Justin Leov Wins National Title - New Zealand

Source: 23 Degree Sports

This past weekend saw the running of the New Zealand National Downhill Championships with the racing held on New Zealand's most technical race track, Kaka Hill in Nelson. Added to the challenge was a forecast for rain throughout the weekend.New Zealand is fast becoming not only a great place for European downhillers, and Canadians, to escape the winter and get in some quality racing, but is also home to a fast growing band of top level internationals. John Kirkcaldie lead the way in the late 1990's, but since then New Zealand has won its first ever World Cup race (Schladming Downhill last year, Sam Blenkinsop), a 2006 Junior World Title with Cameron Cole, as well as a bunch of young guns scoring top tens at Junior Worlds in recent years. Justin Leov, although only 24, is the kiwi with the most experience presently at World Cup level racing.

After signing for the new Trek World Racing program, and having a couple of local races on his new Session 88, it was time to tackle the Nationals.

A few tricky changes on the course had riders worried about how the rain would affect the track, and when everyone woke up on Saturday morning to the sound of a steady downpour, the worst was expected. However, the rain ended up washing the rocks and made traction ideal for a top level competition.

Justin opted to miss morning practice and show up in the afternoon to allow the course to get worn in by other riders, and was surprised to see most riders using dry tyres. Despite this, Justin chose to ride cut spikes which turned out to be the tyres for the weekend for the Trek World Racing rider.

Race day Sunday presented clouds but no rain, but the downside was that the mud was now being dragged over the rocks and traction was pretty well non-existent. Sam "Blinky" Blenkinsop put down a hot time to take out seeding with Justin a further 3 seconds back in 2nd.

Justin said: "I had a so-so run and was a little annoyed to be that far off his time. The other pro riders were having issues staying on their bikes so the times were really spread out."

The sun came out and started to bake the ruts before the final so the track was pretty much in the best shape for a race run. Nathan Rankin was off early and set a faster time than Sam's seeding run by 2 seconds. Justin set off into his run pretty well flat out but was getting a little too ragged and loose and began losing time. He quickly settled down for the middle section of the race which was the more technical rocky section, and then opened it up again for the bottom section.

Justin said: "It was one of those runs where you're fast but not sure really how fast, and so crossing the line I was surprised to see my time being 9 seconds faster than seeding. Blinky was yet to come and when I saw him pop out from the last tree section I knew his time would be close. He seemed to be on the edge and as he hit the last jump his foot came off the pedal and he just managed to stay on to cross the line. I had just pipped him for the win, and I was happy to have the title, but at the same time I know I'm still not up to full speed yet so I'm really excited to get overseas and into the racing next week!"

This is the first title for 2009 for Trek World Racing, and Justin was quick to acknowledge the bike.

"My session never missed a beat all weekend, and with the weight being so low it helped me carry good speed through the slower sections. My Fox suspension was keeping me tracking nicely over the rocks. Late last week I had my Crank Brother pedals arrive so I got the chance to ride on the 5050XX pedal. Super happy with the long pins as they felt great all weekend and I never slipped a pedal once! Finally, a big thanks to Dean optics, the goggles worked a treat. Vision was key this weekend!"

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