Results: New Zealand DH Nationals - Round 3 Rotorua

Feb 8, 2020
by Ed Spratt  

The New Zealand national downhill series returns for its third round after a two-week break but despite the short hiatus, the racing has gotten no less exciting. For the third stop of the 2020 series riders arrived for a weekend of racing in Rotorua and this time it was local rider and first-year elite Tuhoto-Ariki Pene who took the top honours. The winning run from Tuhoto-Ariki Pene would be unbeatable by the rest of the field with Sam Gale once again settling for second place after crossing the line nearly three seconds back from the leader.

Louis Hamilton came in third place after only managing to ride within 5.6 seconds of Pene, Kyle Lockwood almost took second place but he had to settle for fourth with a time of 2:59.964 Completing the top five in the Elite Men's category was Kieran Bennett, 6.592 seconds off the pace. In the Elite Womens race, it would once again a low turnout with just Ashley Bond completing a run on race day.

Results:

Elite Men

1st. Tuhoto-Ariki Pene: 2:54.049
2nd. Sam Gale: +2.936
3rd. Louis Hamilton: +5.6
4th. Kyle Lockwood: +5.915
5th. Kieran Bennett: +6.592


Elite Women

1st. Ashley Bond: 5:13.191



Full results are available here.




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23 Comments
  • 15 1
 I’m guessing that’s not the same Louis Hamilton from Formula 1.
  • 19 0
 Thankfully it's spelled differently to avoid confusion.
  • 2 2
 i was hoping it's the same guy from F1..haha
  • 1 0
 It might be because the F1 pilot is Lewis Hamilton. Maybe.
  • 13 0
 Sam gale has been 2nd at every race I've seen him compete in
  • 2 0
 He won the second round, literally 3 races ago.
  • 4 0
 @floor-tom: so 1st 1st at the second then
  • 1 0
 @browner: exactly.
  • 4 0
 Nose bonk for the win.
  • 1 0
 Were there differences in the course for the different divisions? Times seem much closer than I'd expect for the juniors compared to elites.
  • 1 0
 same track for all
  • 2 0
 @bthomson84: Wow. Kind of crazy that the Elite Women's winner had actually the slowest women's time of anyone, including U15 and Masters.
  • 1 0
 U19 winner set a pretty hot time.
  • 1 0
 The elite winner is U19 lmao
  • 1 0
 @Boosting: Fast youngsters everywhere. I remember this young pinner Sam Hill carving up U19 at Nationals in early 2000's.
  • 4 2
 No Kate Weatherly?
  • 4 1
 Still recovering from last year's broken neck I think.
  • 2 1
 @MarcusBrody: Damn, that's taking way too long. I get that some will be happy to see some fair and tight racing in the womens field but she just seems like a good and positive character to have on the circuit. Plus of course I just like to see people healthy.
  • 1 2
 Kate has returned to riding but is focusing on Enduro. It is a shame, as she was setting the bar high for the NZ DH women to chase, which is what was needed. Hopefully, Jess B (U19) Jenna H (U17) will be the next off the rank as kiwi DH women's pinners.
  • 1 1
 Nice to see a name on top of the leaderboard that's not of European roots!
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