MacDonald and Siegenthaler win elite downhill races

New Zealand's best mountain bike racers faced a Napier heatwave and world class fields at the Eskdale Mountainbike Park over the weekend. The downhill race was contested in extreme conditions on World Cup worthy race courses - winners in all categories were those who dealt with not only the competition but also the changing and challenging trail conditions the best.

The Waipunga Road downhill course was set to provide a broad technical challenge on Saturday, on a course with a 160m vertical drop. As practice progressed on Friday and into race day on Saturday, the dry race course kept throwing changing lines and unwelcome surprises to competitors trying to put down a perfect run against the clock.

In the elite men's race, Napier's 2009 Junior World Champion Brook MacDonald (MS-Evil) drew on local knowledge to crush the strong field, claiming his win by more than two seconds from world ranked number four Sam Blenkinsop (Lapierre International).

As the New Zealand MTB Cup builds, more elite athletes are joining the road show, and Mathew Scoles (Cingolani-Protone) and Kieran Bennett (Zerode) were two to get right on the pace at their first Cup outing this summer. Like MacDonald, current New Zealand National Champion Wyn Masters (Wide Open) put a less than ideal round one behind him to claim a podium fourth in Napier behind Scoles.  Matt Walker was fifth.

The elite women's downhill race was taken out in style by visiting Swiss Scott 11 professional Emilie Siegenthaler, over current New Zealand National Champion Harriet Harper (Santa Cruz).

The Under 19 men's category continued to be one of the most exciting New Zealand MTB Cup races to watch at Napier. Dual BMX and Mountain Bike national team representative Daniel Franks (Yeti NZ) joined the Cup in Napier, and recovered from a heavy fall in seeding to claim a solid win over last weekend's podium top step Rueben Olorenshaw - both riders impressing with top 10 elite times.

The New Zealand MTB Cup will continue this weekend January 22-23 in Rotorua for downhill racers, at the Whakarewarewa Forest.

Full Results

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Elite men
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Brook Macdonald0:02:44.65
2Sam Blenkinsop0:00:02.14
3Matthew Scoles0:00:02.84
4Wyn Masters0:00:02.98
5Matt Walker0:00:03.47
6Kiearen Bennett0:00:04.27
7Richard Leacock0:00:06.53
8James Dodds0:00:06.71
9Joseph Nation0:00:08.72
10Sam Baker0:00:09.87
11Rupert Chapman0:00:09.95
12Edward Masters0:00:10.49
13Gerard Wolfe0:00:10.91
14George Brannagan0:00:11.02
15Heads Daniel0:00:12.53
16Tom Matthews0:00:12.62
17Nathan Rankin0:00:18.24
18Adam Lawrence0:00:19.47
19Thomas Jeandin0:00:20.09
20Ewan Doherty0:00:31.47
21Daniel Sims0:01:00.55
22Freddie King0:01:02.20
23Ben Crandwell0:01:19.82
DNFDaniel MailinkRow 23 - Cell 2
DNSGlenn HadenRow 24 - Cell 2
DNSMike DavisRow 25 - Cell 2
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Elite women
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Emilie Siegenthaler0:03:19.08
2Harriet Harper0:00:02.74
DNFGabby MolloyRow 2 - Cell 2
DNSTamara UlrichRow 3 - Cell 2
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Under 19 men
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Daniel Franks0:02:49.32
2Reuben Olorenshaw0:00:02.09
3Buillard Temarii0:00:04.37
4Zach Baker0:00:10.31
5Mat Prior0:00:10.86
6Reece Potter0:00:10.88
7Brandon Ransfield0:00:15.54
8Kirk Fisher0:00:18.84
9Jake Robinson0:00:18.85
10Brandon Jackson0:00:20.56
11Dan Mccombie0:00:21.09
12Kurt Mcdonald0:00:21.44
13Nick Bygate0:00:21.69
14Andrew Bias0:00:26.25
15Zachary Small0:00:26.47
16Kyle Weedon0:00:28.42
17Florian De Vries0:00:31.67
18Joel Tunbridge0:00:36.41
19Russell Archer0:00:37.62
20Jason Lang0:00:38.67
21Lloyd Jenks0:00:39.26
22Campbell Mercer0:00:40.07
23Jay Barrett0:00:41.58
24Harrison Redshaw0:00:54.82
25Alex Kennett0:01:00.43
26Alex Faulkner0:01:05.68
27Ethan Bowater0:01:13.19
28Jack Bayley0:01:19.78
29Adam Welch0:03:13.40
DNFLouis HamiltonRow 29 - Cell 2
DNSTom RoseRow 30 - Cell 2
DNSRichard PenneyRow 31 - Cell 2
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Under 17 men
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Leo Sandler0:02:54.87
2Kurt Summerfield0:00:13.28
3Kieran De GreyRow 2 - Cell 2
4Jamahl Stringer0:00:13.38
5Jack Arnopp0:00:13.92
6Lawrence Cawte0:00:18.43
7Izac Anderson0:00:21.84
8Cameron Hancox0:00:22.90
9Kyle Lockwood0:00:23.26
10Scott Dockary0:00:23.70
11Josh Mccombie0:00:24.61
12Lee Ormsby0:00:25.81
13Callum Sprosen0:00:28.32
14Peter Gardner0:00:31.65
15Cam Barrett0:00:32.13
16Dan Lawton0:00:32.26
17Josh Airey0:00:32.31
18Benjamin Watkins0:00:33.45
19Jack Dodd0:00:33.92
20Morgan Taylor0:00:36.32
21Mike Mcminn0:00:46.36
22Marcus Slack0:00:47.66
23Luke Hooper0:00:47.99
24Bryan Schofield0:00:50.90
25Chris Ryder0:00:55.41
26Jordan Burns0:01:07.20
27Harry Chapman0:01:10.25
28Danie Kattenberg0:01:35.26
29Connor Hamilton0:01:39.49
30Lewis Mcewan0:02:37.88
31Aiden Pidd0:02:38.62
DNSDan PriorRow 31 - Cell 2
DNSCealab DrummondRow 32 - Cell 2
DNSBrett WilkieRow 33 - Cell 2
DNSCole SmithRow 34 - Cell 2
DNSMichael MellesRow 35 - Cell 2
DNSThomas BryanRow 36 - Cell 2
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Senior men
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Stefan Gardner0:02:57.06
2Kurt Lancaster0:00:02.90
3Carl Edmonson0:00:03.72
4Ben Tyas0:00:05.03
5Bryn Dickerson0:00:06.43
6Adrian Loo0:00:07.82
7Rob Farmer0:00:08.86
8Scott Mcgregor0:00:09.14
9Simon Dibben0:00:10.98
10Tristan Ratcliff0:00:12.40
11Ollie Knight0:00:13.23
12Asher Ellery0:00:14.06
13Dargl Webb0:00:14.66
14Cam Johnson0:00:18.57
15James Charlesworth0:00:19.50
16Tom Humphries0:00:24.28
17Christian Husted0:00:25.35
18Jarrod Bang0:00:26.28
19Oscar Tatom0:00:26.78
20Luke Brindle0:00:26.79
21Bambridge Raiorii0:00:27.22
22Kevin Warner0:00:27.87
23Adin Johnson0:00:27.89
24Ben Johnson0:00:29.87
25Scott Taylor0:00:29.88
26Paul Sykes0:00:31.92
27Brandon Sbordone0:00:33.84
28Allie Diamond0:00:37.92
29Micheal Challands0:00:47.27
30Robert Chappell0:01:09.54
31Weston Hill0:01:09.91
32Teamo Tsoo0:01:13.69
33Nick Mcconachie0:03:27.89
DNFBrandon LumsdenRow 33 - Cell 2
DNSSteven HardmanRow 34 - Cell 2
DNSJamie LyallRow 35 - Cell 2
DNSAdam LawenceRow 36 - Cell 2
DNSSamuel PerryRow 37 - Cell 2
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Master 1 men
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Craig Mcginnity0:03:05.61
2Ricky Pincott0:00:00.87
3Boyd Grinstead0:00:03.55
4Campbell Wilson0:00:05.10
5Jeremy Jones0:00:11.96
6Liam O´Keeffe0:00:18.02
7Shaun Hodges0:00:27.32
8Tamatea Teauroa0:00:32.69
9Tim Warner0:00:35.01
DNFMarty SimeonRow 9 - Cell 2
DNSBrian TindallRow 10 - Cell 2
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Master 2 men
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Dave Hamilton0:03:18.63
2Luke Simmons0:00:18.54
3Mark Simmons0:00:27.67
4Vaughan Love0:00:30.37
DNSDarryn HendersonRow 4 - Cell 2
DNSKer SmithRow 5 - Cell 2
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Hardtail men
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Scott Bedford0:03:08.29
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Junior women
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Madeline Taylor0:03:17.96
2Sarah Atkin0:00:09.70
3Sophie Tyas0:00:11.05
4Sophiemarie Bethell0:00:18.10
5Veronique Sandler0:00:28.07
6Kaytee Campbell0:01:14.85
DNSCharlotte CloustonRow 6 - Cell 2
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Under 15 men
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Jack Humphries0:03:25.69
2Hayden Melles0:00:12.62
3Ihakara Pene0:00:16.15
4Nick Goodson0:00:17.35
5Dino Rutten0:00:41.27
6Kale Edwards0:01:06.13
7Matt Lawton0:01:12.94
8Thomas Godman0:02:21.37
DNSMatt GoodsonRow 8 - Cell 2

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