Neethling turns up heat at national downhill in Jonkershoek

Jonkershoek Nature Reserve in Stellenbosch was abuzz with activity as South Africa's top downhillers descended on the valley to take part in the first national downhill of the season on Sunday.

As with the cross country racing the day prior, wet conditions were the order of the day, although this did not put a dampener on the action that was delivered by the 95 entrants.

Andrew Neethling burst out of the start gate to deliver the fastest time and claim the early season win, recording two minutes and 17.82 seconds for the descent on the steep and technical track. Consistently a top-10 World Cup finisher on the international downhill racing circuit, Neethling sure had the challenge laid out for him as his peers set decidedly fast qualifying times on the slippery track.

"My seeding run did not really go as planned," said Needles. "The track was pretty slick for seeding, and I had a pretty big mistake near the bottom coming to a stop. My final run went to plan, which was nice. It had dried up a ton and conditions were great so I pushed hard after the first few turns. It is always nice to get a win."

Neethling will continue his training preparations as he gears towards the UCI World Cup season and the UCI World Championship, which will be held in Pietermaritzburg in August.

Stefan Garlicki and Johann Potgieter had a close dice with only 0.05 seconds separating second and third place, with Garlicki finishing second. Rika Olivier was the fastest woman on the course, clocking two minutes 50.63 seconds on her final run.

Next up for the downhillers is the African Continental Championships, which will be taking place at the Cascades MTB Park in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal in a month's time.

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