Sam Hill Set For World Cup After Strong Win On Worlds Course

7.5.2008

Tomorrow sees the official opening of the 2008 World Cup season for the gravity riders, and reigning World Cup and World Champion, Sam Hill of Team Monster Energy Iron Horse, has also already demonstrated excellent form as his European campaign gets into full swing.

This past Sunday saw the UCI mandated test event on the 2008 World Championships course in Val Di Sole, Italy. The downhill course is essentially new but loosely based on previous European Championship courses and this test event gave the world's top riders their first look at the three and half minute length of terrain that will decide the 2008 World Champion next month.

Sam took the win in the final with more than a five second margin over Steve Peat, a result that had many in the race paddock returning to their team areas scratching their heads, trying to figure out what needs to be done to beat the 4 time World Champ.

Both Sam and his team mate Brendan Fairclough commented on the event shortly afterwards:

Sam Hill: "My run in the final was OK. The track has lots of line choices, it's technical and a lot of fun, but this can make it really hard to get a perfect run on it. I thought it was cool to have this warm up race to see where my race speed is before heading into World Cup 1."

Brendan Fairclough: "The track was rough, fast, and had some similarities to the track I rode here a couple years ago for the Euros...I loved it! This was also my first chance to get my new products set-up on a real DH track and I left Italy feeling really good about my bike set-up for 2008".

Both riders are settling into Maribor today and tomorrow will walk the course that Sam won on last year, and get ready for official practice starting Friday.

Sam: "I'm definitely looking for a clean run in Maribor this coming weekend. I'm really looking forward to the start of the World Cup season in Slovenia...it's an awesome track, and hopefully I can go there and start the season off with a win!"

Brendan: "My aim for Maribor is top 5, and this past week in Italy left me feeling confident that I'm ready for it!"

The Semi Finals get underway at 10h30 CET on Sunday, and the Finals at 14h30, with the last of the top men riders on course a little after 16h00.

Live web coverage here: http://www.uci.ch/templates/UCI/UCI2/layout.asp?MenuId=MTU0MzA

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, Freeestyle Watches, THE, Alligator, Yamaha of Troy, KMC and Kicker.

More info: http://www.madcatzracing.com/