|
|
 |
 Gully practically leaps out of bed everyday. |
 |
| It was a dusty morning in the desert. As the rider meeting got underway the mountain was almost hidden for a while... |
 |
| Rider meetings in Utah have sick light at Redbull Rampage. |
 |
| Todd Barber is the ring leader for Rampage we are so fortunate to have him. |
 |
| Athletes drawing in their lines to give to the judges first thing in the morning. |
 |
| And your line is gonna be...Mike Kinrade filling in the details so Todd Barber can determine a rider start order for the Rampage qualifying round. |
 |
| Riders had to hike to the top but there were staff to carry bikes up. |
 |
 |
| The morning started with unusually still air. Dust hung until it settled to the ground instead of moving off. |
 |
| Early morning preparations and EMTs on hand to watch and be ready at a given moment. |
 |
| Garett Buehler was one of the first riders on the hill for the final practice session. |
 |
 |
| Buehler doing some early morning warm up laps. |
 |
| Buehler , post warm up full on charging. |
 |
| Brendan Fairclough washed out his front tire in an unexpected pile of moon dust on his first run - early am practice sessions sloughed loose dirt into his line. Bren-dawg took that in stride and then charged his second run strongly enough to qualify. Instead of launching that sick looking canyon gap he's fashioned high up on the track he opted to hit a hip a just below it. "I'm saving that one for Sunday's finals. It's only scary looking until you're on the lip." |
 |
| Fairclough - drop. |
 |
| Fairclough looks a little less than excited by the prospect of tossing his carcass down the side of the mountain. |
 |
| Casey Groves in the start gate. |
 |
| Casey hit this line beautifully as his trail of dust tells. |
 |
| Groves fully committed to the stratosphere. |
 |
| Pierre Edouard Ferry dropping in towards the end of his line. |
 |
| Vink post Oakley Icon sender. |
 |
| Gully seems to be awake by this point as he flattens it out. |
 |
| Soderstrom heads back in for his second lap. |
 |
| Martin linked this line together on his second lap qualifying him for the finals. |
 |
 |
| The Swede boosting out of a little step down/step up that he built. |
 |
| Heli footage for Howey. |
 |
| Brendan Howie throwing down on the step down. |
 |
| Howey trying to up the ante on his qualifying run number 1. |
 |
| Hopkins with a one way ticket to the pain cave. The gap measures around 68 feet. He landed well beyond the sweet spot. |
 |
| Mike Hopkins took one of the hardest crashes I've seen in a long time and still walked away from it. 60 foot step down gap and the top of the landing is at the bottom right. Just a little bit bigger than needed - probably a solid 80 feet on this one... |
 |
| Margus captures Hopkins mid-flight. |
 |
| Thomas Genon on the horizon of his first Rampage. |
 |
 |
| Genon won Joyride this year and he threw down some beautiful airs here in Utah. Unfortunately it wasn't enough. |
 |
| Messere learning what is takes at Rampage. |
 |
| Messere won't be in the big show on Sunday. He missed his landing by a good 10 feet in run one after someone moved his marker rocks and crashed lower down on run 2 - over a drop with a very short landing that had him dragging a foot. |
 |
| Messere isn't a stranger to having bird following him. |
 |
| Anthony threw a huge no hander over a canyon gap on his second run. |
 |
| Rampage ain't easy son. |
 |
| Kyle Norbraten had a great first run sticking a solid 360 and ending up in the third place spot in qualifying. |
 |
| Norbs crushed it today - nuff said. |
 |
| Rheeder being the good student and studying every detail of what it takes. |
 |
| And looking incredibly comfortable on course. |
 |
 |
| Brett Rheeder and style for miles. |
 |
 |
| Doerfling sent the Sender and stomped the landing. He then proceeded to rail the line Gee Atherton pioneered lower down - the step down to hip landing - garnering enough points to lock up second place in qualifying. |
 |
| With qualifying over Cam McCaul and a number of other riders wasted no time in getting on the hill to start working on their lines for the finals until nightfall shut them down. |
 |
| Cam McCaul with a solid and unique far rider's right ridge line that had good flow, some fairly hairy exposure and one small canyon gap. |
 |
| McCaul just had to qualify for the super finals this week. Instead of taking it easy Cam dropped a massive line in zone 3 and was the only rider to hit the canyon gap today. Look for Cam Zink to join him over here on Sunday. |
 |
| We're looking for this same photo on Sunday with Cam McCaul in his Sunday best. |
 |
| McCaul checking for enemy aircraft. |
 |
| Qualis podium. |
 |
| Sorge closes out with the sunset shot. |
About Us
ContactsAdvertise
AdvertisingCool Features
Pinkbike DailyRSS
Pinkbike RSS Feed
