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| DH, 4X, XC - 2006 World
Championship, Rotorua, NZ |
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Tracy Moseley Takes the Silver Medal
Kona Les Gets rider, Tracy Moseley-GBR continued on with the best
year of her career by taking the silver medal in the Elite Women’s
World Championship Downhill in Rotorua, NZ. Tracy had the fastest
qualifying time by almost three seconds but in the finals placed
second to Sabrina Jonnier-FRA by almost the same margin. Moseley’s
finish was definitely the silver lining in an otherwise rough outing
for the Kona Les Get Factory Team.
Heavy rains up to the event made the track very slippery and dangerous.
Tracy rode very well but in her own words was a bi t hesitant and
cautious on the final run. There was a very large drop in the middl
e of the course that she opted to go around and was as the results
show a bit too conservative in the end. Regardless, while a bit
disappointed she is very happy with her run and her placing. This
is her best finish in the World Championships and her first medal.
Something to be proud of for sure. Now the task at hand is to maintain
her lead and take home the overall World Cup title.
Kamil Tatarkovic-CZE had the next best finish at 12th place in the
elite Men’s four cross. The course did not suit him the best
in it’s wide open big jump format but he had a respectable
finish none-the-less. Kamil too has a good placing to protect for
his placi ng in the world cup standings. He currently sits in 5th
place overall and needs a good finish to maintain that place and
potentially climb to fourth.
The cross country riders had a rough go all around with the roughest
being had by Ryan Trebon-USA. Trebon was riding well in 17th place
and feeling good when he came to a high speed whoop-dee-doo section
and proceeded to play superman onto his head. He crashed hard at
about 40Kph, broke his helmet and cracked a few ribs. He tried to
continue to ride the race and crashed five more times on the remainder
of the descent before withdrawing from the event with a concussion.
Once again Ryan has a frustrating end to his mountain bike season
and will be looking to take it out on the cyclocross courses this
fall and winter.
Barry Wicks-USA had a decent ride going sitting with many riders
he dukes it out with on the North American Circui t like Seamus
McGrath and Adam Craig when he went through a bit of a rough spot.
Unfortunately for Wicks the timing couldn’t have been worse,
the pace lifted and just as he started to find his legs again was
pulled. He finished 47th. Wicks will now trade the mountain bike
in and get on the cyclocross bike and look to defend his US Gran
Prix of cyclocross overall title.
Neal Kindree-CDN had no legs and was flat from the get go. He never
did seem to find his form in New Zealand and is most likely the
result of a long season and being a young racer. Neal has had a
great season with lots of racing in the legs that seems to have
taken it’s toll for the final event on his mountain bike calendar.
Kindree had a disappointing finish of 40th place. But knowing Neal
he is going to hang this one on the mantle for motivation for next
season.
Up next for the Moseley and Tatarkovic is the final World Cup in
Schladming, AUT September 9th-11th, 2006. Trebon and Wicks will
start training for cyclocross and Kindree will have a bit of a break
for the winter.
Tracy Moseley Report
It was finally time to head out to New Zealand for the big race
of the year, the World Champs. It had been great to have a few weeks
off before this event this year and I really felt like I had had
a really good chance to prepare well for this years race. We left
only a couple of days after the bomb scare on transatlantic flights,
so it meant we could only travel with our passports and wallets.
Fortunately after we checked in they lifted some of the restrictions
and we were allowed to buy books to take on the plane ! That certainly
helped me pass away a little of the 24hr journey.
This was my 4th visit to New Zealand, but the first trip in their
winter time ! I didn’t think it ever got cold in NZ….well
I was soon to be shown quite the opposite ! It was freezing all
week with one morning at 9am practice it was -3 at the start and
we had to wait whilst they defrosted some of the track ! We really
did have a mix of weather, with some really heavy rain, some sun
and some good dry periods. The changeable weather had a big effect
on the track. Everyday the conditions were different and it was
hard to know just how hard to push it. Fortunately by race day it
was dry, although there was a very big black cloud that lingered
over the start all afternoon, but had the courtesy to wait until
the podium before it emptied itself !
Due to the weather, abundance of grass and steep technical sections,
the tyre of choice was the mud spike, right through from the start
to the finish of the week. The bike shops did a great trade on mud
tyres, in particular to the South African team as they have never
ridden in the rain and therefore did not posses any mud tyres !!
Practice went well for me and felt like I was riding fast. It was
a little different to normal as the practice was split up with the
men and women practicing at different times, so I never really had
chance to follow anyone to check if I was going ok. By qualifying
the track was probably at its driest and I had a solid run to take
the fastest time ahead of Sabrina. This was my first proper full
run and I soon realised that this was going to be a very physical
race as there was so much pedalling. I was happy with my run, but
I felt that I had more to give and I am sure everyone felt the same.
After seeding the rain poured down all night and practice the next
day was very amusing. For the first 2 hrs I only saw a couple of
people make it through the tree section without crashing ! It was
so slippery it was hilarious to ride. I was just hoping that it
would not be like this for the race as it really was luck if you
stayed on or not. Fortunately it did dry up for the race, but the
previous day’s rain had eroded away at the track and the ruts
and holes were enormous.
I was feeling confident for the race and had a great top section.
I was riding really relaxed and enjoying the amazing crowd that
lined the entire track. As I entered the technical steep section
I thought to myself, just be safe, don’t take any risks, you’ve
done well so far. That was to be a big mistake as I tensed up and
rode really conservatively. I came out of the top section 0.95 sec
slower than Sabrina. I then got back into it but drifted wide on
a couple of corners and cased a jump that lost me so much time going
into the following section, that by the time I reached the finish
I was 3.5sec down on Sabrina and just witnessed the World Title
disappear.
I was gutted as I really felt like I had been riding well enough
all week to win, but with the sport of downhill you have to get
it right on that one run and unfortunately this time I didn’t.
To get a silver medal was some consolation as it is the first time
I have made he podium at the worlds since winning silver as a junior
in 1997.
I now have to put that disappointment behind me and focus on next
weekend’s final race of the World Cup Series in Schaldming,
Austria. I have a good lead but I still have some work to do to
bring home the overall World Cup Title.
Tracy
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