Dust Vader: IXS European Downhill Cup 4 - Qualifying Photo Epic and Video by Racement

The surface got deeper and deeper what caused quite a few crashes in qualification

Against all predictions, it was another hot and sweaty day here at the third round of the IXS European Downhill Cup in the Czech Republic. Riders were on the track all morning long to get their racing lines dialed and to prepare as well as possible for the upcoming timed runs. With 250 riders on the list, the track got beat up badly what resulted in plenty of deep and dusty ruts.

It was a crucial track during the seedings and you could see quite some nasty crashes, which luckily did not end too badly. Monika Hrastnik was one of the crashing riders. The current overall leader made a mistake in the top section and went down. Nonetheless, she managed to finish third and will push hard on race day. Meanwhile, Sandra Ruebesam kept it steady and set the fastest time in the elite women category followed by Jana Bartova.

The Cube Global Squad rider Matt Walker took the win in the elite men and put solid 2.5 seconds between him and second place finisher Jure Zabjek. But the biggest surprises are the following four riders. No one would have expected Felix Klee, Miran Vauh, Silas Grandy and Andreas Kolb up in the rankings what should make up for some great racing on Sunday.

It was a cloudy day but against all predictions, it stayed dry

It might not be the Alps but still there are great places to explore

Matt Walker uses Spicak to preper for the upcoming World Cup in Mont Saint Anne

Matt Walker uses Spicak to prepare for the upcoming World Cup in Mont Saint Anne

As it is not the steepest course riders are in need to carry some good speed

These tight and rocky turns seems to be every rider's nightmare

Short spike tires were the choice of most of the riders to fight against the deep dust

Ziga Pandur drops out of the new wingtale

Ziga Pandur dropping in.

Just like in Schladming, Dominik Dierich dominated the Masters category

Vali Hoell took another seeding win by more than five seconds

Rudi Pintar muscled his way through the gnarly rock garden and went fastest in the U19 male category by 3.5s

Monika Hrastnik took a big crash in her run but still qualified in third

Jana Bartova is feeling comfortable on home soil taking second place in the Elite Women category

Sandra Ruebesam stormed into her first seeding win of the year and will be looking to repeat it in tomorrow's finals

Two out of three days were dry, fingers crossed it will stay like this

Andreas Kolb is one of today's surprises as he took a great 6th place

A solid run would put Bryn Dickerson into 9th place

A bit off the pace but still making the top 30 for tomorrow's Super Final, Stanislav Sehnal

Rastistalv Baranek railing berms

Miran Vauh had a great run which put him into 4th place

With more sun in the afternoon it was a pretty dusty business

Slawomir Lukasik started fast but lost some time in the bottom section what lead him into 12th

Basil Weber crashed in today's practice but still was able to qualify for the Super Final on Sunday

The Swiss Jannis Lehmann is getting faster and faster throughout the season, 7th place for him

Silas Grandy looked smooth and etremely fast taking home 5th

Silas Grandy looked smooth and extremely fast taking home 5th

With a big crash mid run Ondrej Stephanek would not make the cut into the top 30 but as a protected rider he still will be competing in the super final