty played host to the final round of the Victorian Downhill Series. The track and the town itself is a long-time favourite amongst the riders, so everyone was already excited when they arrived into town. There was a threat of rain forecast but this didn’t keep the crowds away with approximately 250 riders entering.
Mount Beauty holds numerous races every year and it is easy to see why.
As practice began the track immediately began bedding in and soon wearing quickly. Ruts began to form and corners started being dug our very quickly, leaving plenty of loose dust off line. This presented a high risk to any rider willing to try a different line.
The track started to wear and riding got looser! Do you think he held it?Phil Piazza tries again!Phil wasn’t the only one getting a bit wild!
As practiced continued it was becoming apparent that Mount Beauty was out to claim as many riders, components and bones as possible! Almost every shuttle run involved at least one mechanical and a more than minor off. The mountain then showed its teeth a little more severely, claiming Shelly Floods wrist and her V10 linkage.
Should that be like that?! Nope Beauty claims another one…According to the doctor her bike may have been broken but her arm wasn’t… A second opinion (from anyone) would have revealed this, your arm is supposed to be straight! Heal up soon.
As practice drew to an end, there were many smiles and plenty of dusty, crash moustaches. Riders walked away excited for Sundaya��s racing.
The bottom jumps were made even more challenging after doing a full run.There was also lots of style being thrown down though!
In the open practice Sunday morning riders were determined to hit race run lines and attempt those sneaky lines that perhaps were missed or eyed off on Saturday. For some it payed off, for others it meant coming off. For Daniel Wilson it means bottoming out, pretty intensely with only a couple of riders clearing one of the last jumps on track.
Suss the compression!The track was as rough on bikes as it was on the riders!
As qualifying began riders started streaming down the hill, getting looser and looser, simultaneously the plates got higher and higher in ranking. Unfortunately, mid-way through Melvin Aricayos came into view and slammed into a tree track side. This halted qualifying and eventually caused qualifying to be cancelled for the remainder of the riders, which in turn brought race runs forward for every rider. Melvin has suffered plenty of injuries from his off and we wish him all the best in his recovery.
Riders were getting ragged towards the end of qualifying…A crash in qualifying meant a mix up to how races would normally be run but in the end everyone had a race run in some way or another.The crowd focuses in on the riders.Loooosssee!
As the track was cleared and the order somewhat shaken up, the Elite men started coming down the hill, leaving the Expert Men to finish the day, which was a nice change for once. Being in listed plate order things got shaken up, though being the last round the order almost sorted itself out, plenty of interstaters were assumingly lower than you would expect in the order. As the Elitea��s finished up many riders were disappointed in the race run only decision, however with light not being on our side, now daylight savings has finished, the opportunity for a qualifying and race run seemed bordering on impossible.
Day-light savings meant there wasn’t enough time to do a full run of qualifying and racing.David McMillan with his eyes on the prize…Elite Women’s podium.Elite Men’s Podium.Now is David McMillan rocking some new sticky rubber prototypes here or getting his Hef on?!Matt Swan’s team mate Aiden Varley took the Under 19’s win.
At the end of the day Dean Lucas took the win in Elite Men in his final outing with the Kona Australia Team and Sarah Booth took the win in Elite women ending the season with another Kona Australia dominated top step.
Elite Men
1. LUCAS Dean 2:48.057
2. PANOZZO Liam 2:49.863 + 1.806
3. MCMILLAN David 2:51.745 + 3.688
4. PANOZZO Joel 2:53.572 + 5.515
5. ATKINSON Rhys 2:56.132 + 8.075
Elite Women
1. BOOTH Sarah 3:50.739
2. WALE Ellie 4:12.300 + 21.561
3. BEETON Hannah 4:14.431 + 23.692
4. LI Liching 4:17.959 + 27.220
5. LI Lina 4:21.457 + 30.718
Under 19 Men
1. VARLEY Aiden 2:50.259
2. ZWAR Oliver 2:58.465 + 8.206
3. HAWKINS Austen 3:13.396 + 23.137
4. KELAART Benjamin 3:16.437+ 26.178
5. FALTUM Liam 3:17.118 + 26.859
Team Lucas here in this shot! Dean finished off his season with Kona the best way possible, with a win!Dean cranking towards the line.Another series done and dusted!Finally a huge, huge thanks to Jason Stevens for his tireless work over the entire series (and summer!)
Round 5 of the Victorian Downhill Series saw everyone head up to Mount Baw Baw, after a break that seemed like an eternity. Conditions were near to perfect, especially considering there was an enormous storm that ripped through the Baw Baw area, threatening to close the tourist road with debris. Many arrived early on the Friday evening to celebrate the 21 birthday of Eamonn Flahavin, who tragically passed away in a car crash last year.
It has been a little while between VicDH races and everyone was keen to get back into it!
When the track opened Saturday there were many more riders than usual for a Saturday practice, many came up early for the party and more wanted to ride in memory of their friend. As riders came through doing runs the early reports were the track may very well be the quickest it had been in a very long time, it had drained off well and was extremely sticky.
Epic! Good conditions just made the event that much betterThe track itself is pretty awesome regardless of the conditions.
The competition was going to be rather tight for this race with a few big names staying south due to Oceaniaa��s next weekend. The biggest name to note was Troy Brosnan, The Team Specialized rider opting to stay in Melbourne over the week and head south after Baw Baw. As Saturday began to roll through people began to realise just who was racing so more and more spectators began to gather, all wanting to watch some of the worlda��s best practice through the rougher top sections.
He pulls a crowd does old Troy Brosnan, we can’t call him old though can we…!It is always good to see a keen, enthusiastic and vocal crowd!
By the end of Saturday we were all surprised at just how well the track was holding up, though there were plenty of braking bumps forming on the high speed track the general track condition was far better than expected with no real ruts forming and the moisture seemed to be holding the track together over helping it fall apart. This was going to make Sundays racing very interesting!
Surprises all round as the track was turning into a beauty of a race track.Joey Vejvoda and Jack Moir throw down a practice run.
Sunday morning came around as the wind kicked up, knocking over the Gippsland MTB timing tent at the bottom of the track and bringing with it some extremely cold temperatures. With the clouds moving at a high speed, some threatening clouds came and went without crashing the party but the potential for rain, though not forecast, seemed high.
As usual the weather was high on the list in everyone’s minds.
Qualifying began with one mentionable name absent, Troy Brosnan had picked a virus and wasn’t feeling up to racing at all. Though there was disappointment Troy was ill and unable to ride there was also a spark amongst riders as it seemed like the win was anyonea��s again. With qualifying over there was a small lunch break and racing began.
It was unfortunate to see Troy out of action on the weekend but these things happen.
As riders began coming through the track it appeared the track had become much quicker, but some ruts had begun to form, catching some riders off guard. The most notable rider to take a tumble through the ‘Jeep Track’ section was Jackson Davis, the Specialized Swell rider who wins our vote as the off of the weekend. As you can see below, the faces tell the whole story.
The facial expressions in the background pretty much sum it up!And in full size…Jackson wasn’t the only one who got a bit wild!The degree of rider/bike wildness varied though!Those that got it right though were really motoring!
The Elite men starting coming down track and someone shifted the whole race up a gear with the speed going through the roof, the looseness was off the charts! With many riders appearing to just be passengers on the bike through the rough stuff. The times began to tumble and before we knew it only the top 10 were left in the start gate. Rhys Atkinson appears through the crowd and cruises through the rocks with almost effortless speed but loses traction around the following corner and has a minor off continuing Rhys’s run of bad luck racing this year. The next rider down is Liam Panozzo, who also gets extremely loose but holds on and bring it back to set a quick time which sets him up in provisional first. With Dean Lucas and Jack Moir to come, could anyone top Liama��s time? As Dean crosses the finish he clocks a time slower than Liam, this leaves it up to Jack Moir, looking quick all weekend did he have what it takes to top Liama��s time? Jack flew past us on track and as we heard the time over the speaker, Jack had topped Liama��s time and claimed the win at Mount Baw Baw continuing his extremely promising results previous to his time overseas.
Tegan Molloy mirrored her number plate by finishing 2nd on the day.Winner! Jack Moir’s domestic campaign is tracking well in preparation for his overseas competition later this year.The crowd gathered in the usual spot and got behind the riders no matter what they were doing, here Jack Moir gets some encouragement.
JustA�prior to the Elite Men’s presentation there was a special presentation of the ‘E-Man Memorial Trophy’, which also included a ‘scholarship’. Awarded each year to a deserving rider this is designed to help them out with expenses such as travel, accommodation, and racing costs. This year the trophy was awarded to a very deserving rider and also a friend of Eamonn; Dru Berryman. Dru was overcome and unable to speak, but we feel that this award couldn’t go to a more deserving rider, so congratulations Dru.
There was some very emotional moments during presentations but for a valid reason.
Sunday saw racing finish with the following results:
Elite Men:
1st Jack Moir
2nd Liam Panozzo
3rd Dean Lucas
4th Joey Vejvoda
5th Alex Swann
Elite Women
1st Sarah Booth
2nd Tegan Malloy
3rd Alyssa Lyons
4th Ellie Wale
5th Liching Li
Under 19 Men
1st Olly Zwar
2nd Aiden Varley
3rd Luke Norris
4th Austen Hawkins
5th William Stajnko
Another good race and VicDH just shows why it is the premier downhill series in Australia, oh and did anyone say champagne showers?
We are off to the Apple Isle next for Oceania’s amongst other articles you will see on the site!
Jack Lumb navigating through a random rock patch mid-way down the track.
Round 2 of the VicDH Series saw the sun shining, lets hear from Jase Stevens as he gives us the lowdown on the event;
Welcome to Mt. Tarrengower, Round 2 of the Victorian Downhill Series. The suns out, the rocks are ready to destroy anything they come in contact with and the dust… well it seems its turned up again. The camera equipment just loves all the dust! If there was to be a stereotypical Australian Downhill track this one might just tick all the boxes, red Australian dust, rocks, and just a ripper of a day. As practice started you could see the track starting to be pulled apart by heavy braking and hard cornering.
Maldon gets straight into things, not messing about at all, a couple of berms and your thrown right into the thick of it, coming into a rock drop/garden and from there on for a significant stretch ita��s rocks and flats. The top section of the track claimed it fair share of riders and tubes, even through the early practice sessions. From the rocks you descend into some smooth berms, as practice progressed the berms got looser and looser, by the time race runs came around some of the exits were like dust traps making it vital the riders kept as much speed as possible.
Brent Harwood finding his line through the top rock section
The track then descends down a ridge line where the rocks seem to disappear and some jumps come through, getting progressively larger as your come down the track. It was very interesting to watch riders styles change as the day progressed, as the landings became softer and softer more and more riders opted to stay super low and scrub all the jumps. From my stand point this certainly looked much quick and appeared much more stable on landing and having to turn.
Dean Lucas cruising over the double.
As qualis began to quickly approach and riders stared to ease off the runs and the dust began to settle the wear on the track became apparent with plenty of the corners becoming rutted out with dust hiding those ruts, yet some parts of the track seemed to be untouched.
Ben Hill charging through the dust on the final corner to take the win in U/19s, no brakes and death gripping, nice!Rick Munro keeping it upright on one area of track that didn’t deteriorate as much as some other sections.
As qualis began the riding was stepped up and everyone found another gear, rocks and bumps that appeared to just be an obstacle suddenly became kickers to clear large sections of track, new lines came out and the speed generally went right up a notch.
Jacqui Lovett showing everyone that the girls can go just as fast in the rough stuff.Andrew Peck shows us one way of attempting the rock garden.Jack O’hare has a different line in mind.And Dean Lucas has a winning line in mind making sure that the rock garden simply becomes scenery as he claims air time over most of the rough stuff.
Race runs begin and one thing is rather evident, therea��s going to be mechanicals at this round. Plenty of riders suffered the misfortunes of flat tyres and other problems, and other suffered offs over the whole track.
This was the story of the day for so many unlucky riders.Not so for Aiden Varley who absolutely pulverised the top rock garden at full speed.
As the elite riders began their runs the track really started to get properly loose, just holding on to the end of the day. The final part of the track became a spectators dream as every rider came through faster and faster creating roosts from the loose berms as the rip down on the pedals to squeeze every last second they can out of the run.
Ashley Maller pushes even harder getting both wheels loose on the soft stuff.
As the top elite riders started coming down times started falling and each rider started taking over the hot seat. As Connor Fearon came over the line and took the hot seat there was only Dean Lucas to come. He appeared through the trees and cleared the road gap with ease smashing the final berm but oddly not pedalling, as the bike goes past it sounds rather unhealthy, pushing for every last second Dean ghosties the bike over the line for the win, only on later inspection do we see the issue Dean battled with to take the win.
How you win a race when your bike looks like this is beyond us.Elite mena��s podium. Interstate galore, nice to see a Victorian take the win.
Final results were:
Elite Men:
1. Dean Lucas
2. Connor Fearon
3. Rhys Atkinson
4. Tim Eaton
5. Trent Piribauer
Elite Women:
1. Sarah Booth
2. Tegan Malloy
3. Shelly Flood
4. Jacqui Lovett
5. Kelly Bayliss
U/19 Men:
1. Ben Hill
2. Aiden Varley
3. Mathew McCorkell
4. Ben Kelaart
5. Eliot Webb
All images and words in this article are credited to Jason Stevens, to see some more of his fantastic work follow this link;
Flash results from the first Victorian Downhill round, full report to follow soon:
Elite Men:
1. Trent Piribauer 1.59.78
2. Jessie Beare 2.00.17 + 0.39
3. Kane Cannan 2.00.27 + 0.49
4. Connor Fearon 2.00.31 + 0.54
5. Tim Eaton 2.01.19 + 1.41
Under 19 Men:
1. Dean Lucas 1.58.80
2. Joey Vejvoda 2.00.77 + 1.97
3. James Kelly 2.03.29 + 4.49
The top sixteen Elite Men were only separated by about 3 seconds! Talk about close. Look at Dean Lucas’ time in Under 19! Fastest time of the day by almost a full second, on such a tight track,A�that’s super impressive. Full report up on the site soon. Thanks to JL Media for the results.
