What a great way to start the season! Another great event by the Tauranga guys and gals and MTBNZ.
As always, Tim Lawton and his gang had put on an awesome show at the event village. This year a big screen with a camera up the course. Pretty sure that's a first in any NZ downhill event! Aside from that, the weather played ball and made for hot, dry conditions throughout the weekend, lots of dust bogies and black looking people coming down the track after the not so uncommon ragdoll on the more technical track.
Racing was pretty tight across all the classes. Sam Blenkinsop managed a pretty convincing win in Pro Elite just a head of Nathan Rakin, showing the form that sent him to a world ranking of 4 last season.
Unfortunate to see no Elite Women's field after Amy Laird crashed in practice, breaking her collar bone. However, we're glad to hear Amy is on track for a fast recovery and we should see her back on the downhill bike in time for the National Champs in dunedin.
Elite Men: 1. Sam Blenkinsop - 2:00.64 2. Nathan Rankin - 2:02.37 3. Matt Walker - 2:02.83 4. Edward Masters - 2:04.65 5. Richard Leacock - 2:04.80
Team Kenda Playbiker - World Cup 2010: Fort William
Written by Romano Favino
Monday, 14 June 2010 08:08
FORT WILLIAM, Scotland (June 6th, 2010) Team Kenda-Playbiker had its best weekend of the 2010 season so far at the second downhill mountain bike World Cup in Fort William, Scotland. Sean O'Connor (AUS) rode to a career best 8th place finish on one of the roughest and fastest tracks on the circuit. Nathan Rankin (NZL) was only 52nd , which is below his potential but mainly due to the effects of the crash he suffered in Maribor, while Wyn Masters (NZL) was 40th after an interesting 26th in qualifies.
//WYN MASTERS
In 4x, Edo Franco (ITA) rode well, making it to the 1/8th finals, putting him in 28th place. "I need to work on my gates," the young italian said, "I'm always struggling down the first straight."
This year's downhill track had a variety of new sections in it, as well as a few very rough section where they had scraped it down to the bedrock, making for lots of long nights for the mechanics rebuilding wheels.
//SEAN O'CONNOR ON THE HOT SEAT
O'Connor was incredibly pleased with his performance in the downhill. "I hit all of my lines up top, and all of my training has paid off allowing me to put down a lot of hard pedalling at the bottom of the track on the motorway." O'Connor's performance now puts him in 22nd place in the overall World Cup ranking, 3 points out of a protected slot. When combined with the rest of the team's results, Kenda-Playbiker has now rejoined the top 20 trade teams on the World Cup standing, with an interesting 12th at the Scottish round.
//NATHAN RANKIN
Some of the team is now headed to the home resort Pila, Italy for a week of training and relaxation, while others have headed to local races to get some more race time in on their bikes.
The team will rejoin each other next weekend in Leogang, Austria, for the next round of the 2010 Downhill Mountain Bike World Cup.
KENDA-PLAYBIKER thanks all the team sponsors for the great support and their excellent products:
Kenda Tyres, Pila Bike Planet, Lapierre bikes, Fox Suspensions, Funn Brakes, Fulcrum Wheels, Funn MTB, e*thirteen, NS Dynamics, FiveTen, Penta Power, Insight Production, X-Service, Starx, Meccaniche del Tempo.
Cam Cole 2nd At Fort William
Written by Administrator
Monday, 07 June 2010 08:31
Maxxis-Rocky Mountain team rider Cameron Cole, 22, has surpassed even his own expectations by finishing second at Fort William, Scotland yesterday in the second round of the 2010 UCI World Cup.
Gee Atherton, of Great Britain, won the race in a time of 4:35.70 – pipping Cole by less than half a second.
"I don't know what to think or say – it has just been unreal," an excited Cole, of Christchurch, New Zealand, said afterwards.
"I didn't really expect my first podium to be a second place – I thought maybe I would pull a fourth or a fifth, but to be second and to nearly win has been pretty amazing."
Cole, a former world junior downhill champion, said he was surprised when he qualified third, but didn't think too much of it.
"I just rode my own race all weekend. On the morning of the race I was very nervous – especially when I was in the gate at the start. But I just rode my own race and fixed up the bits of the track that I needed to. I managed to save some time on the dry and slippery corners and then smashed the pedalling at the bottom part of the course," he explained.
Getting to the bottom part of the course is a relief for all riders as the course becomes less technical, but fast with some big jumps. For Cole that relief was crucial – in 2009 and 2008 he had crashed in his race runs higher up on the course.
"It was cool to get to that part of the course and have the opportunity to show my power again and to get to the finish line," he laughed.
"My final run didn't feel amazing – it just felt like another run – that is maybe a good thing."
All of a sudden Cole found himself at the bottom of the course and in second position, but it hadn't sunk in.
"I thought the last two guys to come down might beat me and relegate me back to third or fourth, but it never happened," he said.
Those last two riders were fellow New Zealander Sam Blenkinsop and former World Cup champion Greg Minnaar, of South Africa. Blenkinsop finished sixth meaning Minnaar was the only rider left who could knock Cole out of second.
"When he was coming down I was just sitting there looking at the ground, I wasn't really paying attention – I knew I was on the podium so I was just trying to get my head around that," he explained.
"Justin Leov was with me and he said, 'dude, you're second', and he was nearly crying and I was nearly crying – it was amazing."
With 18,000 people through the gate over the weekend Cole estimated that somewhere between 10,000 and 15,000 people were at the race.
"Gee Atherton was amping and the crowd was going off, everyone came over to shake my hand – it was a pretty wild atmosphere."
For Cole's Maxxis-Rocky Mountain team it was a double celebration as team mate Sabrina Jonnier, of Hyères, France, won the elite women's race.
"It's pretty good for the team to have Sabrina win as well. Everything is working well with the bikes and the Fox suspension has been particularly good this season. It's good for me to have the bike working so well and all the products performing," Cole said.
The level-headed rider is wary of the effects of a good result.
"Last year, after I did well in South Africa, I got a bit distracted and I didn't ride how I thought I should have at the next races. Though I had the speed and the fitness my head wasn't there. I worked on that over summer with my coach Hamish and those small things can make a big difference. I am still young and I am still learning so much," he admitted.
"I would like to think that maybe I can be a contender for the World Cup next year, but for my next race this result won't change anything – my goal is to finish top 10 still. I have now done that two races in a row so I won't change my approach. I will still be happy with eighth or ninth. I am now in third overall – that means qualifying at Leogang will be pretty tough."
Cole said it would have made his day to have had Sam Blenkinsop or Justin Leov up there on the podium with him.
"All three of us are in the top 10 overall – that's more than any other nation, so it's pretty cool," he laughed.
He said there were about 15 Kiwis racing at Fort William and a silver fern-toting individual who helped spur him on.
"There was a random guy at the top of the hill with a sliver fern flag and I remember seeing him in my race run – maybe I should have been concentrating on riding, but I had met him the morning of the race and he said, 'good job yesterday, Cam' and he was right into the sport. That sort of thing helps so much when we are racing on the other side of the world."
Cole's 0.48ths of a second off the winning time is very close on a track that is four and a-half minutes long, but this level of competitiveness is defining the 2010 season.
"From first back to 20th it is as close as it has ever been this year – there are 30 or 40 guys who could be in the top 10 at any race this year," Cole said.
Cole will now prepare for Round 3 of the series, which will be held in Leogang, Austria in two weeks.
Cam Cole's 2010 Race Season
2010 UCI World Cup DHI 1 Events (6) May 15/16: Maribor, Slovenia June 05/06: Fort Wiliam, Scotland June 19/20: Leogang, Austria July 24/25: Champéry, France July 31/August 1: Val di Sole, Italy August 28/29: Windham, USA
2010 UCI World Championships August 31-September 05: Mont-Sainte-Anne, Canada
Rising Star: Cameron Cole, of Christchurch, New Zealand, finished second at the UCI Downhill World Cup, held in Fort William, Scotland, yesterday and is now third overall with four rounds to go. Credit: Adventure Media Group/Derek Morrison
Rising Star: Cameron Cole, of Christchurch, New Zealand, finished second at the UCI Downhill World Cup, held in Fort William, Scotland, yesterday. This picture shows Cole training in Dunedin in the lead up to the 2010 World Cup season. Credit: Adventure Media Group/Derek Morrison
Last Updated ( Monday, 07 June 2010 19:15 )
Team Kend Playbiker World Cup Update
Written by Administrator
Monday, 24 May 2010 21:12
Team Kenda Playbiker got their World Cup season underway last weekend May 15-16 at the first stop of the UCI Downhill World Cup, in Maribor, Slovenia. Following 2 weeks of testing in Finale Liguere, Italy, the team made the 8 hour drive to Eastern Europe to race on one of the circuit's most loved tracks.
//WYN MASTERS, MARIBOR
This year's course was much the same as years past, except for a few small changes in the upper section, most notably the rock garden, which had been slowed down with the inclusion of a few corners at the very top of it. As the rain fell day and night over the weekend, the course deteriorated until it was nothing but axle deeps ruts and slick roots in many places. The wind blew in so strong on race day that the gondola was closed, leaving riders to find their own shuttles, or ride the bus that was quickly arranged for them. The down side of the backup transportation, was that it left riders with only one practice run before their race, not much int he way of inspection time to see a course that had changed drastically over 2 days.
//NATHAN RANKIN
Top result on the day was from Australian Shaun O'Connor, who after just squeaking into the finals with a 76th in qualifying, managed to keep the rubber side down under horrendously muddy conditions and finish 44th in the downhill. Kiwi teammate Wyn Masters finished 54th and long time circuit veteran Nathan Rankin received a DNF after a close encounter with a tree that resulted in him off course spitting up blood. In the 4x, Masters finished 42nd in what was probably the muddiest 4x event in years. Edo Franco – at his first 4x World Cup ever - finished 3 spots behind in 45th place after a tough heat.
//EDO FRANCO
The team now heads to Innerleithen, Scotland for an IXS cup, and continues it's World Cup campaign on June 5-6 in Fort William, Scotland.
Check out Kenda Play Biker's Gravity Show video on you tube:
Tauranga Downhill - North Island Cup 2010
Written by Kai Chow
Monday, 15 February 2010 18:40
I hate having to write negative reviews on an event so I was stoked to be racing in Tauranga this weekend! Tim Lawton and the Tauranga boys had done a stellar job on the race setup and had smashed a wicked track out of a pretty small hill.
The track was full of dusty powdery off camber turns, roots and all sorts of other goodness. Everyone was pretty stoked on the track I think and despite being a little cattle class the transport ran pretty smoothly and kept the 150 or so riders flowing up the hill nicely. There was definitely no shortage of dust up in the trees with more than a few riders coming down covered head to toe. It was an awesome track for spectator access and the bottom area of the course offered plenty of excitement and spills with a beautiful dust hole on the corner just before the last chute. Not quite sure there were 3000 spectators there though.
It was a bit of a weekend for come-backs. We had Matt "Hillsie, hillbilly" Hyland back on a big bike in elite, Byron Scott who was later arrested for burgling master's class and even Vaughan Woolhouse crawled out of the woodwork, winning under 19, only to break his ankle later at the jump comp. And even James Baron made a comeback to drunk spectating! I also heard there was some guy from china racing?
The racing was pretty tight through most of the classes with one crash pretty much putting you out of contention. It was good to see the world's largest hobbit, Cam Cole on top of the podium in Elite! Former team mate Luke Strobel was looking pretty competitive, posting the fastest time in seeding, however, crashed out in race run. Sizzle also lived up to his name, got too excited and blew it before the finish line!
Eddie masters provided some entertaining commentary throughout race day, hobbling around on his kankle. I'm pretty sure eddie has at least 5 different nicknames for each rider! FULL GALLERY OF PHOTOS HERE
After the race everyone flocked to the finish area to see a bunch of guys in tight jeans doing stuff most of us wouldn't dream of on a bike. And of course, the one thing everyone was waiting... and waiting to see, Donny's backflip. //Donny FULL GALLERY OF PHOTOS HERE
Little brother Scott was also having a crack at a 360, which he did finally pull off! //Donny Junior FULL GALLERY OF PHOTOS HERE
Additional entertainment included a drunk muppet that had never ridden a downhill bike before dropping into the last chute and the first of the finish area jumps and he was stoked with him self (and rightly so, he cased the s*!t out of the jump, but made it - I did see worse from some people racing!) So who knows, mabey we'll see this guy racing next time (sober I hope)
A top event, congratulations to all involved and other REO's, take note. I'm sure I said this to a few people over the weekend, the last few times I've been to a downhill race I've come away thinking, so this is why I don't race downhill anymore... but after this weekend, damn it, I'm going out and getting myself a downhill bike!
Last Updated ( Monday, 15 February 2010 19:49 )
Ironhorse Play Biker Update
Written by Administrator
Sunday, 12 July 2009 21:16
We've got a bit of an update here from Nathan Rankin's European team, Ironhorse Playbiker. This is what they've been up to for the first part of the season:
