Race Report: Rollercoaster Gravity Enduro Series Round #2
Jon Odams from Sans Souci took out the fastest race time on both race tracks in Kempsey on the weekend and is now the new series elite leader of the Rollercoaster Gravity Enduro State Series/Powered by Flow MTB. Newcastle’s Graeme Mudd was second overall in the Elite Men’s ahead of none other than 24 Hour Solo MTB World Champion Jason English from Port Macquarie, who seems to have caught the “enduro” racing bug. Sydney’s Oliver Kristevic was fourth ahead of Max Richardson from the Central Coast. In the Elite Female field, Genevieve McKew further increased her lead in the series, winning ahead of local racer Belinda Green.
More than 100 racers came to Round two of the Rollercoaster Gravity Enduro NSW State Series/Powered by Flow MTB this weekend in Kempsey. For the first time this race had been held on the trails of the local Kempsey Macleay MTB Club, who had prepared two race tracks together with organisers from Rocky Trail Entertainment.
The event attracted many high-profile gravity enduro racers from all over the state and it was Jon Odams with his very distinctive cross-country and marathon background who took out the fastest race times of the day. Odams completed the more flowy and shorter “Big Daddy” track in 5:01 min and the more rocky and longer “Chewbacca” track in 5:40 min.
“This was a great weekend out on the Kempsey trails – I thoroughly enjoyed that, just the right mix of technical riding and flowy berms”, said the new State Series Leader Odams. Jason English, the 24 Hour Solo MTB World Champion from Port Macquarie, who finished third in the Elite Men’s field agreed, “This is awesome fun! I love how you can just smash out a run, ride back to the event center chatting to other riders and then do it all again, finding better and faster lines with each run.”
Downhill ace Mudd crashes: second
Second today was the World Cup downhiller Graeme Mudd from Newcastle, who finished only 13 seconds behind Odams overall and took seven seconds off English. “I didn’t think they had such hills up here in Kempsey, but hey, these are some really good tracks, especially for this [gravity enduro] sort of riding”, Mudd said at the finish, who was a bit disappointed about loosing time in the first race run due to crashing in a high-speed corner. “It’s all part of it”, he accepted it in a sportsmanship-like manner.
Women’s elite series lead further increased: McKew
Geneview McKew was one of seven women on the course today and clocked in the fastest overall race time with 12:45 min in the Elite Women’s field, more than one minute ahead of local racer Belinda Green from Port Macquarie.
“The trails were so much fun and I just love the social aspect of gravity enduro racing – you go really hard on your practice and timed runs and you can ride the transitions together with fellow racers, chat about the track and the lines, I had a great day out”, said McKew who defended and further increased her series lead.
A great performance was also displayed by Tim Wynan from Kempsey who dominated the Expert Male field on his home track, won the race in his category in 11:03 min and took over the series lead. Very impressive again also young Bryan Dunkin from Newcastle who won in the Under 19’s Male category in 11:07 min, which would have placed him in the top five of the Elites.
Full Results
Rocky Trail’s next gravity enduro event will be part of the Australian Gravity Enduro Series, which will be held at Stromlo Forest Park in Canberra (ACT) on 24 August. The final Rollercoaster State Round is scheduled for November.
For detailed results and more event information, visit www.rockytrailentertainment.com
Words & Pictures: www.rockytrailentertainment.com
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