In an impressive return to the winner's circle, Team Monster Energy Iron Horse's Sam Hill (AUS) took the win today at the Quebec ski resort of Bromont, just outside of Montreal, and in doing so, earned back the leader's jersey he'd lost last week to main rival Greg Minnaar (RSA).
Not only did Sam win the final, but he won qualifying in the semi final which gave him the maximum 250 points against Minnaar's 182 points.
Team mate Brendan Fairclough showed he's back on form with a 6th place in the final, his best result all season, and he was the first to rush over and congratulate his team mate after the win was confirmed.
The World Cup is made up of 7 rounds this year and with 2 rounds to go, one in Sam's home nation of Australia, and the other on a piece of track that the Aussie has dominated on in Schladming, Austria, the other top riders are going to have to wrestle the jersey off his back as all looks good for Sam right now.
Bromont has not been on the World Cup circuit since 1999, and this year's track was completely new and on the other side of the mountain. Rain made going tough during training, and even in the final the clouds threatened to open up seriously, but heavy storms did not hit the track, yet conditions remained slippery and unpredictable.
After qualifying 13th Brendan was the first of the top riders to look extremely fast through the technical steep middle section. His time was more than 2 seconds quicker than the previous leader, and he went straight into the hotseat with his trademark grin.
Brendan said: "I can't really complain. It was a bit wet and humid out there and I had to be careful in a few spots. Pretty happy with 6th though, it's about time I pulled something together. I always feel really good in practice but nothing happens in the finals. Today was a good start. I was lucky with some of the other riders having falls and punctures but you have to make your own luck, that's downhill. Last week I rode too conservatively. I'm glad that I put it on the edge a little bit more, back to my old self! It's a bit of a confidence booster. I have 2 weeks at Whistler now and that's awesome!"
Meanwhile, as fastest qualifier, and with top rival Greg Minnaar planted in the hotseat, it was up to Sam to reverse the fortune of last week. At the interval Sam was less than half a second quicker to Greg so the race was not yet won, but in the lower half of the course, the final minute of the track, he extended the lead to 2.7 seconds, showing his supremacy on the relatively shorter technical tracks.
Sam said: "My run was pretty good; I carried really good speed at the top and I didn't use too much energy and was happy I got through the top bits OK. I tried to keep it pretty safe through all the sloppy technical stuff, because I just wanted to stay upright all the way to the bottom. I have no idea how I put on more than 2 seconds at the bottom. If anywhere I thought I'd be faster up top, that was pretty surprising."
Final:
1. Sam Hill (AUS) Team Monster Energy Iron Horse 2m 42.14secs
2. Greg Minnaar (RSA) 2m 44.84secs
3. Steve Peat (GBR) 2m 46.00secs
4. Gee Atherton (GBR) 2m 48.09secs
5. Marc Beaumont (GBR) 2m 49.60secs
6. Brendan Fairclough (GBR) Team Monster Energy Iron Horse 2m 51.65secs
Overall Points:
1. Sam Hill (AUS) Team Monster Energy Iron Horse - 1020 pts
2. Greg Minnaar (RSA) - 974 pts
3. Gee Atherton (GBR) - 877 pts
4. Steve Peat (GBR) - 822 pts
5. Chris Kovarik (AUS) – 463 pts
11. Brendan Fairclough GBR) Team Monster Energy Iron – 335 pts
Round 6 of the World Cup takes place in Canberra, Australia on August 31st.
Team Monster Energy Iron Horse is also sponsored by: Mad Catz, Game Shark, Air Drives, RockShox, SRAM, Avid, FUNN, Maxxis, DT Swiss, FSA, Crank Brothers, WTB, e.thirteen, DW Link, Troy Lee Designs, Minoura, Maxima, Obtainium Performance Products, Five-Ten, Freestyle Watches, THE, Alligator, Yamaha of Troy, KMC and Kicker.
More info:
www.madcatzracing.com
