Taking 4 out of 5 overall wins this season Tim Bentley has owned the Mongoose Bikes / Greg Minnaar Racing Downhill series…

For the past few weeks the track at Giba has shown the lack of rain and was dry and slick. Luckily there was some light rain the 2 days before the race to make the conditions tackier. The course was pretty much the same as the previous race with the exception of the last 2 off camber corners cut in favour of a steep fast straight to small bridge jump. A very positive effect the World Cup has had is a gain of interest in the sport we live for and others only read about. However several riders were a no-show which comes down to a simple equation: support the series and the sport grows. There were some new riders around who made use of everyones hard work behind the scenes and had fun.

Everyone seemed to make time up in their second runs which differed from the first race held there this season where times were slower with the track becoming less tacky. The top rock section was the roughest it has ever been with all the heavy rain washing the sand away from between the rocks. Also differing from the first race was the transport. Gone was the big truck that smelled of burned clutch plates and in its place several folks used pick-up trucks to taxi riders to the top of the hill. This worked out so well that everyone got in enough practice runs to start the event 30 minutes earlier.

My money was on Tim Bentley for the win because he shines when its slick with lots of corners and he threw down a 1.45.08. Just behind him and tied for best time were the Mongoose mounted Hayden Brown and Simon Dinkelman both getting down the hill with a 1.47.53. Just after them was JHB rider Alex Bramley who everyone calls “bohemian” after our interview with a 1.47.97.

Overall for the season its Tim Bentley finishing the series out in first place, Hayden Brown in second and Kelvin Purchase in third.

The 2009 KZN regional DH series was sponsored by Mongoose Bikes and Greg Minnaar Racing.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 6th, 2009 at 9:00 pm and is filed under Downhill, Events, 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.