Greg Minnaar Dominates Fort William World Cup

Proving that he's fully recovered from shoulder surgery over winter, South Africa's Greg Minnaar (Santa Cruz Syndicate), today dominated World Cup Round 3 on the classic Nevis Range course at Fort William. Showing form early on Friday where he was clearly the fastest in timed practice, running a 4m 55.48secs, Minnaar was out to prove that his 4th place finish last year with a broken shoulder was one of the most underated rides of 2007. This course in Scotland suits his strength and fitness and he now becomes the first man to win two World Cups on this track. Last night prior to the semi final Greg was determined to go for the full 250 points. "I'm going to give it a good hard hit in the semi final and chase the 50 points. I'm not too worried about being able to recover in time for the final. We're not at altitude and we have nearly five hours to recover, and I know I've done the fitness work". True to his word he took the win in the semi final, but it was the margin in the final which stamped his authority on the weekend. Despite a dry and blown out course, and a strong wind that was hitting the riders head on in the final motorway section, Greg put more than 3 seconds into 2nd place and last week's winner Gee Atherton (Animal Commencal), and his team mates were close behind in 3rd and 4th. World Cup leader Sam Hill finished 5th. "I gave it my best shot. My shoulder is 100% back to normal now. I had a lot of South African mates here this weekend supporting me, and I'm stoked to have won my first World Cup since 2005. The is a special place for me. The V10 with RockShox suspension was amazing here...thanks to the team for putting it all together this week." This was the 100th World Cup Downhill race run since 1993, and interestingly, since he started racing as a junior in 1997, Greg has been on the podium for 34 of those 100 races...of which he's started 61. More info: www.23degrees-sports.com