Video: Victorian DH Series - The Final Round

The series has been super close this season and with only four rounds the race in Mt Beauty would decide the overall champions. Dean Lucas and Liam Panozzo where only separated by 1 point after trading wins at Buller and Baw Baw and both stepping beside the podium at the National joint round at You Yangs. Tim Eaton was coming in with great form, with Olly Zwar, Alex Swann, Aiden Varley, Tom Wyatt and Max Kreuzer all looking super fast.

The track this year at Mount Beauty was an old favourite with a few new additions. Constructed about 10 years ago it has had many changes over the years, this time the track had a 3 new sections which not only made the track 15-20 seconds longer but made it even more technical (Liam Panozzo designed the new line choices so you can imagine they would be hard). Tight turns, off camber slides, open grass sections and boulder drops all lead to the famous chute finish that has made Mt Beauty a famous DH racing location.

The Short hike up to the top of the track was a nice warm up in the morning.

The top of the track during practice was pretty chilled.

Max Kreuzer warming up at the start.

Dean Lucas lining up one of the new corners of the track.

Aiden Varley looking precise as always.

Olle Zwar had a super quick qualifying run but couldn't hold it together for the race.

Liam Panozzo trying to hold the camber near the start of the track, things started pretty loose...

Three women would contend the days honours with Ellie Wale, Amanda Hewetson and Sarah Silverlock all racing for a spot on the podium.

Ellie Wale looked smooth all weekend.

Sarah Silverlock leads Amanda Hewetson through the tricky new section near the top. It was cool to see them practicing together and hearing constant laughter as they rode past.

Pretty much the only constructed feature of the track was this drop. The rest was all natural terrain.

About halfway down was this drop into a steep and dusty turn followed by another slide onto a fire road (the only real rest for the entire track). Lee Rousu sails off into another riders dust storm below.

Trying to hold the camber and sneak past this tree was one of the real momentum challenges of the whole track. The tree did claim some riders, check out the video.

Sam O'shea was one of the only riders to race an XC rig, one of the benefits was sneaking on the inside of this off camber corner. But... That's about it, the track was definitely a proper downhill track.

Did I mention it was loose...? Ricky Clarke navigating his way through the dust field.

Practice on Saturday was dusty and loose, but the general consensus was positive. The riders loving the technical and steep terrain, everyone trying to figure out the new sections. Come race day on Sunday most people did 1 or 2 practice runs, everyone already looking weary.

Racing was smooth with no delays or incidents. Elite qualifying was pretty close but Dean lead the way.

Dean Lucas: 3:07.729
Liam Panozzo: 3:10.033
Olle Zwar: 3:10.836
Tim Eaton 3:11.690
Aiden Varley 3:13.479

The track had changed a fair bit before the finals as the 120 or so category and junior riders all raced furiously to try and gain a podium spot for both the day and the series.

As the elite riders began their race run, the spectators all piled up around the famous chute area to watch and cheer, and as it got towards the pointy end the creativity came out with every rider choosing a slightly different line. the results in the end told a story in itself.

Aiden Varley.

Alex Swann.

Dean Lucas.

Tom Wyatt smashing through this corner.

Max Kreuzer.

Tim Eaton.

Joel Panozzo.

Liam Panozzo.


Results.

10. Jack O'hare 3:19.2004
9. Olle Zwar 3:18.233 (crashed)
8. Joel Panozzo 3:15.840
7. Max Kreuzer 3:14.808
6. Alex Swann 3:14.800
5. Aiden Varley 3:14.719
4. Tom Wyatt 3:13.195 (over 12 seconds faster than qualifier)
3. Dean Lucas 3:12.691 (crashed just before the chute)
2. Tim Eaton 3:08.294
1. Liam Panozzo 3:06.145

The overall also going to Liam Panozzo, the remaining overall results will be announced by VDHS at the presentation night at the National champs in Bright on 14 March. 3rd through 7th overall was also super tight. I'm sure someone has gotten there calculator out to check who placed where, but I'm leaving it for the presentation night.

The Elite women all rode the tech track awesome with Ellie Wale taking the days top step.
1. Ellie Wale 4:17.995
2. Amanda Hewetson 4:36.750
3. Sarah Silverlock 5:02.440


You can check the full results at the VDHS website here: vdhs.com.au

Big thanks to all the organisers, volunteers, sponsors, families and riders for driving up to Mount Beauty for one of the best races of the season.

That's it for this season, hope to see you all in Bright in a few weeks for the National Champs where I'll have the camera out again, begging for some more roost...

Like this, haha...