Changing Patterns: Qualifying Cairns DH World Cup 2016
Cairns has certainly been interesting so far. With the extended closure of practice due to three injuries yesterday and the afternoon downpour that turned the track into a slip and slide, all parties were feeling a little demoralized. None of the riders felt as though they got a full go at coming to terms with the track. None of the media felt they were able to do a proper job with only an hour and a half of pro practice, and the UCI surely was a little worried about getting injured riders off track in a timely fashion. We did get an update on Brage Vestavik today, he suffered two broken vertebrae. Healing vibes, Brage.
It was nice to wake up to pleasant skies this morning. The evening's storms were moving out and as we turned into the venue we were greeted by double rainbows. What could it mean? We thought today might just turn out alright. There were a couple of passing morning showers, but all in all the day was quite pleasant. There were no major hiccups on the track, no one was eaten by snakes, and we got down to the business of racing.
With the track drying out as the day progressed, we had high hopes for qualifications. Luck was on our side, the dirt was turning to Aussie gold as the racing got underway. Rachel Atherton took the top spot for the women followed by Manon Carpenter and Tracey Hannah. Hannah had the fastest first split before running into trouble. Matt Walker was first for the junior men, followed by Aussies Harry Bush and Remy Morton. Troy Brosnan was looking unbelievably quick in practice and backed it up with a first place qualie run. Mick Hannah took second and Aaron Gwin took the third place. The stage is set, and with a little luck tomorrow should be epic. Unless these weather patterns change.
Rack em up! Time to play dirt bikes in the jungle.
Everything here is larger than life, such as these bird-sized mosquitoes.
Rachybox ready to drop in on her first lap of the day, ready to take a solid 5 seconds out of the field later in the 'arvo'.
Rachel Atherton easily qualified first, up by almost six seconds on Manon Carpenter.
Manon Carpenter took second place today. She was charging hard all morning in practice.
Blowing minds. The legendary local, Tracey Hannah, was one of three women to hit the A-line through the rock garden today on her way to third. The crowd loved it.
Switzerland's number one, Emmelie Siegenthaler, launching into the moto whoops for fourth.
Tahnee Seagrave had a couple touch and go moments in practice today but reeled it back in. She qualified fifth today.
Matt Walker took first in qualies today. He was first at splits three through four.
Kiwi junior, Lucas Cole, boosting into the top ten of a stacked antipodean field.
Remy Morton with a top result this afternoon, flying into 3rd, ready for the big show.
America's Nikolas Nestoroff has looked solid on track this week, but will need to tidy up his run for finals if he plans to hang on to the 3 plate. 10th this afternoon.
Elliot Heap qualified fifth for the junior men.
Finn Iles took a couple of dirt samples today, with a crash in his timed run putting him out of contention today.
There's two lines through this section. As Troy demonstrates, you can ride the sniper line and float between the two senders, or...
...send it.
The whoops are testing both the riders and their equipment this week, with most bikes bottoming out hard as their pilots send it into the abyss.
Steve Smith charged his way to fifth place in qualification today.
Connor Fearon qualified ninth, just like his plate. Will the Aussie have another one of his brilliant moments tomorrow?
Loris Vergier qualified just outside the top ten. Will he have the speed to move up the ranks tomorrow?
Ratboy definitely received the warmest welcome to the rock garden.
Brook MacDonald, full tilt and aggressive as ever.
Eliot Jackson didn't have the best of luck in Lourdes, and found himself sitting out race day. He had no problems today in qualies. He came in twenty-second.
Once the track dried up today the dirt came around nicely and some beautiful ruts were forming.
Ed Masters wants you to watch finals no matter what side of the world you live on.
Danny Hart was fourth fastest in qualies today. He looked solid on in the slick conditions of early practice.
The Gwizzard landed on the podium here two years ago so is no stranger to the challenges jungle. Now he's chomping at the heels of the local boys with a lot fewer laps under his belt... Will the morning session be enough for him to catch up?
George Brannigan may have been wearing a little dirt on his shoulder in practice, but he had a ripper of a run to qualify sixth.
Mick Hannah was on fire today on his home soil. Second fastest in qualifying.
Despite looking awesome on this high speed track, Sam Blenkinsop couldn't quite match his first place qualifier of 2014 and seems to have more than a few seconds to find tomorrow afternoon.
As fun as it seems, slamming your face into the ground definitely isn't the fastest line through this rock garden. The crowd started chanting the number of seconds that it took this poor guy to scrape himself off the ground, until he got back on his bike 14 seconds later.
As the track dried out Aaron Gwin got faster and faster. Third fastest today.
A massive 12th place qualie for Australian sender Graeme Mudd this afternoon.
We're starting to lose track of how many times Loic has qualified first at a World Cup, but he's of course still hunting that elusive finals win. Today he rode to 4th so perhaps the easing of pressure will help him to go all the way. Was today all but a gentle cruise on purpose? Nous ne savons pas!
Loris Vergier took the win here in 2014 as a junior and tomorrow he'll go head to head with his buddy and World Champion teammate, currently 6.5 seconds ahead of him.
Bernard Kerr threads the needle through the rock garden to a top 10 qualifier.
Sam Hill was looking comfortable as ever in the extreme rough.
Stevie Smith charging into fifth with quite possibly a fair bit more in the tank for finals.
Full commitment required to navigate the second most treacherous sections of the course - the infamous alien tree. Japan's Yuki Kushima rode this one out.
Remi Thirion's mechanic, Damien, packing up the spikes hopefully once and for all at the close of today's play.
John Hall with high hopes to continue his reign as top mechanic with Gwin only 1.2 seconds back on his ex team mate heading into the final.
Two Demos back from the showers and headed for a rebuild at the Specialized Gravity Republic pit.
Just in case we have weather tomorrow, the GT pits are ready with a pool to clean up in.
George Brannigan was pumped on his day.
Cairns didn't play fair this time once again, but we can say fairer than last time at least. The forecast indicates a mere 10% chance of rain for finals.
Racing the big show tomorrow? When the going gets tough, there are three words of wisdom from Mr Vergier.
MENTIONS: @mdelorme / @natedh9 / @Chamakazi
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The other possibility is he didn't get another national team exemption and didn't have enough points to qualify based on his Lourdes result. If I wasn't so brazy (Brandy + Lazy), I could probably navigate through the UCI site and confirm his point status, although it would seem like his ~44th place finish would be enough. And hells bells, he won his own damn race last weekend, so c'mon, Sheffield Steel should be in the field!
Should be re-titled to "The Gwizard of Aus"
Was the first one to call it. Aaron Gwin is a GWIZZARD.
You're welcome PB.
Awesome photos and event coverage.
I didn't know mountain bike was only about gravity bikes...
This is a world cup week end, and absolutely no words on XCO (women and men).
I know PB is a website which mainly talks about DH/Enduro, but come on...