ChainReactionCycles/Intense Round up from South Africa World Cup
Well we are finally back from South Africa... Apologies for the late news but our internet went down at our accommodation and I have food poisoning or some dodgy South African Bug. We got our first World Cup podium of the year with our new signing Claire Buchar/Kovarik placing 5th in the women's field. This was Claire's first ever world cup podium - she and the team were stoked! After qualifying 3rd on friday she kept her nerve for the final even though she was very nervous before her run and managed to knock off 8 seconds from her qualifying time to finish 5th with a time of 4.34.20 Chris Kovarik was riding amazing all week. After winning the SA National the previous weekend on the same track and placing 3rd in qualifying on friday we were positive for at least a podium for Chris. The track was riding a lot faster than qualifying 2 day previous and riders were posting quicker times in the finals. Sam Hill had a great run and went into the hot seat and with a guaranteed podium position but only 3 seconds faster than Chris' qualifying time. We waited with anticipation as Chris set off and waited for him to appear on the big screen for the first split time. As the time kept ticking - he never appeared on the screen. He finally came into sight and it was obvious that he had had a major problem on the top half of the track. Chris was devastated as he knew he was riding really well and was back to his World Cup winning potential. He had been pushing super hard on the technical part of the track - a section where he knew he would loose time to the clipped in guys. He went into a hard compression just that bit too fast and was off line and into the rock garden where he hit a big stump and rock. Chris flew over the bars into the rocks, he was winded pretty bad and injured his back. Chris said afterwards he was just so disappointed as he felt he had let himself and the team down. He felt that the new bikes were making it much easier for him to be on podium pace... roll on round 2 in La Bresse! Julien had an OK run but said he just felt a bit slow in certain sections and not enough power. Considering he has been off his DH bike for that last month with a wrist injury, he did amazingly well to finish 10th place with a time of 3.54.95 - keeping him in contention for a good overall result at the end of the season. Ruaridh sat on the hot seat for a while. He put in an excellent run in the final and with his knee strapped up in a brace, surprised us all with his time of 3.59.12 placing him 26th overall. After a winter of rehab on his knee reconstruction this was a fantastic start to the season for him and we know in a few months Ruaridh will be up there getting the results we know he is capable of. Matt was riding strong but unfortunately he just lost the back end on a corner up on the top of the track. He slid out and crashed onto his back ruining his chances of a top 20 result. Matt got up and rode hard all the way to the finish making up time and finished with a respectable time of 4.05.18 considering his crash. You could see his disappointment as he crossed the finish line. Well done to Greg Minnaar who kept his nerve in front of his home town crowd of Pietermaritzburg and took the win with a blistering time of 3.43.44 in front of a 'fresh' Mick Hannah 3.45.69 and Steve Peat in 3.49.25. Sam Hill surprised us all on this track that really didn't suit him placing 4th in a time of 3.50.18 and Gee Atherton rounded off the podium in 5th with a 3.52.01 Team Chain Reaction Cycles.com/Intense are 5th in the team points even with Chris and Matts crashes, so we are looking forward to the rest of the season and know we can move up the standings. In 4X Lewis didn't have the best night loosing out in the first round after a bad gate and Lucas lost out in the 1/4 finals in a hard heat with eventual winner Jared Graves. Claire and Matt are racing at Sea Otter this weekend and then we all leave for La Bresse for world cup round 2 in a couple of weeks. Thanks again to all our sponsors, we definitely have the best bikes and equipment on the circuit this year! Nigel Page Team Manager - ChainReactionCycles/Intense www.CRCintense.com Photography by: Victor LucasLatest news
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