The first international event of the year, Crankworx Rotorua, has just finished and what a great one for the team!
DOWNHILL RACE
The downhill track was the roughest we have seen in Rotorua. It was super loose, blown out, dusty, rooty, well a proper track to race before the world cups.
It was Joe Breeden’s first race with the team. Joe was riding super fast all week! During his race run he had a little crash but still finished at an amazing 4th place! Even though we are bummed for him, we’re super happy to see Joe feels good on the bike and has the speed.
Dan rode his enduro bike for extra testing, media and training. His race run didn’t go as planned and he had a couple of crashes but without consequences and still entertained us and the crowd for sure.
Mick was looking super fast on track and we are incredibly happy he put down the fastest time of the day! It has been a long time since Mick was on the top spot of the podium after scoring a lot of 2nd places and to do it at the first race of the season is such great motivation for what is to come!
Tracey hadn’t raced since Snowshoe and was really looking forward to being in the start gate again. We were all excited to see where she would stand after a good off-season. All her hard work paid off because she took the win with a 24s margin!
Our riders used different bikes for the Air DH. Joe and Dan were on a Siskiu N9, Mick on a XQUARONE EX9 and Fabien on a Siskiu D7. There was a bit of a fun battle in between the guys to see who would beat who. The race was held pretty late at night and made it an extra challenge for visibility.
SPEED & STYLE
Sam was flying down the Speed & Style course and qualified 5th. After a few good battles, he was taken out in the 8th of finals. He finished 6th, still scoring good points towards the overall ranking.
DUAL SLALOM
Dual Slalom is always a fun event that Mick and Fabien like to take part of. Unfortunately for Couscous, he had a crash in his quali run and didn’t make the race.
ENDURO
Mick, Dan and Joe took part in the enduro. The race was on a single day format and it was a pretty physical one with liaison times a bit too short. As Joe didn’t have points, he started mid pack and had to take over a lot of riders in each stage.
We couldn’t be happier to have the 2 fastest riders of Crankworx Rotorua DH!
Now it’s time to head to Portugal for world cup number 1!
