March 27/15 7:51 am - Crankworx Rotorua Downhill: Buchar 4th
Posted by Editoress on 03/27/15
On a course running fast after a week of mixed conditions, Frenchman Loic Bruni crushed the field in the Crankworx Rotorua Downhill presented by iXS, besting the field by over two seconds.
Ripping through the Redwoods of Skyline Rotorua Gravity Park 13 runs before Bruni, Eliot Jackson’s time of 2:53.16 appeared to be the time to beat, holding strong for the bulk of the race, until Bruni hit the start line with only four more riders to go.
“I felt in a really good mood all day and to win here is great stuff for the head-my confidence. I had a really good day. No rain. Good weather. A lot of people on the track. It was amazing,” said Bruni.
Smiling through every rider coming down, Jackson told announcers he was loving the course and had done so many runs in practice he was worried he wouldn’t have the energy to race.
“I think I had a really smooth run. The atmosphere was really good. Everyone was really chill at the top, so there was no pressure,” he said, noting Bruni is an amazing rider with whom he is pleased to share the podium.
Rachel Atherton, meanwhile, managed to find a few split seconds of speed to beat out Tracey Hannah, 3:22.10 to 3:22.84.
“First race of the season and I haven’t raced since the world champs last year, so it’s amazing to come away with the win and quite a confidence boost,” said Atherton.
Both Atherton and Bruni attributed much of their energy to the incredible crowd gathered for the event, the first of the new Crankworx DH Championships.
“The people up at the track made the event. Everyone’s cheering and shouting your name; it’s wicked and cool that everyone’s come out here. This Crankworx is probably one of the best atmospheres for a Crankworx event. There’s loads of people, but its small and compact so everyone’s in the same place and it’s just amazing,” said Atherton.
Courtesy CrankWorx
Canadians Claire Buchar (Kovarik Racing) and Casey Brown (Bergamont Hayes) finished 4th and 6th respectively.
Results
| Pro-Elite Women | Time | Gap |
| 1 Rachel Atherton (GBr) GT Factory Racing | 03:22.1 | 0.00 |
| 2 Tracey Hannah (Aus) Polygon UR | 03:22.8 | 0.74 |
| 3 Emilie Siegenthaler (Sui) Pivot Factory Racing | 03:33.5 | 11.36 |
| 4 Claire Buchar (Can) Kovarik Racing | 03:34.3 | 12.15 |
| 5 Sarah Atkin (NZl) | 03:42.8 | 20.73 |
| 6 Casey Brown (Can) Bergamont Hayes | 03:56.5 | 34.43 |
| 7 Veronique Sandler (NZl) Dayzero.bike, Leatt | 03:59.0 | 36.89 |
| 8 Amanda Monk (NZl) Mondraker/Royal NZ | 04:02.5 | 40.44 |
| 9 Ronja Hill-Wright (Aus) Banshee Bikes Single tra | 04:14.3 | 52.16 |
| 10 Sophie Tyas (NZl) Banshee Bikes Halo | 05:02.3 | 1:40.18 |
| DNS Luana Oliveira (Bra) Oakley, O'neal, Nukeproo | ||
| DNS Jill Kintner (Aus) Norco International | ||
| Pro-Elite Men | ||
| 1 Loic Bruni (Fra) Lapierre Gravity Republic | 02:50.6 | 0.00 |
| 2 Eliot Jackson (USA) Pivot Factory Racing | 02:53.2 | 2.56 |
| 3 Sam Blenkinsop (NZl) Norco Factory Racing Te | 02:53.2 | 2.63 |
| 4 George Brannigan (NZl) Trek World Racing | 02:53.5 | 2.86 |
| 5 Connor Fearon (Aus) Kona Factory Team | 02:54.3 | 3.67 |
| 6 Brendan Fairclough (GBr) Gstaad Scott | 02:55.0 | 4.37 |
| 7 Sam Hill (Aus) Chain Reaction Cycles / | 02:55.1 | 4.50 |
| 8 Brook Macdonald (NZl) Trek World Racing | 02:55.8 | 5.23 |
| 9 Gee Atherton (GBr) GT Factory Racing | 02:57.8 | 7.18 |
| 10 Bernard Kerr (GBr) Pivot Factory Racing | 02:58.0 | 7.39 |
| 11 Mike Jones (GBr) Chain Reaction Cycles / | 02:59.1 | 8.51 |
| 12 Matt Walker (NZl) Devinci, SRAM | 02:59.2 | 8.57 |
| 13 Wyn Masters (NZl) Team Bulls | 02:59.9 | 9.35 |
| 14 Keegan Wright (NZl) Giant NZ | 03:01.5 | 10.87 |
| 15 Louis Hamilton (NZl) Commencal | 03:02.2 | 11.64 |
| 16 Reece Potter (NZl) | 03:02.4 | 11.76 |
| 17 Rupert Chapman (NZl) Bergamont Hayes | 03:02.9 | 12.28 |
| 18 Loris Vergier (Fra) Lapierre Gravity Republic | 03:03.0 | 12.44 |
| 19 Yuuki Kushima (Jpn) | 03:04.4 | 13.78 |
| 20 Kieran Bennett (NZl) Santa Cruz Bicycles | 03:04.5 | 13.89 |
| 21 Reon Boe (NZl) Giant Bikes NZ | 03:04.9 | 14.28 |
| 22 Lawrence Cawte (NZl) Zerode Bikes, WideOpen | 03:06.2 | 15.56 |
| 23 Andrew Neethling (RSA) Polygon UR | 03:08.6 | 18.03 |
| 24 Dean Lucas (Aus) Devinci Global Racing | 03:08.9 | 18.33 |
| 25 David Mcmillan (NZl) Specialized, SRAM, FJC | 03:09.4 | 18.83 |
| 26 Nick Mcconachie (NZl) | 03:10.3 | 19.74 |
| 27 Leonard Sonntag (NZl) | 03:13.2 | 22.57 |
| 28 Allan Cooke (USA) Santa Cruz Bicycles | 03:13.7 | 23.09 |
| 29 Matt Scoles (NZl) Wideopen | 03:15.6 | 24.95 |
| 30 Carl Edmondson (NZl) Action Downunder | 03:19.1 | 28.48 |
| 31 Santa Kushima (Jpn) | 03:19.2 | 28.63 |
| 32 Tyler Brooker (NZl) 3 Sixty Racing New Zeala | 03:19.7 | 29.06 |
| 33 Maxime Chapuis (Sui) Verbierbikepark.ch cheap | 03:21.5 | 30.90 |
| 34 Temarii Buillard (Tah) | 03:24.2 | 33.62 |
| 35 Brendan Regan (NZl) Hukkit, Kali protectives N | 03:28.7 | 38.10 |
| 36 Mat Prior (NZl) DayZero.bike YT Industri | 03:29.4 | 38.75 |
| 37 Chris Kovarik (Aus) Kovarik Racing | 03:30.6 | 40.00 |
| 38 Mick Hannah (Aus) Polygon UR | 04:03.0 | 1:12.44 |
| 39 Walker Shaw (USA) SRam/Troy Lee Designs | 04:06.6 | 1:15.96 |
| DNF Eddie Masters (NZl) Bergamont Hayes | ||
| DNS James Mcconachie (NZl) | ||
| DNS Kyle Lockwood (NZl) Revolution Products NZ | ||
| DNS Joel Tunbridge (NZl) | ||
| DNS Josh Nevelson (USA) | ||
| DNS Paul Oechsner (Ger) TeamDOT7, Cosmic Spo | ||
| DNS Connor Harvey (NZl) Arrow Bikes Norco NZ | ||
| DNS Sam Perry (NZl) Norco Racing Developme | ||
| DNS Ben Power (Aus) Power Racing NS Dynam | ||
| DNS Anthony Rocci (Fra) Commencal | ||
| DNS Loic Esteve (Fra) Polygon UR | ||
| DNS Kurt Mcdonald (NZl) Bergamont Hayes | ||
| DNS Kyle Strait (USA) Commencal |
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