Steve Peat Wins UCI DH Series Overall!

Published: 11th September 2006 | By billy1979

Heading into the UCI World Cup Finals in the charming Austrian village of Schladming, Santa Cruz Syndicate’s Steve Peat lead the points race by 178 points over Greg Minnaar. Mathematically, Peat was assured of a top two finish, but by no means felt he had a lock on the series overall. Minnaar was bringing his best game to the table and was going to challenge Peat to the end. The long course tumbles down the mountain with high-speed sections, trees, and open, grassy off camber turns, and the track is rough as hell. The grassy corners toward the bottom of the course were particularly challenging, and I must say that Kovarik ruled the corner with his attacking, let it loose style. Practice sessions went well for Rennie and Peat; their Santa Cruz V-10’s lessened the beating from the demanding track. “It’s the kind of course that you are constantly turning on. There are short straightaway sections, so you have to keep linking up the turns,” said Rennie. Peat says, “It’s a good track, technical. I feel good in practice. I’m just trying to have fun with it, get some drifts going. I like to do full runs, I don’t really like to section things too much. It’s nice to ride the V-10 on a hard course. We’ll see how the day goes.” Rennie crossed the line on this long, rough track in 3:55.61, besting Sam Hill’s 3:56.54, nearly one second back of Rennie. Peat rolls in a safety run in 8th place protecting his overall interests. Greg Minnaar is third with a 3:57.11 in a serious chase for points to keep ahead of Hill for the overall. Mickael Pascal comes 4th with a 3:58.21, and Gee Atherton rounds out the top five at 3:59.42. Rennie says, “I saw a lot of people taking it easy off the start. I just thought I’d give it a good crack and see if I could carry the momentum throughout the run. I had no idea where I was going, there were huge holes everywhere. I was rolling the dice. I was just hangin’ on, letting it run itself. It turned out well.” Peat says, “I just wanted to get down safe in the qualifier. I played it a bit safe to get down the hill, but I don’t like being out of the top five. I’ll have to pin it in the final.” FINAL DH RACE RUN OF THE UCI SERIES Rennie had good race run going until he went over a berm and came to a dead stop in the final run. “The Schladming course had lots of bumps and even though I went off the track, I’m pleased with finishing 2nd in the race, and 4th overall,” said Rennie. Sam Hill smokes the field, Rennie second, Minnaar third, Matti Lehikoinen fourth, and fastest junior racer this year, Brendan Fairclough hit the podium for the race. It definitely was a points race for the top three riders, effecting their stratagies. Peaty rode in safety mode, Minnaar rode to try to retain second place overall, but did not. And Sam Hill just pinned it, same as he did last year on this course. Peat says, “I’m really happy to win the overall. I rode conservatively to protect my point’s lead to win the title. I wasn’t happy with my run, but I’m stoked to come out on top for the year. The overall is an important title and I wanted to make sure I won it. Thanks to my mechanics Mathieu Dupelle and Rick Clarkson for having a perfect season with a perfect running Santa Cruz, SRAM, RockShox bike. I’m stoked.” Peaty wins the overall title! Sam Hill surpasses Greg Minnaar for second, and Nathan Rennie come 4th overall for the UCI DH World Cup Series. We had a great party at the Santa Cruz Syndicate pits after the race. Champagne was flowing, and all over me, and it was awesome to have teammate Jamie Goldman there to see his first World Cup race. Steve’s wife Adele was there, and Steve’s friends from the UK, including Farmer Jack and his brother were there arguing who had the biggest nose. It was a classic end to a fantastic season!! Final Downhill Results 1 HILL Sam 3:49.83 2 RENNIE Nathan SANTA CRUZ/SYNDICATE 3:55.34 3 MINNAAR Greg 3:55.38 4 LEHIKOINEN Matti 3:56.19 5 FAIRCLOUGH Brendan 3:56.36 7 Marc Beaumont TEAM MBUK/SANTACRUZ :56.95 13 PEAT Steve SANTA CRUZ/SYNDICATE 4:01.87 18 DONOGHUE Neil TEAM MBUK/SANTACRUZ 4:04.16 UCI WC Overall Downhill Standings: 1 Steve Peat SANTA CRUZ/SYNDICATE 974 2 Samuel Hill 936 3 Greg Minnaar 890 4 Nathan Rennie SANTA CRUZ/SYNDICATE 809 5 Gee Atherton 758 7 Marc Beaumont TEAM MBUK/SANTACRUZ 691 22 Gee Atherton TEAM MBUK/SANTACRUZ 212 www.santacruzbicycles.co.uk

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Steve Peat Wins UCI DH Series Overall!

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