Several local riders who rode at the World Cup share with us what their experience of the event was…

Hayden Brown: For the first time South Africans were exposed to a UCI Mountain Bike World Cup experience and I was privileged to be part of it. Gary Browning and Brian Dinkelman produced a great downhill track which exceeded all our expectations.  I really want to thank them for all the hard work and long hours they spent in putting the track together. It was a very physical track with a challenging top section. It required a lot of jumping skills.  It was great to see everything coming together as the big day drew closer. Practice went well on Thursday and I was ready for the qualifying run on Friday.  I managed to qualify 78th, I had a bit of bad luck in my run. The guy in front of me crashed and I was slowed down by spectators which lost me a couple of seconds but I was happy that I managed to qualify even with this hiccup. It was great to watch the 4x Final on Saturday and see that it was such a success for the first time in PMB – the spectators came out in hundreds and it was a very exciting afternoon. Sunday dawned and it hit me that I was about to race one of my biggest races in front of a home crowd – it was quite daunting and all of a sudden the pressure got to me.  I spent the morning by doing one practice run and focusing quietly on gathering my thoughts and preparing for my race run. The crowds were gathering and they were in for an exciting couple of hours. I managed to put a good run together but with a few mistakes it wasn’t perfect. My race run time was 4:13 sec .  The crowds were amazing all the way down and it really helped me when I needed to stand up and pedal, it was an incredible experience. I was happy with my result as it placed me 73rd overall. The most exciting part of the event was watching the top 10 riders but most of all watching Greg take victory in-front of his home crowd. It was great competing with all the big names. Well done to all the other South Africans who took part.
I would like to say thanks to my sponsors, Neil Cocker (Mongoose), Sean Madden (Adidas) and the Minnaars  for all their support.

Johann Potgieter: Yeah, my run was good. Enjoyed the top part and came through the jumps smooth. Hitting the pedaling was a bit of an anti climax but I pushed through until finally got to the 4x which was rad. Really happy with how my run went. Just wanna thank some of my sponsors for supporting me through the year. Von Zipper optics for great vision and Redbull energy drink for awesome energy.(ed note: check out Johann’s official site at www.johannpotgieter.com)

Kelvin Purchase: The World Cup was a great experience. Seeing the top riders doing what the do best was really great and I learned a lot.

I unfortunately didn’t get through the qualifying as I managed to hit a tree, which resulted me only getting a 86th. Was quite bummed about that but then again that’s racing, things like that happen.

The best part my World Cup experience must be getting to see all the pros and seeing Greg win in front of all his local fans. Being a spectator was still cool and was good to be able to shout for the local boys.

At the end of the weekend I was stoked that Greg won, fired up to ride hard and a pro bugle blower.

A huge thank you must go out to Gary Browning, Morne Odendal and Brian Dinkelman. They put in a tremendous amount of work preparing the course and also during the World Cup they were running around sorting things out and keeping control. Very little credit was given to them so a huge thank to you three.

Pierre Van Der Merwe: Having the World Cup in Pietermaritzburg was so prime! After winning the South African junior champs in George earlier this year, I received the mail confirming my entry for the event! In the three weeks leading up to the Pietermaritzburg event I couldn’t ride much as I suffered a cracked rib and nerve damage in my hip from the Tomahawk into a tree I had at George, (SA Champs). But nevertheless I got some sprint training done.

Arriving at PMB was so rad. I was greeted by Andre van Aarde (The main man at Rushsports, who’s been supporting me solid for 2 years), and settled in by his place. I also managed to see Patrick and Richard (Morewood), at the factory and met up with CousCous and Nico from Morewood United.

Finally walking the track with Milo (Miles Kelsey) and Gary Barnard, I was super frothed and amped to hit up a run on the track. Im not going to lie, that the jumps were at first very intimidating, but after the first few runs I had it dialed. I remember when Gary and I cleared the big table top for the first time, We had this super funny moment where we were both so amped and gave each other high fives! It must of looked so funny, but we were just so amped!

I first realized it was a world cup when I started seeing all the pro riders and teams arrived, It reminded me of Italy , at the world champs last year, except for this event I wasn’t nervous at all. The
support I had was unbelievable…And meeting all the pro riders was so rad. They were all really cool and down to earth, something that came to me as a surprise in a way.

I was so amped for qualifying!!!! The hour long dodgy truck ride was a bit dull, but at the top I was content and amped to have a smooth, yet pinned run. I knew my qualifying run was going well, when I jumped into the dual part of the track, and with much delay, eventually overtook the dude in front of me. I lost some valuable time having to try overtake this guy, who just didn’t want to move! But I qualified 57th and the 4th fastest junior!!!! I was so stoked!!!

Finals came on Sunday, and I couldn’t believe the amount of people supporting…. it was so rad to see the sport in a more spectator influenced light…My final run was really a blur… I’ve never been that focussed. I truly can say I don’t remember much of it…I came down safely, and well pinned in the bottom section of the track. 66th Overall, and 3rd junior!!!!

The result….I was more than happy with. The fact that I was the 3rd fastest junior in a world cup made me super happy.

I’d really like to take the opportunity to thank the following people…

Sponsors :Morewood Bikes
Monster Energy
Fly Racing
Adidas Eyewear

And the following people…

Andre Van Aarde, Gary Barnard , Milo Kelsey , Jonty Neethling , Sven Martin , Gary Perkin , Darryl from Monster Energy , The Leatt Brace crew , Kelvin Purchase and his family , Alex Bramley , Patrick Morewood , Jim at Fly Racing , Shaun from Adidas Eyewear , MY DAD AND MOM , and all my family , friends and girlfriend for their continuing love and support… and everyone that cheered or supported me in any way, you guys rock…

Prime Time all the way.
peace.

(ed note: Pierre’s site lives here)

Tim Bentley: On the Easter weekend, myself and many other S A riders had our first experience of a World Cup.  It was a big excitement for me and I think it went really well.  The best part was probably meeting and seeing all the pro’s ride, who you normally only see on TV.  I had a good race, placing 4th junior and 67th overall, and I was stoked with my result as it was my first World Cup.  The support from the crowds was amazing, especially for the South African riders. It was a great weekend of racing and definitely a new and insane experience.

I just want to thank my sponsor Greg Minnaar Racing, my friends and family for supporting me and to Gary Browning, Brian Dinkelman and all the other people who helped to build the awesome track.

Vicky Phillips: My World Cup experience was too awesome for words. Just seeing, let alone riding with the top riders in the world was so cool. There were only 18 ladies which meant we all qualified, I qualified last which didn’t phase me. The only daunting part was when I realized I was going first down the hill out of absolutely everybody. I finished last in the finals too but it really wasn’t about the position for me, it was about the experience which nobody can take away from me. All in all it was an awesome weekend, topped off with an after party that got out of hand.

Tags: UCI World Cup

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 23rd, 2009 at 7:26 pm and is filed under Downhill, Events, Interviews, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.