After six days of competition the inaugural Crankworx Rotorua is in the books. There was a member of the Polygon UR team in every one of the Crankworx events.
Remy Morton places 5th in Unofficial Whip Off
The week started with an event that started as the Unofficial Whip Off in Whistler, BC. The event has become one of the most popular spectator sports and this year the Whip Off presented by Spank! did not disappoint. Remy Morton, Mick Hannah and Andrew Neethling rode their Polygon DHX race bikes in the event and got sideways for the judges and the great New Zealand crowd. Remy had a great time and made it into the later rounds and ended up on the podium with a 5th place finish. Sweet as Remy!!!
Thursday was looking to be a jammed pack action filled day with Dual Speed and Style and the Pump Track Challenge. Loïc Estève and Sam Reynolds competed in the Speed and Style event and looked strong in practice but unfortunately made mistakes during the competition and got eliminated in the early rounds. The Pump Track Challenge was scheduled to take place after Speed and Style but due to weather the event was moved to Friday, meaning that Mick and Tracey would have to race the Downhill and then go straight to the Pump Track.
The Downhill: Remy Morton places 4th while Tracey Hannah finishes 2nd
The Downhill presented by IXS had most of the team in action. Mick and Andrew raced in Elite Men, Tracey raced in Elite Women and Remy raced in Junior Men. Both Andrew and Mick were looking fast when they got to the lower part of the track and looked to be on pace to make the podium when they suffered mechanical issues. Remy had a great run and was seven seconds off the winner’s pace, but was fast enough to finish on the Podium in 4th place.
Tracey has been gaining confidence every time she gets on her bike. She was looking fast in practice and it showed during her race run. She was only 0.7 seconds off the fastest time and finished in 2nd place. If she can keep getting faster and gaining more confidence the UCI DH season is going to be an interesting race season.
After finishing their DH runs Mick and Tracey headed to the Pump Track to compete under the lights and in front of the screaming crowd. Both Mick and Tracey were looking fast and had several good rounds of racing but they were unable to make it onto the podium.
On Saturday, Jamie Nicoll and Fabien Cousinié took part in the first round of the 2015 EWS. With seven stages and over 5 hours of riding between stages they riders were in for a long day in the saddle. Unfortunately Jamie broke a finger in the first day of practice and Fabien was dealing with kidney stones a few days before the race. They both were able to fight through their ailments and ride their Polygon N9 enduro race machines to finish in 28th place for Jamie and in 51st for Fabien.
Sam Reynolds places 6th in Slopestyle
The last event of the week was the Slopestyle and once again the rain came and delayed the competition. Once the weather cleared up it was go time and the competitors did not disappoint the large crowd that braved the weather to watch their slopestyle heroes throw down. Sam Reynolds was able to finish two amazing runs full of big tricks. He ended up in 6th place against the best riders in the world. Good start to the season for Sam and we are looking forward to what he can accomplish on his Polygon Trid.
The DH team is on it’s way to France for the first World Cup of the season. The Team has had an amazing time in New Zealand and we are looking forward to coming back again next year.
