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Syndicate's Minnaar & Bryceland 2nd in Seeding Runs!
June 20, 2008
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Val Di
Sole, Italy
The
downhill seeding race for the UCI World
Championship
Downhill took place today in Val Di Sole,
Italy under
blue skies, which is typical of this
region, but
it didn’t seem that way early in the week
with light
rain showers wetting the track.
Racers
played it
easy and some played tactics in the seeding
run as all
riders are qualified and no points are
given for
the seeding run, so not much was on the
line. Santa Cruz Syndicate’s Greg Minnaar
placed
second in
the elite men’s category and said, “I
battled to
find a rhythm, but it’s still early now and
we have
training tomorrow and Saturday. I
should be
able to
find my rhythm then and give it some stick in
the final,”
said Minnaar.
Josh
Bryceland’s injured knee didn’t give him any
trouble and
he placed second in his seeding run in the
junior
category. Steve “Old Spice” Peat
celebrated
his
birthday this week and is still giving the field a
run for
their money. He ran it smart in the
seeding
run
cruising in for a 7th place finish with everything
working
well and according to plan.
Nathan
Rennie, sporting a new Troy Lee Designs race
kit for
practice, looked like his former self as he
was
charging sections and riding confidently, although
admittedly
not every run was perfect and getting loose
and hitting
tress was part of the game for most.
His
seeding run
went to plan as he coasted down. He
said,
“ I’m in a
reasonable position going into the final.
I walked
the track after the seeding run and I have
some work
to do. Everything is sweet.”
Practice
has gone well all week for the lads, yet this
track is
brutal exacting it’s toll on the equipment.
The test
event here in May had the mechanics prepared
for bike
carnage saying this track was the hardest on
equipment
of all the tracks. Syndicate
wrench, Doug
Hatfield
explains, “We keep smashing stuff, it’s one
thing or
another, but we have back up parts now.
It’s
a tough
track, there’s no other track quite like it.
It’s steep
with big rocks with lots of bottoming out
going
on.” The mechanics have their work
cut out for
them as
they toil into the late evening each night,
and with
hopes of great performances this weekend it
keeps them
going.
Cross
fingers, and we’ll see what Saturday brings!
SEEDING RUN
RESULTS:
1 Gee
Atherton 3:24.81
2 Greg
Minnaar (Santa Cruz Syndicate/SRAM)
3:28.52
3 Justin
Leov 3:29.95
4 Sam
Hill 3:32.32
5 Sam
Blenkinsop 3:35.72
6 Mikael
Pascal 3:36.85
7 Steve
Peat (Santa Cruz Syndicate/SRAM) 3:38.59
8 Brendan
Fairclough 3:38.75
9 Chris
Kovarik 3:40.54
10 Julien
Camellini 3:42.83
13 Nathan Rennie (Santa Cruz
Syndicate/SRAM)
3:43.70
JUNIOR
SEEDING RUN RESULTS:
1 Remi
Thirion 3:43.69
2 Josh
Bryceland (Santa Cruz
Syndicate/SRAM)3:44.18
3 Brook
Macdonald 3:48.58
4 Aari
Barrett 3:49.03
5 Shaun
O’Connor (Santa Cruz/SRAM)
3:52.66
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
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