Downhill Practice, Crankworx Rotorua 2016
Downhill practice started here on Thursday under sunny, deep blue skies. Racers are taking to the incredibly scenic 2006 World Championships track with smiles on their faces and dollar signs in their eyes. With a slippery layer of dust on the dirt out in the open, it's been a generally loose affair with clouds of dust following racers into the treeline during practice. Rain fell overnight and this morning it was tacky, soft and starting to get chewed just in time for the race on Sunday. The pro men's start list here is shorter than usual but with so many Kiwi rippers in attendance, we can expect some close racing come Sunday.
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 Jack racing in full effect. With Data logging equipment adorning every moving piece on his bike, World Champion Loic Bruni sends it with a death grip huck off of the grassy knoll. |
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| This is the heart of Loic Bruni's data acquisition system. Got cables? |
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| Fairclough is flying here in Rotorua. He seems to be having a blast and is piling on run after run between shooting video bits and making sure all the photographers get sick shots of his new TLD kit. |
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| Fabien Barel isn't just here as a marketing boss, he's back on the DH bike doing what he was born to do. "I had some good feelings in the start gate" Barel mentioned with a huge smile on his face. "Enduro was fun, but it's great to be back." He insists he isn't racing, just "testing," but he's running plate #14, pushing up the track, looking for lines and banging out run after run like the good old days. Don't be surprised to hear his signature breathing down the track on Sunday when his brain switches off and he reverts back to the former World Champion he is. |
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| Anneke Beerten makes her way over the grassy knoll. Possibly the most photographed feature here in Rotorua, coming up short on it means you're in for a very bad day. Pre-jumping or rolling into it is the safe line. |
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| Then again if you're Blenki, you pin it and scrub your way into the abyss. |
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| Remy Morton drafted David Macmillan for a few runs and made short work of the track considering he would have had a face full of dust at all times |
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| The bulldog hits the middle line in the upper off camber corner. Everyone is hedging their bets that the lower rut will be gone come Sunday afternoon. It's a much slower entry staying high, but you won't blow through the tape if the berm goes away up there. |
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| And this is why that rut is going away in a hurry. Braaap. |
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| DH practice train into the pond jump is in full effect under blue skies. There's been quite a few spectacular cases over the last two days. |
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| Boom! Hard landing over the water feature. |
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| Brendan Fairclough and Andrew Neethling got in almost as many runs as Barel yesterday. Here they scope out the iconic upper turn here in Rotorua. Are they looking for a line or are they just deciding which way to whip across the pond jump? |
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| Send it to the lake bro. |
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| Elliot Jackson takes the step-down line coming into the last chute towards the finish hip. |
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| R-Dog leads the Trek train through the jumps. |
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| Phil Atwill was crushing runs today but made the jumps look easy as he flowed across them towards the end of practice. |
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| Jill Kintner was one of the few women taking the middle line in the larches and made it look easy. |
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| Blenki is looking comfortable as you'd imagine he would on a track he has ridden more than most. |
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| Loic Bruni is absolutely flying. One of the few men to go to the left of the tree at the bottom of the larches, his exit speed is heaps faster than almost everyone else. |
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| Fabien Barel was back out charging as soon as practice began this morning. First man through the larches at full speed. Not missing a beat. |
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We all know "TESTING" includes beating everyone else lining up at the start gate..hehehe