| Brake Burner Report |
| Written by Aaron Fernandez |
| Tuesday, 10 February 2009 08:08 |
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The 2009 Brake Burner saw the most competitive field in the events history assemble to take on the 6 hours of adrenaline fuelled racing with a few painful uphill moments thrown in to let riders suffer a little.
The course use about ¾ of the XC/DH track starting with a couple of fun new lines up the top. Following the track all the way to the first big opening where riders were then diverted off track and onto some more open track which included the first uphill stint, (this part wasn’t too bad) before rejoining at the top of the fast section with the 2 drops then into the flowing switchbacks and rhythm/doubles which then unfortunately lead you to the worst part of the track, the uphill section which probably 90% of riders walked. Once at the top it was fun all the way down (if you recovered from the lactic acid build up in time) to the finish with a fast open grass section leading into a g out and tightish corner, depending on the speed you hit it. Then a traverse across the mountain before joining the old DH track which claimed a few riders on the day.
Competition was tight in the classes with close finishes in all classes after the 6 hour race. In the men’s solo as predicted by NZRide, Paul Angus from Vertigo Bikes was the winner on the day and well deserved to. Pangus rode a solid race and managed to stay in front till the end. Pangus was the only solo rider to manage 17 laps, and only 2 teams could manage the same feat. Ex XC pro, Andy Reid showed some class and came 2nd on 16 laps just ahead of Karl Strode-Penny.
Blair Christmas was on the pace the whole day also managing 16 laps coming in 4th with Kurt Lancaster the XC/DH specialist rounding at the top 5. Style points had to go to Seb Kemp who came in 6th. Near the end of the race Kemp might have been struggling on the uphill, but for the whole event when the bike was facing down the hill Kemp looked like he was trying to set the fastest seed time for a World Cup DH round.
Top 5 World Cup DH racer Emmeline Ragot took the women’s class with 14 laps on a hardtail which she was riding down the hill faster than a lot of guys on full suspension bikes. Lisa Savage and Nikki Shaw were 2nd and 3rd doing the same amount of laps as Ragot with 4th placed Rita Langley also on 14.
Solo Vet Men was ruled by Wanaka’s Doug Hamilton who managed an impressive 16 laps followed by Daryl MacFarlane on 15 and Willem Groenen on 14. The biggest as most fiercely contended class of the day must have been the Men’s team class with 49 teams. 3rd to 9th were all on 16 laps with 1 and 2 on 17. Just missing out on the top 5 and coming 6th were the NZRide combo of Kai Crow and Aaron Fernandez. The pair rode well although with Crow only getting his new bike 2 days before the event and Fernandez riding a bike that weighed as much as a DH rig. 5th place went to Searletech and Unhinged Ginge Part 2 were 4th. Team Hammertron were on the pace for a while but the bigger trail bikes the duo of Byron Scott (NZRide) and Lester Perry (Quiet Chaos) may have slowed them down, although Perry did try and quicken up his times by changing to a lycra top later in the race. Last year’s winners, Team Vertigo duo of Tim Ceci and Jamie Tilbury were fast and furious all day sprinting the up hills looking like true champs trying to back up from last year. But it wasn’t to be as the came up against what must certainly be a couple of NZ’s finest XC athletes, Kashi Leuchs and Lawrence Mote. They did manage the same amount of laps but couldn’t quite match them on the ups.
The Queenstown Girls took out the Women’s team from Santa Cruz A team with both teams doing 13 laps and having fun on the way.
And in the Masters, locals Tony Moore and Scottish Neil did the business with 16 laps, one ahead of Menace 2 and 2 ahead of Auckland IT Gurus Mark (Hell Yeah) Hellier and Mike Carden who were riding for Sonar 6.
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| Last Updated ( Thursday, 12 February 2009 01:24 ) |
