Peaty 2nd in Brazil, retains UCI DH series by 178 points

Steve Peat (SANTA CRUZ SYNDICATE/SRAM/ROCKSHOX) places 2nd in the UCI World Cup Downhill Series in Brazil behind winner Matti Lehikoinen. Marc Beaumont (MBUK/SANTA CRUZ) flies in for another podium appearance in 5th. Peat had the third fastest split time of the day just .23 ahead of Lehikoinen at 1:42.82, but lost a fraction of a second on the bottom of the course and crosses the line just .09 back with a time of 2:19.40 to Lehikoinen’s 2:19.31. Closest to Peat in the points, Minnaar had the fastest split at 1:42.63, but had bad luck as he suffered a flat tire and a crash to roll in at 23rd place. Syndicate’s Nathan Rennie finished in 17th place.July 2, 2006
UCI World Cup DH #5Balneario, Cambriu, Brazil

After Mt. Ste. Anne the points chase was on with Santa Cruz Syndicate’s Steve Peat leading Greg Minnaar by 40 points. Rather than a “Rumble”, the race in Brazil has turned into the “Bumble in the Jungle”, as the bankruptcy of Varig Airlines disrupted flights and sent crippling ripples through the airways challenging the outcome of the UCI World Cup Series. Just getting to the beachside town of Balneario, Cambriu was a feat, with flight cancellations affecting perhaps every team to some degree. My flight was cancelled completely, Rennie, Peaty and Dupelle’s flight was delayed a day and they arrived with no bikes, Team Honda bikes were delayed, Cedric Gracia’s internal flight cancelled and no bike, and the list goes on.

Big thanks to Syndicate mechanic Mathieu Dupelle to get the borrowed bikes outfitted with sponsor product as best he could, and thanks to our Santa Cruz distributor Danny Aliperti of Pedal Power for helping the team in everyway possible. As of Saturday, Peaty and Rennie had borrowed bikes to practice on, and in a stroke of good fortune, their personal race bikes arrived on Saturday in time for the race on Sunday.

With 5 of the 6 UCI World Cup Series races in the bag, racers have national races, World Championships and other events to compete in before we get to the showdown of the finals in Schladming, Austria to be held September 8-10, 2006. Peat leads the series by a margin of 178 points over 2nd place Greg Minnaar with 720 points. With the points spread, Peat or Minnaar will be the UCI World Cup Overall Champion. Currently in 3rd place, Sam Hill has 696 points and mathematically could not beat Peat for the title.


DOWNHILL FINAL RESULTS:

MEN:
1.LEHIKOINEN Matti FIN TEAM G-CROSS HONDA
2.PEAT Steve GBR SANTA CRUZ SYNDICATE
3.HANNAH Michael AUS CANNONDALE/THE CUT
4.ATHERTON Gee GBR TEAM ANIMAL / GIANT
5.BEAUMONT Marc GBR TEAM MBUK SANTACRUZ
6.BERCHTOLD Markolf BRA MAXXIS-MSC
7.ATKINSON Bryn AUS
8.GRACIA Cédric FRA
9.CAMELLINI Julien FRA SANTA CRUZ
10.NEETHLING Andrew RSA

WOMEN:
1. Rachel Atherton (GBr) Team Animal / Giant
2. Sabrina Jonnier (Fra) Monster/Iron Horse/Mad Katz
3. Tracy Moseley (GBr) Kona Les Gets Factory Team
4. Helen Gaskell (GBr)
5. Emmeline Ragot (Fra) Qbikes
6. P. Pizarro Bernardita (Chi)
7. Celine Gros (Fra) Alvarez Racing
8. Melissa Buhl (USA)
9. Mio Suemasa (Jpn)
10. Anita Molcik (Aut) Arbo Rsp Downhill Racing


UCI DOWNHILL SERIES OVERALL POINTS:

MEN:
1.PEAT Steve SANTA CRUZ SYNDICATE 898
2.MINNAAR Greg HON 720
3.HILL Samuel 696
4.ATHERTON Gee ANI 653
5.HANNAH Michael CAN 603
6.RENNIE Nathan SANTA CRUZ SYNDICATE 599
7.GRACIA Cédric 589
8.BEAUMONT Marc MBUK/SANTA CRUZ 586
9.LEHIKOINEN Matti HON 559
10.KOVARIK Chris MSR 543

58. Andrew Mitchell (Can) 25

WOMEN:
1.Tracy Moseley (GBr) Kona Les Gets Factory 1093 pts
2.Sabrina Jonnier (Fra) Monster/Iron Horse/Mad Katz 980
3.Rachel Atherton (GBr) Team Animal / Giant 870
4.Emmeline Ragot (Fra) Qbikes 697
5.Celine Gros (Fra) Alvarez Racing 543
6.Helen Gaskell (GBr) 532
7.Marielle Saner (Sui) Team Bikepark.Ch Tui 525
8.P. Pizarro Bernardita (Bernardita Chi) 487
9.Fionn Griffiths (GBr) Norco 414
10.Mio Suemasa (Jpn) 397

14. Claire Buchar (Can) 245

THANKS TO THE SYNDICATE SPONSORS:

SANTA CRUZ BICYCLES

SRAM
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