WORLDS ROUND UP FROM SANTACRUZ SYNDICATE
23.06.2008
VAL DI SOLE, ITALY
Santa Cruz Syndicate’s Josh Bryceland brings home the
gold at the UCI World Championship Junior Downhill
race today at Val Di Sole. Steve Peat is the
bridesmaid once again placing second in the elite
men’s downhill to Gee Atherton’s first place run. Gee
was the man to beat all week and this race was his to
lose, and he pulled through with a run as stellar as
his practice had been all week. Sam Hill was on a
winning time, over 6 seconds faster at the second
split time and gaining speed on the last section when
he slid out and crashed in the second to last corner
throwing away the win. His time was still good enough
for a bronze medal. Greg Minnaar followed them all in
for a fourth place finish.
//PEATY
Josh was happy to win saying, “I just had a smooth run
and held it together and it came together perfectly.
It was mint, I’m so happy.” Josh’s dad and mechanic,
Iain Bryceland embraced Josh at the finish and says,
“He was in a Slovenian hospital six weeks ago being
told he needed surgery and that his season might be
over. Up at the top of the hill Josh was just cool as
a cucumber and he said to me, ‘Don’t worry dad, I’m in
the zone.’”
//BRYCELAND
//RENNIE
Bizzare hairstyles seemed to be the go for the weekend
An emotional Rob Roskopp said, “I’m happy for Josh
that he got the monkey off his back from last year.
To win with that big of a gap is total domination and
he is deserving of it.” Rennie comments, “It was
great to see Josh win. We all had faith in him and he
did it in great style and it makes up for last year.
I’m really happy for him.” Peat chimes in, “It’s
about time!” Josh’s time of 3.23.55 would have placed
him 10th in elite men.
In the elite men’s race Peaty had a good run but made
a mistake. His feet blew off and it took awhile to
get them back in. He was satisfied with his run and as
he sat in the hot seat he was hoping for a little luck
and had some when Sam wadded it up. But his luck ran
out when Gee came across the line. He was happy for
Gee but disappointed with his result. He has been the
silver medalist four times in his career. He says,
“I’m stoked Gee won but I wish it had been the other
way around.” Bryceland comments, “I’m gutted for
Steve. I wanted it so bad for him and after Sam fell
I thought he had it. It’s not over, he’s got a few
years left and there’s a chance for the old dog yet.”
Greg Minnaar was not pleased with his run. Over
coming his injury from the week’s practice he started
smooth and fast. He says, “I wouldn’t say I’m happy.
I knew it would be a tough race and I did just what I
didn’t want to do and that was losing rhythm. I
battled to get back in to a rhythm and I knew I had
lost time so I went faster to make time up but it was
the wrong thing to do. I’ll be back next year and
I’ll focus on the world cup’s now.”
Rennie did not have a good run. It started off fine
and he felt good, but right after the first split he
hit a tree, carried on and got arm pump, had a hard
time holding on and just didn’t hit his lines and he
finished 21st.
Practice recap:
Practice on Friday and Saturday was a mixed bag for
the boys. Minnaar wadded it up in a gnarly section
and strained his neck badly, and race morning
Brycleand bent his ISCG mount. The mechanics noticed
this as Josh was napping before the final and they
made the decision to swap everything off of his race
bike and build up his number two bike and they didn’t
tell Josh as not to distract him from his race. Josh
had a hunch, but didn’t ask, as he really didn’t want
to know. After some therapy, Minnaar’s race morning
practice went well and he hit all his lines. On a
practice run through a rocky section Rennie was
overheard calmly talking to his bike saying “come on
little machine, you can do this.”
Roskopp said this about the track, “It’s a course no
one will have a perfect run on. It’s a boxing match,
that’s what that course is. The person who is fit and
makes the least mistakes will win. They were doubling
things up, like super cross and the consequences are
so big in those sections. Josh found a few new lines
on Friday and was pretty happy about it. It’s his
race to lose.”
Some fun was had the night before the race with
Bryceland and Rennie getting new race hair cuts. Rob
Roskopp shaved off Rennie’s V-drive Mohawk to the
skin, leaving the just the sides and Iain Bryceland
calls it the Ren-Hawk. Bryceland shaved the middle of
his V-drive out and we call it the Miami Slice.
Looks like the Miami Slice paid off.
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