Syndicate's Minnaar and Peat 2nd and 3rd at UCI Downhill, Bromont

Greg Minnaar comes 2nd and Steve Peat finishes 3rd at the World Cup Downhill in Bromont. It was a bittersweet podium for the Syndicate at the Nissan UCI Downhill World Cup race in Bromont, Quebec as Sam Hill snatched the win from Greg and Steve, yet young Josh Bryceland retains the junior overall leader's jersey and the Syndicate leads the overall team classification in the downhill. Bromont has hosted many mountain bike races in years past including the world championships in 1992, a UCI World Cup in 1999 and numerous master’s world championships, and it was a pleasure to come back and race here. The race organizers went to a lot of work to make a great racetrack, but the weather didn’t cooperate very well and the torrential downpour, complete with thunder and lightening, took its toll on the course prior to practice. The short course, lined with wild raspberry bushes, has a lot of rock features including big slabs of rock to ride down and the muddy ruts and holes that formed have made the conditions challenging. After the lashing rain, the riders took to the course in the muddy conditions on the first day of practice. Minnaar said, “With all the rain we’ve had the course has deteriorated quite badly from the first run. I've had to change a lot of lines and keep changing back and forth because the ruts are so deep.” Peaty comments, "The track was really slippery because mud carried to all the different lines and to all the rock sections after it pissed down so hard on Thursday. There are three critical sections, especially the tight corners through the woods at the bottom will be crucial to hit properly. I worked with Ricky Bobby and the guys at SRAM to get my forks and rear shock set-up and my V-10 is working great for this course.” Race morning was nice and sunny and looked promising, but thunderstorms were forecast for the afternoon. After the semi-finals the Syndicate boys had some work to do. Minnaar, the UCI points leader, felt a bit nervous and made some mistakes in the top section of the course and placed 5th, picking up far fewer points then he would have liked. Feeling like he now has to chase the win he will go into the finals a bit more confident. Peat, fastest of the Syndicate lads, placed 2nd just .54 seconds back of Sam Hill. He made mistakes on the bottom of the course and went up to check the section before the finals. Rennie came to a stop twice finishing 9th so he is looking for a cleaner run for the race. Bryceland felt he had a good run and rounded out the top ten men’s semi-finals race. Fianl Downhill runs from the horse’s mouth: Josh: My run was going wicked. I hit all my lines, my bike felt amazing. Then I came into the last downhill section and I wasn’t even that tired. I was just feeling amazing into this right hander, got a bit sideways on a sort of a step –up in the rock section and high sided. I hurt my leg a bit and just carried on half-heartedly. It’s still not the top ten I’m after, but I’m getting closer. STEVE: I’m pissed off! I got a little bit nervous. I was so confident after the qualifier. I got fastest split over a second and a half. I was pretty confident after the qualifier. I got fastest split over a second and a half. I was confident I could go faster. I think I set off too quick and just stalled in the first woods, then tried too hard and stalled again further down. I was a bit annoyed with that. I rode the bottom half good and solid, better than I did in the qualifier. I’m stoked to be third but I could have done better. Nathan: I had two crashes, one in the turns I was hitting mint all week, and I was off the track and up against a tree at the finish. It was so slippery I couldn’t believe it. I was so caution, I felt like I had oil on my tires. GREG: I was pretty happy with the result because I felt like I rode like a bit of a twat. I was disappointed after the semi-final. I didn’t ride very well. I was able to step it up for the final. I had a pretty good split. We were on a course where other teams had practiced for weeks, so I was impressed we were able to do as well as we did. I rode the bottom half of the track too cautious, it was really slick, so I didn’t want to ruin the run that I had put together on top. Second place is like kissing your sister, and I have two sisters, so it’s not that good kissing your sister. I’ll have to do better in Australia. DOWNHILL FINAL RESULTS: 1) Sam Hill 2:42.14 2) GREG MINNAAR (SANTA CRUZ SYNDICATE/SRAM) 2:44.84 3) STEVE PEAT (SANTA CRUZ SYNDICATE/SRAM) 2:46.00 4) Gee Atherton 2:48.09 5) Marc Beaumont 2:49.60 6) Brendan Fairclough 2:51.65 7) Sam Blenkinsop 2:52.86 8) Matti Lehikoinen 2:53.03 9) Mitchell Delfs 2:54.15 10) Luke Strobel 2:54.56 19) NATHAN RENNIE (SANTA CRUZ SYNDICATE/SRAM) 2:56.40 20) JOSH BRYCELAND (SANTA CRUZ SYNDICATE/SRAM) 2:56.91 SEMI-FINAL RESULTS: 1) Sam Hill 2:46.79 2) STEVE PEAT (SANTA CRUZ SYNDICATE/SRAM) 2:47.33 3) Fabien Barel 2:47.48 4) Gee Atherton 2:49.90 5) GREG MINNAAR (SANTA CRUZ SYNDICATE/SRAM) 2:50.0 6) Marc Beaumont 2:51.25 7) Matti Lehikoinen 2:52.51 8) Justin Leov 2:52.80 9) NATHAN RENNIE (SANTA CRUZ SYNDICATE/SRAM) 2:52.93 10) JOSH BRYCELAND (SANTA CRUZ SYNDICATE/SRAM) 2:53.05 Thanks to the Syndicate Sponsors: Santa Cruz Bicycles SRAM RockShox Truvativ Avid Maxxis DT Swiss WTB Crankbrothers Lizard Skins Clif Bar Troy Lee Designs Chris King Five Ten Kathy Sessler Santa Cruz Syndicate Manager More info: www.santacruzmtb.com