Kona Factory Team Australia at Mt Buller - VDHS Round 4

Once again the team returned to the alpine region of Mt Buller for the fourth round of the Victorian State DH Series (arguably the largest DH series in Australia) which backed up the first round of the National Series (see most recent blog post). With many of the riders hanging around for the week between races, competition was always going to be massive with past World Champions, World Cup racers and a plethora of National Champions. Rather than bang on about another race at Mt Buller which would result in a report much the same as last weekends, I thought I would collate some of the riders opinions for this race report so you can hear it from a different perspective. Enjoy!




Sarah Booth - Elite Female / 4th
"Arrived at Buller on the Thursday prior to racing to finish off the final tweaks to my new 2013 Kona Supreme Operator before hitting up Klingsporn trail to run it in. I punched out 7 runs on Friday and felt better as the day went on. Saturday was really just deciding about which lines to focus on and about making a few minor adjustments to the new bike. Sunday practice went well and I was feeling good, doing full runs and holding my lines. In seeding I was a bit too cautious in parts and had a few moments but managed to stay on track. Race run I managed to hold my lines but I think I was still too careful which would've cost me time. I was frustrated the despite riding where I wanted I went slower with my time. Still, I came away with 4th, and have renewed the fire for the next round at Mt Baw Baw!"


Tegan Molloy - Elite Female / 3rd
"Saturday saw an overcast day which was perfect for riding. Practice kicked off and I knew most of the lines I was going to take due to racing the National round on the same track the previous week. I felt comfortable on the track and was keen to see what time I could do in my seeding, hoping to better my Nationals time. Sunday's seeding went well, placing second I knew I had room to improve. It was soon time to race, and in the race run I had the top section of the track nailed and feeling fast, but halway down I blow out a corner and crashed. I quickly continued on and still managed to pull 3rd in Elite Women. Overall, another fun weekend of racing at Mt Buller."


Chris Whitelock - Elite Male / DNS
"Saturday practice started off a bit rough after spending almost two months off the bike. I was finding it hard to get my lines down and get the right set up for my bike. By the afternoon I was feeling confident that I had most things down and was ready for Sunday. Sunday morning I was feeling pretty good and after two practice runs I went into qualifying in a good state of mind. I had a good start to my run but made a few mistakes at the bottom and cruised through into 17th. Unfortunately I had to leave before my race run"

*Note: Chris left prior to his race run to go help with the current Victorian bushfires as a requirement of his job. As a team we are proud of him for this and fully support him*


Dean Lucas - Elite Male / 2nd
Day one at Mt Buller went well and I already had all my lines down from the Nationals, but I still wanted to find some time because I knew I wasn't where I wanted to be at Nationals. I changed some of my lines and went looking for faster ones! I got everything down by the end of Saturday's practice and felt good going into Sunday. Sunday morning started off well including my first two practice runs. I had all my lines sorted for seeding. My run went well and I got all my lines down smooth but didn't try too hard in bits and crossed the line with a 3.30. I was disappointed with my time and thought I had gone faster. I knew I had to push harder in my race run and gave it my everything and came across in the hotseat after some pretty good mistakes. I ended up finishing second outright which I am happy with, and can't wait for the next race!"


The team now rests up for a week before hitting the road to Thredbo for the second round of the National Series.

Thank you to our sponsors Kona, Mavic, Race Face, Maxxis, SRAM, Rockshox, Avid, Adidas Eyewear, Fox Head, GoPro, Evoc, Pedros, Straitline, NS Dynamics, Cane Creek, Revolution MTB Mag, Timothy Arch Photography and Torq.

Also, a big thank you this weekend to Jason Stevens Photography for providing the amazing photos this weekend as our regular photographer, Tim Arch was not available due to prior commitments.