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FABIEN 1ST AND TRACY 3RD
AT MAXXIS CUP ROUND 1 - GOUVEIA, PORTUGAL
Maxxis Cup round 1 – Gouveia Portugal
Tracy and Fabien were both a bit concerned with many of the changes to the track. Lots of big
hucks to flat landings and sketchy metal poles lining the track. The first days training went well
and we got the suspension dialed for the big landings and flat pedaling sections. The second day
was not so good, Both Tracy and Fabien had big crashes and had to stop training due to the
injuries........
Sunday was race day and both of the riders were sore and stiff, after a few practice runs it
seemed like they would be able to race at near full pace. There were over 300 riders and some
big names, like the Athertons, Matti and Brendon from Honda, Emiline Ragot, etc..... so training
was difficult and the pace was fast!
Semi -Final
Tracy had a good solid run and managed to pull a big lead over the rest of the girls, her time
was 2:29 and only Emiline was close.
The men’s race was like a world cup with many of the top riders there, Fabien was not feeling
very confident, so decided to ride within his limits and see how he could place, this paid off as he
had a consistent run with few mistakes to take the win! His time was 2:09.9. This gave him a
2sec lead over Cedric Gracia.
Final
By now, both Tracy and Fab were suffering from the previous days injuries and generally tired.
Tracy had an average run, but she was not focused and missed a few lines, this meant that she
did not improve on her time from the morning. Emiline and Rachel did and they managed to put
a few seconds into Tracy to bump her into 3rd spot. Tracy was not really worried about her
result as she said she is not yet at her optimum physically and on a track that was so
demanding she was pleased to have finished how she did.
Fabien had to do a long warm up before the start to get his back and hips free enough to race.
Before the start he was confident but knew he wasn’t physically strong enough to go 110% so
he decided to stick to his previous run tactics and rode everything slightly conservatively. This
allowed him to have a good clean run but a little low on power. He managed to do almost
exactly the same time as his first run, but the others managed to go a bit faster. Fortunately Fabien's experience, skill and Kona Stab Supreme kept his time and the top spot. Julien camellini
made an amazing run to come within 0.1 second of Fabien and Cedric Gracia was close behind
him in 3rd.
Overall this was a great race for the team, and both riders were happy with their level at this
point in the season.
Next stop, San Remo Italian cup.
Regards,
Paul Walton,
Kona Factory Team
Euro Wrench
 
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