The Cannonball Calls - Australian National DH Series Round 2, Thredbo

The second round of the Australian National Downhill Series saw us return to Thredbo, New South Wales. A track with a longstanding history of downhill racing in Australia and long lasting arm pump. This year was no exception, seeing us return to the infamous cannonball run. Thredbo staff had put in some work over the off season, making some minor changes to the track which appeared to be popular with the riders after hearing the chatter in the pit area. We had another amazing day of weather with the Aussie sun beating down, drying the track out and making it fast, but slippery. The additional speed meant that brake bumps were forming far quicker than usual, leaving some sizeable holes in the track after only the first day of practice.



With so many fast riders local to the Thredbo track no one was really sure who to watch through practice, eyes are always on Troy Brosnan, who is no slouch on any track, but they were also closely fixed on junior world champ, Tegan Molloy and both Andrew and Thomas Crimmins. Plenty had a keen eye to find any sneaky lines these locals might be using that they had perfected over the years. Last time Troy and Andrew met at Thredbo Andrew walked away with a win, though this wasn't possible this time around, it would be interesting to see who could gather up all those loose seconds and be the fastest down the hill.



With Saturday wrapping up, there were a few injures about, the looser sections of track catching many off guard and ejecting them over the bars. Mountain Bike Australia opted to run qualifying and racing both on Sunday, so many chose to call it a day slightly earlier than usual to rest up for a big day of racing on Sunday.



There were some thunderstorms down the valley overnight, but there was no rain in Thredbo leaving the track dry, loose and fast or racing. The morning started off a little overcast, but the sun quickly came out and assumed its dominating position in the sky burning up the track. The morning allowed for some last minute practice to ensure all the lines were exactly how riders wanted. Practice saw a few caught out, most notably Andrew Crimmins, who took a dive and was taken down the hill in a vehicle for medical attention. This didn't seem to effect the strong junior though, back up the top for qualifying as if there had been no issue at all. Andrew charged to the bottom of the hill collecting not only the fastest time for the junior men, but also for the day at that point, Tegan Molloy claimed the honors in women's and Troy Brosnan in the men.




As racing began we saw the qualifying times drop quickly with many riders bettering their times by sizeable chunks of time, this stayed consistent even to the top juniors, was there any speed left in the track for local Andrew Crimmins to take even more time off his blistering pace? There was with Andy blasting down the hill in a time of 4:46, besting his qualifying time and putting him well and truly on the top spot on his local track. This now left the hill to the ladies, would Tegan be able to hold on to claim her first elite win or would current Number 1 plate holder, Sarah Booth take it away from her here on her local track? As the ladies flowed down the hill the times were falling, with Sarah Booth being bested by Ronja Hill-Wright, leaving only Tegan to come, Tegan appeared into the opening at the bottom of the track with a blistering time and crossed the line over 30 seconds ahead of the field, proving that she was the one to beat at Thredbo. This meant it was only the men to come down, and come down they did, setting a fast pace from the first drop of the start gate. Liam Panozzo setting an awesome time early in the runs and claiming the hot seat for quite some time. Thomas Crimmins was the next rider to claim the hot seat, with Greame Mudd coming close, but not being able to knock the local off,would it be Thomas Crimmins to knock Troy off the top spot this time around at Thredbo? As Troy popped into the open it appeared that the times were close, but as Troy crossed the line it was clear he had again shown his astounding skill level and put 5 seconds into the field and claimed the fastest time of the day.







Elite Men
1 Troy Brosnan 4:38.35
2 Thomas Crimmins 4:43.48
3 Graeme Mudd 4:44.46
4 Liam Panozzo 4:49.62
5 Timothy Eaton 4:51.56



Elite Women
1 Tegan Molloy 5:20.06
2 Ronja Hill-Wright 5:52.76
3 Sarah Booth 5:59.23
4 Kellie Weinert 6:07.04
5 Michelle Crisp 6:18.79

Junior Men
1 Andrew Crimmins 4:46.34
2 Max Warshawsky 4:50.34
3 Jackson Frew 4:51.85
4 Joel Willis 4:54.30
5 Remy Morton 4:55.45

Junior Women
1 Ellie Wale 6:17.16
2 Sian A'hern 6:52.71