Wicks, Moseley Grab 1st In New Zealand

Veteran Kona Factory Team riders Barry Wicks and Tracy Moseley added race wins to their collection on March 8 when they both decisively won the sixth annual Kona Colville Connection Mountain Bike Race on the Coromadel Peninsula in New Zealand.With the event drawing 1,500 participants for three different races, both riders won the 45-mile category with Wicks crossing the finish with a time of 2 hours, 57 minutes, 33 seconds – roughly half-a-minute off the course record and five minutes ahead of the second-place finisher. Moseley took the open women’s crown with a time of 4:09:26.

Competing in the longest distance race of his career, Wicks came blazing out of the gates and hit the course hard. The loop course started with roughly 18 miles of gravel road that offered three distinct climbs. After summiting the wet and slippery final climb, Wicks grabbed the lead from an Australian rider on the ensuring downhill and remained in front to the end.


The rest of the course, which provided tricky navigating along the coastal terrain northeast of Auckland, consisted of swampy farm land, big hills, endless bays and exposed cliffs. The final 20 miles of gravel was smooth sailing for Wicks and Moseley – who beat the second-place women’s finisher by more than five minutes.

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Wicks, Moseley Hit Top Of Podium; Kindree Headed To Venezuela

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With both riders coming off wins at the recent Kona Colville Connection, Wicks competed in two events at the championships finishing fourth in the XC event and securing the win in the Short Track race. Riding an unforgiving six-lap XC course that was littered with sections of hike-a-bike and sloppy, loose terrain, Wicks managed to climb back into contention but was hampered when he got a flat tire on the final downhill to the finish. Wicks rolled the Short Track course, taking first amid a heavy contingency of Aussie and Kiwi racers.


“All the Kiwi riders were cheering for the Kiwis, the Aussies for the Aussies and everyone for me to beat either the Aussie or Kiwi who was ahead of me,” says Wicks. “I obliged them all."

Competing in three races, Moseley took second in the 15-second Dual Slalom, first in the fierce 4X and another win in the loose and rocky DH event – which she won by a mere four seconds. From Nelson, Moseley cruised over to Victoria, Australia for the Victoria State Championships at the Kona BikePark at Mount Buller. Racing at the venue for the first time, Moseley stomped the DH course winning with a time of 4 minutes, 7 seconds – 19 seconds behind the winning time of the elite men’s time!


In other news, Neal Kindree will be representing Canada at the 2008 Pan-Am Mountain Bike Championship in San Juan de Los Morros, Venezuela the first week of April.

Dont forget to check out Konaworld.com for more information on the team, and the bikes.