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Kathy Sessler reports from Andorra on the Santa Cruz Syndicate's results at the Catalan Cup DH race.
Vallnord, Andorra, July 10, 2013
The Santa Cruz Syndicate riders were stoked to attend the Catalan Cup DH race held on the new World Cup downhill track in Andorra. Greg Minnaar took the win by just .10 over Antonio Ferreiro and Steve Peat almost made the podium with a 4th place finish just .28 back of Matt Simmonds. Josh Bryceland was on a flyer but had a slide out in his second of two runs (with the fastest run counting), and ended up in the emergency tent to have stitches put his knee and placed 10th.
It was interesting to see the changes to the track since we raced here in 2009 when Steve won his last World Cup. The course is completely different and utilizes the mountain well. The track starts flat out of the gate but soon turns to steep switchback turns with a fair bit of traversing. It was really dry and dusty on this 4 ½ minute track. There are two massive new bridges that are a part of the racetrack and overall is a very demanding descent.
Steve liked the new track and says, “ It was great to come to Andorra for the test event. It gave us a chance to set up bikes and prepare for the World Cup. They did a great job with the new track with such a steep hill to work with. I was happy to have a solid run in the final run and improve my first run time by 7 seconds. It was a good chance to get my V-10 working sweet for this terrain ahead of the World Cup.”
Greg was pleased with his win and comments, “It’s good to see some old faces here from back in the days of the sport. Roger Gonzales has done a great job of designing and building the World Cup track. It was nice to spend more time on the downhill bike and of course I’m happy to win. The track got pretty smashed up, so by the time we come back for the World Cup I’m sure it will be in good shape.”
The team at Ocisport ran a great event and we were very welcomed by them. We achieved our goals of checking out the new track, getting suspension set up and doing more downhill racing. We’re looking forward to coming back in a few weeks and hope the preparation pays off!
Catalan DH Race Results
Thanks to the Syndicate sponsors
Vallnord, Andorra, July 10, 2013
The Santa Cruz Syndicate riders were stoked to attend the Catalan Cup DH race held on the new World Cup downhill track in Andorra. Greg Minnaar took the win by just .10 over Antonio Ferreiro and Steve Peat almost made the podium with a 4th place finish just .28 back of Matt Simmonds. Josh Bryceland was on a flyer but had a slide out in his second of two runs (with the fastest run counting), and ended up in the emergency tent to have stitches put his knee and placed 10th.
It was interesting to see the changes to the track since we raced here in 2009 when Steve won his last World Cup. The course is completely different and utilizes the mountain well. The track starts flat out of the gate but soon turns to steep switchback turns with a fair bit of traversing. It was really dry and dusty on this 4 ½ minute track. There are two massive new bridges that are a part of the racetrack and overall is a very demanding descent.
Steve liked the new track and says, “ It was great to come to Andorra for the test event. It gave us a chance to set up bikes and prepare for the World Cup. They did a great job with the new track with such a steep hill to work with. I was happy to have a solid run in the final run and improve my first run time by 7 seconds. It was a good chance to get my V-10 working sweet for this terrain ahead of the World Cup.”
Greg was pleased with his win and comments, “It’s good to see some old faces here from back in the days of the sport. Roger Gonzales has done a great job of designing and building the World Cup track. It was nice to spend more time on the downhill bike and of course I’m happy to win. The track got pretty smashed up, so by the time we come back for the World Cup I’m sure it will be in good shape.”
The team at Ocisport ran a great event and we were very welcomed by them. We achieved our goals of checking out the new track, getting suspension set up and doing more downhill racing. We’re looking forward to coming back in a few weeks and hope the preparation pays off!
Catalan DH Race Results
Thanks to the Syndicate sponsors
Credit
Kathy Sessler / Santa Cruz Syndicate
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