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| DH, 4X World Cup Round 3
- Willingen |
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Topping off a great week-end of racing for the Kona Les Gets Factory
Team was once again Tracy Moseley. Aboard her Kona Stab Supreme
Moseley racked up her third consecutive World Cup Victory in Willingen,
Germany. This placing gives her a 143 point lead over second place
on the day Sabrina Jonnier of France.
Tracy is one to prefer longer, natural terrain courses, but this
victory shows that she can win on a course that does not completely
suit her riding style. It’s a testament to the progression
of her career. Moseley said "I am really pleased to have managed
to win this third race in a row as I was not feeling very confident
on the track this weekend. It was not a good course for me as it
was so short and very man-made; I prefer longer, more natural terrain
like Mont Sainte Anne last year.”
Fabien Barel is still looking to find his full form that won him
his second World Championship in 2005. The conditions and courses
so far on this world cup circuit haven’t suited his riding
style. As one of the smoothest riders in the world cup he prefers
longer courses such as the upcoming Mont Sainte Anne event.
Kamil Tatarkovic is staying steady with his 4X finishes and grabbed
another top ten finish, coming in 7th place. This puts him in 5th
place overall for the World Cup 4X rankings. Kamil is having one
of his best seasons with very solid, consistent finishes.
Ryan Trebon has finally found his legs after a bout of mono that
kept him just spinning along instead of applying the power he is
known for. Trebon had a very solid 5th Place Finish in the GC at
the Mt. Hood Classic, where many of the top North American Teams
were in attendance, like Health Net and Navigators. Trebon received
plenty of help along the 6 stage race from Kona Les Gets teammates
Barry Wicks and Erik Tonkin. Wicks ended up 21st a good finish considering
he was working for Trebon for the weekend.
The young gun of the Kona Les Gets Factory Team, Neal Kindree has
been showing that he is going to be a force in years to come. With
his 3rd top five finish in a row at the Canada Cups with a strong
4th place finish. When asked about his placing Neal said, “I’m
sick of finishing fourth!” A good sign he is hungry to be
up a few more podium spots and no doubt you’ll see him and
his Kona Kula Supreme get there. Kris Sneddon has some flat legs
he’s trying to figure out. He finished in 10th Place.
Next Up for the European Contingent the Kona Leogang Launch in Austria
6/9- 6/11/06. For the North American Cross Country Squad it is the
NORBA event at Sugar Mountain, North Carolina 6/9/06-6/11/06. Then
all the teams will unite in Canada at Mont Sainte Anne, PQ 6/22-6/25/06.
Kona Les Gets Factory Race team rides: Shimano shifters/drivetrains,
Maxxis Tires, Marzocchi Forks, Fox Rear Shocks, Hayes Brakes, Race
Face Cockpits and Seat posts, e.thirteen chain guides, Brake Therapy
Floating Brake Calipers, WTB Saddles, Verge Race Kits and Sombrio
Casual clothing.
Tracy Moseley Report:
As always with world cup racing, the weather suddenly improves the
day after the race and on my drive home from Fort William I stopped
off to stretch my legs at one of my favourite places to ride xc,
Glentress Forest near Peebles. None of the foreign riders believe
that we ever see sun in England, but I dried all my 5 loads of washing
on Tuesday out in the sunshine !! It was really nice to be able
to spend a few days at home before I travelled out to Willingen
for the next World Cup. I was quite glad I had been at home, because
there had been rain for 3 days solid when I arrived in Germany !
I went straight and walked the course and got soaked, not a good
start ! The track was the same as last year, all man made with loads
of jumps and drops. It did however look like it was going to ride
better this year as the ground was pretty hard at the top so it
was looking a bit faster and possibly a bit less pedalling ! The
bottom section however was still being made and the sodden soil
that was being put into piles to make jumps was not looking too
good !
For one of the shortest tracks on the world cup circuit it has the
longest ever lift, it takes about 20mins for a 2 minute descent
! However there is always great entertainment on the lift as Willingen
is famous in Germany for the pub that is situated at the top of
the hill. Groups come from all over Germany every Saturday for a
mass beer drinking session ! At 11am the queue for the lift was
huge with, drunk Germans singing and chanting on their way up to
get even more wasted ! By the afternoon the entertainment was watching
them all try to negotiate walking back down the hill in a drunken
stupor, there was a few giving up using their feet and just opted
to roll down the hill, picking up some serious speed. It really
was quite entertaining.
I really did not enjoy the track here last year, as it is so man
made and there is so much pedalling, I also had a terrible race,
puncturing and crashing, so I was determined to make amends this
year. I was definitely getting on better with the course this year
and did quite a few more of the jumps and gaps that I did not do
last year, so there was progress ! However I was not really feeling
very confident on the track and really unsure if I was going fast
enough. The bottom section of the course got changed due to the
wet and did improve dramatically as we had two dry days leading
up to the race. I had however done very little practice on the bottom
section as on my 2 practice runs on the Saturday both times someone
had crashed and the track was closed, so it was only in practice
on Sunday morning that I had my first attempt at hitting the bottom
section fast. I came up really short on one of the jumps and really
scared myself. So for my qualifying I lost my confidence and decided
to go around it losing a lot of time, but still ended up in 3rd
which I was really happy with. I knew then that I must be riding
ok and just need to get the bottom section good then I should do
ok.
I felt pretty tired going in to the final I think 2 weeks of world
cup in the cold were taking their toll on me. However I had a good
warm up and managed to get myself in a good frame of mind. I rode
the top section really well and knew that I just had to hit all
the jumps at the bottom well. I think I went too hard at the top
as when I started pedalling at the bottom I had nothing left in
my legs and felt really fatigued hitting all the take offs of the
jumps. I managed to hold it together to cross the line and just
take the lead by .28sec from Sabrina Jonnier with only 2 riders
to go. I was so pleased as I knew I had got good points which is
what I wanted from this weekend. When neither Marielle Saner or
Emmeline Ragot beat my time I realised that I had just win my third
world cup this season. I was so surprised as I really didn’t
think I had ridden that well on this track. After looking at the
times I had ridden the top section well and was 2 secs up at the
split and then lost quite a lot of the time at the bottom, so I
could take away some lessons from this and make sure I practice
the entire track the same amount !
Final Results
1st Tracy Moseley – 2.19
2nd Sabrina Jonnier – 2.19
3rd Rachel Atherton – 2.22
4th Emmeline Ragot – 2.23
5th Fionn Griffiths – 2.24
I now have a lead of 143 points over Sabrina Jonnier in the World
Cup Overall.
It’s been a fantastic start to my world cup season and I am
now in Leogang, Austria for the launch of Kona’s 2007 range
of bikes. I am then home for a week before heading out to Canada
for the next round of the world cup.
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