Video: Ten Rider Downhill Race - Pinnacle Champs Helmet Cam
Crazy 70 km/h MTB footage from Mick Hannah and Fabien Cousinié, as they take on the first ever 10 rider downhill race at the Pinnacle Bike Championship, in Waterville valley, USA. Footage from UR team with Sony Action Cam.
Bryn Atkinson - 1st Place:
"All in all this race turned out to be pretty fun, and the concept was good. I do think there is room for this type of event to take off with the right support from our industry. Having said that, the helmet cams don't do a track like this justice. It was mega gnarly, doing up to 40mph on a steep grass ski slope, littered with bomb holes, rocks and wet grass. It really was impressive seeing a track like this ridden by some of the best. With a few top WC guys showing up for $10,000- I knew the final was going to be wild, everyone was going for it. I took a risk lining up on the outside in lane 9 not wanting to be inside of Mick, Simmons or Fabien, as those guys were starting stronger than me earlier in the day. I ended up getting the snap when it counted, cut over on the rest of the field, and rode it like I stole it to the botttom. Stoked to come away with the win!!"
Mick Hannah - 2nd Place:
"I've been racing for a while, doing all kinds of races, I knew that the terrain here was really rough even if it doesn't look like it. 10 riders going down at the same time on one gnarly track, hitting big jumps and crazy speed, this one was definitely something new and I really enjoyed it. I won qualifying and all my heats but in finals I had a bad start and battled my way from 6th to 2nd! My shoulder is feeling better and better, I can't wait to race next year!"
Fabien Cousinié - 3rd Place:
"I always love try different style of racing and this race format was definitely something I was curious about. When I first got to the venue, I thought the track was going to be super easy because of the grassy terrain, but during first practice I almost broke my ankle hitting one of the hidden rocks. You'd be a fool to think that you can make it down in one piece on a hardtail.
I used my 4X background to take a good start and make some passes to end up 3rd, something that I'm really stoked about! Especially, as a team owner, after this busy trade show marathon. It was definitely a new experience racing with those guys, at 70km/h, bar to bar, I can't imagine how good Pinnacle racing is going to be once it gets more momentum."
Matt Simmonds - 4th - Place:
"Flying into Boston then driving up to Waterville Valley Park I was a bit unsure about how this new and exciting race format was going to workout. After a few scary moments in practice it was clear that the ten man finals in the afternoon was going to be wild. A crowd started to assemble and it was time to race. Great starts from Bryn, Fabien & also super high speed over takes from Mick left me in 4th spot. I honestly can’t believe how fast we were going over such unpredictable terrain. All in all a great weekends racing & I can see there being a future for events like this if the right sponsors and infrastructure was to be put in place."
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It obviously has potential, potential that hasnt been used.
Massive jump, high speed corners, not 20km/h off camber turns and some wooden ramps.
I hate to say but maybe only some big sponsor like Red Bull has the money, potential and experience to lauch this kind of format.
This would be completly insane, check closed track ride here: http://dirtmountainbike.com/news/red-bull-wide-open-2014-cancelled.html
How sad is that that this has better winnings that more deserving events.
If you ask me, that thing is awesome, I see great future for this sport as a way of riding off the trail, truly carbing your own line. I can even imagine ski resort cleaning parts of forests from big branches and stocks so that one could ride a bike between trees. A huge potential for fatbikes!
Cheers!
"Hater" It is a nazi term for: I think it is rad, But I am insecure about that opinion, saying something like: "let the hating begin" as a preemptive strike.
This is a perfect example of that
Still I think this race was a bit lame. Perhaps Red Bull Wide Open would have been better. In fact I am almost sure it would have been.
Personally I will always prefer going as fast as I can with tree branches whipping my helmet and bars, to wide flat out style tracks. I do not get the world wide obsession with tracks like A-Line, but thats just my personal preference. Must say this multi-rider format could have serious potential but I don't think that potential was fully realised here....
gabriel- I completely agree with you after seeing some dude's gopro preview of it and it sucks it was cancelled but I'm happy at least this idea came to fruition in one way or another. Remember, this is a smallish EC resort with no previous focus on MTBing and cannot be compared to Livingno, and you could kinda say this was WV's first attempt at a mtb race. I'm sure they'll make it a crap ton better if the want is there because it takes a shitton of money to make a course (Red Bull Wide Open was around 400k I believe). They weren't going to go all out with an experimental race format especially when they're not solid in the MTB market.
Cheers!
It is fair enough to comment on these things, even to discuss them openly, but to scorn someone for not being perfect, kinda suggests a run away ego, and that a little introspection may be required. Further to that, to scorn someone who is no doubt imperfect, for the fairly nice act of praising someone they have some respect for, kinda goes back to the original case of insecurity. "They said they like something, and I can abate my insecurities somewhat by taking the much easier to defend stance that I don't like it and rain down scorn upon them for the amusement of my peers, and a nice ego boost for me".
(add some sort of "in my humble opinion" or "ooh this has all got a bit deep" self defense remark here)
Minnaar, Hill, Hart, Bryceland, Bruni, Atherton, Gwin, and Peaty?
That's like the superbowl of DH.
I would put my money on any former BMX racer. They know the art of a gate start, are used to "full contact" racing, and have the sprinting abilities.
2. Coverage was really poor.
3. Timing was worse, same time as Rampage build up and those Mammoth games.
Be good to see this as part of a series like Crankworx so the coverage, timing, athlete list and courses can be improved on, but sheeeet who doesn't love a grassy flat turn?!
5. To have exciting 10 man racing you need maybe 30 or 40 guys who are all within a few seconds of each other on a long track which just won't happen. What you end up without this is a procession from top to bottom without the close racing on the way down. It looked like only 10 fast guys turned up so the run in the video looked ok but you need a ton more talented guys and girls to have more heats and racing. This will be hard to overcome if it is to grow IMO
I think point 1) is their biggest issue. For all the bellyaching beforehand it seems like the riders were the only people to enjoy this... and ironically the TV audience that this event was designed for would have been massively underwhelmed.
Would I love to ride something like that... yes. Would I want to watch it like that... no
Could we somehow turn this into a new style of racing? I'm imagining some kind of "big mountain" DH race, 10 guys going peak to valley on a wide open mountainside, go from high speed scree up top, so grass, down into the trees, maybe..
This was a cool idea, but the marketing behind it was insulting. "...plunging off 40 foot drops and reaching speeds of 60mph."