QLD 4X Super Series #1 - Results (0 comments) (link) Wednesday, 24-September-2008 08:22 AM - by Squidly Didly
Elite Men
1. Daniel Castillo (UMF, Merida)
2. Dale Percy (UMF)
3. Adam Nicholson (Cannondale, Unit, Sram, Mavic, Smith, FTR)
4. Michael Young (UMF, Answer)
This weekend past we saw the start of the Queensland 4X Super Series take place. Once again we have a 3 Round Series but this time it finishes up with the Queensland State 4X Championships. The 1st Round took place on the Logan City BMX Academy’s BMX track that has been permanently converted into a 4X track.
King of Dirt Downhill - 18 & 19 October (11 comments) (link) Friday, 19-September-2008 10:30 AM - by lindsay
Three downhill races over two days. Sounds awesome!
"Presented by the Gold Coast Mountain Bike Club and Two Wheel Promotions. The King of Dirt is a downhill Series over a weekend held at two venues at Canungra only 15 minutes away from each other. You get to challenge yourself on a variety of courses over the weekend. With 3 different courses to ride & race with the first day at Illinbah and then day 2 at the Twin Peaks venue with 2 courses to race in the one day. With 3 different courses no rider will have an advantage over other riders as they all differ."
There's also rumours of several world class riders attending. Definitely a race not to be missed!
Australian National Series Rnd#1 (34 comments) (link) Thursday, 18-September-2008 1:20 PM - by toodles
Well its that time of year again. Round one of the Australian National Series is quickly approaching so get yourself sorted and get over to Radelaide SA for "That Computer Blokes" National MTB Race at Eagle Mountain Bike Park October 31st for the Race on November 2nd.
This year will include;
Sam Hill is confirmed as racing this event
SRAM Will be launching the New Boxxer Forks and other new bling bits and pieces
Race Support from multiple leading manufacturers
Full Undercover village where you can watch the goings on in comfort
Improved track flow and spectator access
20 Mins from the City for accommodation and after race shenanigans
Heaps of ride options for the week before or after
Organised venue for after race party......a little less shenanigans this year would be great guys and gals
Stay tuned for a teaser video posted in the forums and News.
Rad-ming - Downhill Semis and Finals (21 comments) (link) Sunday, 14-September-2008 02:54 AM - by Ryan
Well, it's all done and dusted for another season and chances are, you already know what happened because you watched it all live on the internet. If you didn't though, let's get the formalities out of the way;
Sam needs only a single hand and no feet to negotiate the steepest part of the track. Manly.
Downhill Men - Final
1 BLENKINSOP Samuel 4:10.16 2 HILL Samuel 4:11.80
3 ATHERTON Gee 4:12.36
4 PEAT Steve 4:13.20
5 MINNAAR Greg 4:17.56
6 LEOV Justin 4:18.33
7 BAREL Fabien 4:18.49
8 GWIN Aaron Holmes 4:21.44 9 DELFS Mitchell 4:21.60
10 NEETHLING Andrew 4:21.87
17 CAVALIER Amiel 4:23.97
19 RENNIE Nathan 4:24.40
42 ATKINSON Bryn 4:30.29
63 RANDO Jared 4:34.95
67. WILLEMSE Rhys 4:35.51
80 KOVARIK Chris 9:52.64
Downhill Men - Overall
1 MINNAAR Greg 2 HILL Samuel
3 ATHERTON Gee
4 PEAT Steve
5 BLENKINSOP Samuel
7 RENNIE Nathan
9 KOVARIK Chris
15 DELFS Mitchell
21 RANDO Jared
22 CAVALIER Amiel
27 ATKINSON Bryn
65 BUTTON Josh
67 RISCHBIETH Will
75 EATON Tim
90 CORY Benjamin
96 MILLS Andrew
104 LEE Richard
105 WILLEMSE Rhys
108 PATTON Tom
109 MURRELL Tamryn
118 BOYER Ricky
123 KELLY Brad
132 DINHAM Laurie
We posted ourselves up in the steep rooty section for the finals and things quickly got cold, wet and somewhat grim. Got to see heaps of action including Kovarik's heavy slam and Hill nearly binning it but making a solid recovery.
Racing was just as hectic as expected and it was great to see young Sam Blenkinsop standing atop the podium at the end of it all; a talented young rider who's going to be massive in the coming years.
UCI MTB World Cup #7 - Schladming DH Results (53 comments) (link) Saturday, 13-September-2008 10:24 PM - by Squidly Didly
Elite Men
1. Sam Blenkinsop - 4:10.16 2. Sam Hill - 4:11.80
3. Gee Atherton - 4:12.36
4. Steve Peat - 4:13.20
5. Greg Minnaar - 4:17.56
... 9. Mitch Delfs - 4:21.60
17. Amiel Cavalier - 4:23.97
19. Nathan Rennie - 4:24.40
42. Bryn Atkinson - 4:30.29
63. Jared Rando - 4:34.95
67. Rhys Willemse - 4:35.51
80. Chris Kovarik - 9:52.64
Shred-ming - Race Day (0 comments) (link) Saturday, 13-September-2008 6:06 PM - by Ryan
We've had consistent but not overly heavy rain for most of the night here, the ground is soaked and the track is too.
Ran into Rhys Willemse on my way down to the media sweatbox and he was covered in mud despite being kicked off the mountain due to practice closing early and not even getting to do a run. It's properly wet out there and I think you can all imagine who that favours in this closest of final rounds.
Going to get out there on the hill as qualifying is about to kick off. Stay tuned for more Leitch goodness later and keep your eyes on Freecaster if you want results before I stagger, slip and fall my arse back down the hill to post them. Word!
Schladming Part 5 - 4X Finals (4 comments) (link) Saturday, 13-September-2008 04:50 AM - by Ryan
Track produced generally mediocre racing at best and it pissed with rain the whole time.
Saladini beat out Dan Atherton in the men's final, and Labounkova beat Beerten in the women's. Austrian keyboards are arse backwards and Leitch will have some photos for you to ogle tomorrow morning our time, that's about all I have to say.
Clearly it is still pissing down rain and the forecast calls for fricken snow tomorrow. DH finals are tomorrow. DH finals + snow = win.
Schladming Part 4 - DH Practice 2 (5 comments) (link) Saturday, 13-September-2008 00:07 AM - by Ryan
We're down in the media dungeon again having borne witness to yet more shredding by the world's fastest.
Mitch Delfs launching himself into the mist
Conditions weren't nearly as bad as I expected on the track and a muggy day has seen a lot of sections dry out quite nicely. Enough mud early on to ensure some quality roost was thrown and for that, I'll have to let the pictures speak their usual thousand words or so.
Roost on, Fabien...
Sam Blenkinsop may well have set the fastest time in timed practice this session, but the printout we have here only starts at number 2 and there's no Sam Hill to be seen anywhere...spooky conspiracy or UCI cock-up. You decide.
4X racing tonight which should be entertaining. The track is certainly more suited to the BMX crossover racers, short, fast, smooth and with no big jumps. Corner 2 looks like it was designed specifically to make T-bone take outs as easy as possible so expect some quality carnage there. The last 2 turns before the final step down have a couple of inside lines so there could be some clean passes put on there.
Romain Saladini qualified fastest last night from Kamil Tatarkovic, Dan Atherton and Roger Rinderknecht. Romana Labounkova was the quickest lady down the hill, beating out Anneke Beerten and Fionn Griffiths.
Darren Pokoj wins Dirt Jump contest at Eurobike (5 comments) (link) Friday, 12-September-2008 9:53 PM - by Scott
Back on the bike after a serious injury not long ago, Daz has thrown down to take home the win! Yeeeah Daz!
First run: tuck no hand and backflip at the first two doubles followed by a 360 off the box.
Second run: superman seatgrab indian air, nosedive 360, tuck no hand onto the box and a 360 off the drop.
Third run: nosedive 360, cannonball, barspin onto and 360 off the box.
Results:
1st Darren Pokoj (AUS)
2nd Sam Pilgrim (UK)
3rd Amir Kabbani (GER)
4th Anton Wilms (GER)
5th Martin Söderström (SWE)
6th Inigo Yanci (ESP)
7th Trond Hansen (NOR)
8th Bjoern Woerner (GER)
Schladming Part 3 - 4X Quali's and DH Practice 2 (1 comments) (link) Friday, 12-September-2008 6:07 PM - by Ryan
Wow, what a difference 24 hours makes. As I said in my first post there was a little rain on Wednesday night. Last night, we had a full-on belter of a thunder storm which resulted in the track getting thoroughly soaked, Andrew and Tristan enduring a night in the tent that was even more moist than usual and our crate of beer, gently cooling in an alpine stream, being totally submerged in a raging torrent of run off.
Schladminger, not just an epithet questioning your lineage
4X qualifiers last night were, to put it mildly, utter crap. I don't know of any sport in the world that runs time-trial qualifiers in a format that sets the fastest riders off first, but the UCI somehow believes that this is a good idea that makes for an exciting spectacle for those watching. It doesn't. Once the 10 fastest riders have gone down, the fastest time is well and truly set and you get to watch 70-odd progressively less talented riders set slower and slower qualifying times. Riveting.
We're about to head up the mountain to watch the second DH practice session and I am quite confident in my prediction that it is going to be mental. The track is wet and greasy and everyone I've seen is on mud-spikes. The steep, off-camber grass at the bottom is surely going to be negotiated backwards / sideways by a good number of riders while the roots in the middle section are going to be, quite simply, death. Stay tuned for photos of said death late tonight / early tomorrow your time.
Tristan - "It's gonna get fierce!"
Schladming Part 2 - DH Practice 1 (14 comments) (link) Friday, 12-September-2008 01:20 AM - by Ryan
So, just got in off the hill having watched the first DH practice session. A little greasy up top early in the day but most of the track is already either tacky and wonderful or a total dustbowl.
The word from everyone on the hill is that the course is flat-out amazing and I'd have to agree. Working our way down today there wasn't a single section that didn't look fun to ride and the last section where the track descends the final part of the Planai ski-run sheds a ludicrous amount of altitude in very little time.
The usual suspects are looking fast as hell already, Hill and Fairclough riding in a train and pinning everything, ditto the Athertons and the Syndicate. Steve Smith was looking quick on his lurid orange cove and the Mondraker team were solid as well.
Remember that the race for the top spots is super tight here, so Minnaar and Hill in particular are going to have to lay it all out there in both their semi and final runs if they want the overall title.
A little over half way down is where there's going to be the biggest chance to put time in with a number of sections of steep, rough, loose, slippery roots that have some mental lines through them that will reward the brave and punish the foolhardy. If either of them chooses to take the slow-but-safe options through here, they're going to need to produce a blinder of a ride on the rest of the course to stay in the mix.
Ya Mum's a Schlad-minger! Part 1 (12 comments) (link) Thursday, 11-September-2008 6:54 PM - by Ryan
Not really, I'm sure she's actually a classy dame.
So, Farkin.net has a team of award winning journalists and professional photographers here at the World Cup finals in Schladming, Austria. Actually, there's myself, Leitch, Tristan23 and my wife, Pip, but we'll make do with that.
We've been here a couple of days now and conditions have been brilliant. Hot, sunny days and cold nights with just a little rain last night to make the first DH practice session more interesting.
Tristan, Pip and I made use of our media credentials to ride the top half of the mountain yesterday while Mr Leitch made use of his media credentials to pay 45 euro for a hire bike then bin it spectacularly 50 metres into the track and gash his hand open. Because he sucks.
If the top of the mountain is anything to go by, the racing out here will be well and truly off the hook. Steep, rough, corners, roots. It's no wonder that Sam Hill has smashed it here for the last 2 years as the course looks like it's been prepared specifically for him.
4X Qualifiers tonight after DH practice today so expect many a bulk update with photos and hilarious witticisms to come. Don't forget that you can catch all of the racing live on Freecaster as well.
QLD 4X Super Series #1 - Underwood (5 comments) (link) Wednesday, 10-September-2008 9:41 PM - by Squidly Didly
The Mountain Bike 4X Super Series is on again. The 1st round takes place on Sunday 21st September at the Underwood BMX Track, which has been converted into a 4X track.
