UCI DH World Cup 2013: Fort William - Trek World Racing Report

Trek World Racing opened its World Cup account in Fort William today with a 2nd place for Brook MacDonald and a 10th place for rookie pro, Greg Williamson, and solid positions for both Neko Mulally and George Brannigan. The team, now in its fifth season, has helped Trek rack up an impressive 34 World Cup podiums for the Session bike since 2009.

The Scottish Highlands served sunshine all week and a track that was dusty and not easy to read, and despite the threat of rain, the clouds held off in front of what must have been a record World Cup crowd at the Fort. First rider to come down for Trek World Racing was Scotland's Greg Williamson who turned 21 this weekend and had his whole family in attendance. Crossing the line after a fast bottom sector Greg took the hotseat by a massive 3.5secs and was to stay there for close to 25 minutes before eventually taking a career best 10th place.

Next up for the team was George Brannigan (NZL) who's on the road the recovery from major knee surgery and today achieved his goal with a solid qualifier and final, now ranked 31st in the World Cup going to Round 2. Neko Mulally was next and after scoring a point in the quali's yesterday was set for a top 15 today until a small error in the forest section put him back to 25th. The pace is there and his favorite tracks are yet to come.

Finally it was Brook 'Bulldog' MacDonald who qualified 6th fastest and was down at 13th place at the first split in his race run, but he dug deep in the lower section to take the fastest time and move into the hotseat. Only local favourite Gee Atherton who rode a great race, could finish ahead of the Kiwi.

Brook said: "I'm so happy. This is my best result at Fort William and only my 5th career podium so far. To do this at my first World Cup for my new team is very special, couldn't be happier".

Greg said: "I suffered from nerves pretty bad yesterday in my quali and today I was so chilled I nearly missed my start! To get my first ever top 10 in a World Cup, in my home country, I'm speechless".

Finishing top 10 is one of the criteria for Greg to be selected for the British team to the World Championships. Spots on that team are hard fought for and the 7 riders will be named after Round 3. Trek World Racing finished 3rd today in the team ranking and showed it is super competitive and ready for the rest of the World Cup season.

The team will now head straight to Val di Sole in Italy for Round 2 of the World Cup next weekend.