Trek World Racing Race Report from Sea Otter 2010

At the first big hit out for the new line up of Trek World Racing here in Monterey, California, Tracy Moseley lead the way with a 3rd in the Women's Downhill, just 0.5secs off the win.

New team member Emily Batty also scored a podium with a 5th in the Women's Short Track yesterday, and then backed it up with a solid 6th in the Olympic XC today. The team's other new signing, Neko Mulally, took 8th in the Dual Slalom while Justin Leov was the best of the TWR downhilling men, taking 9th. Tracy Moseley also had a 7th in Dual Slalom.

In Women's XC racing, Emily (pictured) showed good early speed in both the short track and Olympic XC, running with the leaders, but then settled into her own pace for the remainder of the races and was very happy with her condition and time back from the leaders in both events.

Emily said: "I came here last year with a stronger physical condition than this year, as I have a different set of goals for 2010, so to be where I was in relation to the top women, I'm super happy. Having the new level of pro team support has just allowed me to relax and focus on the racing this season, and I'm now really looking forward to ramping up throughout the year."

In Downhill the course this year at Sea Otter was less suited to the team's World Cup race bikes which are set up more for the gravity fed tracks of the 2010 season. Some teams and riders opted to ride XC dual suspension bikes, 4X dual suspension bikes and even long travel all mountain bikes. The course here is widely considered to be a long way from a typical World Cup course, but the racing today still gave the team a lot of valuable information.

Tracy rode a strong race and was only a fraction off winning the event for the 2nd year in a row. Justin, Andrew and Neko (pictured below) all had solid top 15 results.

Tracy said: "I'm happy with that. I really enjoyed being out racing again with all the other top girls and getting back into the racing scene for the season. It's still quite a while before we'll all be on full World Cup pace, but overall I was happy to be only 1 tenth off Rachel and half a second off the win."

Justin said: "It's a good solid start to the season, and I'm happy with how I rode today. I'm looking forward to getting a little more time on the downhill bike this coming weekend at Port Angeles for the Pro Gravity Tour round 1. That will be a good chance for me to do that before we kick into the World Cup season."

Andrew said: "It was a pretty stacked field today but I was still a little bit surprised to finish a fraction outside the top 10. I came here hoping for more, but I think that considering the bikes we have for this season, I'm not taking too much disappointment away from today's result. It's a long season of week in, week out racing, which doesn't really start until May. I'm feeling great on the bike, and that's the main thing for me right now."

Neko said: "My goal here was to improve on my results from last year where I rode a 2m 18secs, and I did just that, so I'm very happy. This race at Sea Otter is a good indicator of fitness and power, and after a long winter of training, I'm really happy with where I'm at right now. This weekend was a lot of fun, especially the Slalom!"

The cross country riders of the team are scheduled to race next week in Dalby Forest, Great Britain, for the opening round of the World Cup XC. Team staff and our loyal travel agent of many years, Jack Warshaw of Allways Travel, are busy working through flights options to hopefully get us all into the UK on time. Our downhillers head north to race at Port Angeles just outside of Seattle, at the US Pro Gravity Tour DH #1.

Results:

Women's Downhill:
1. Melissa Buhl (USA) 2m 20.6secs
2. Rachel Atheron (GBR) 2m 21.0secs
3. Tracy Moseley (Trek World Racing) 2m 21.1secs
4. Sabrina Jonnier (FRA) 2m 24.1secs
5. Leigh Donovan (USA) 2m 24.9secs

Men's Downill:
1. Jared Graves (AUS) 2m 04.7secs
2. Aaron Gwin (USA) 2m 06.7secs
3. Brian Lopes (USA) 2m 07.0secs
9. Justin Leov (Trek World Racing) 2m 09.1secs
11. Andrew Neethling (Trek World Racing) 2m 10.0secs
14. Neko Mulally (Trek World Racing) 2m 11.4secs

Women's Short Track XC:
1. Georgia Gould (USA)
2. Lebe Byberg (NOR)
3. Catherine Pendrel (CAN)
4. Willow Koerber (USA)
5. Emily Batty (Trek World Racing)

Women's Short Track XC:
1. Georgia Gould (USA) 1hr 16m 48secs
2. Lene Byberg (NOR) 1hr 16m 54secs
3. Catherine Pendrel (CAN) 1hr 17m 33secs
4. Willow Koerber (USA) 1hr 17m 34secs
5. Heather Irmiger (USA) 1hr 17m 57secs
6. Emily Batty (Trek World Racing) 1hr 18m 54secs

Men's Dual Slalom:
1. Mick Hannah (AUS)
2. Aaron Gwin (USA)
3. Jared Rando (AUS)
8. Neko Mulally (Trek World Racing)
13. Andrew Neethling (Trek World Racing)

Women's Dual Slalom:
1. Jill Kintner (USA)
2. Rachel Atherton (GBR)
3. Sabrina Jonnier (FRA)
7. Tracy Moseley (Trek World Racing)