Schladming, Austria
September 10th, 2006

THE UK PERSPECTIVE: FROM SANTA CRUZ SYNDICATE TEAM
PICTURES FROM KATHY SESSLER
Courtesy of Santa Cruz Syndicate

//NATHAN RENNIE: SANTA CRUZ SYNDICATE

Heading into the UCI World Cup Finals in the charming Austrian village of Schladming, Santa Cruz Syndicate’s Steve Peat lead the points race by 178 points over Greg Minnaar.  Mathematically, Peat was assured of a top two finish, but by no means felt he had a lock on the series overall.  Minnaar was bringing his best game to the table and was going to challenge Peat to the end.

The long course tumbles down the mountain with high-speed sections, trees, and open, grassy off camber turns, and the track is rough as hell. The grassy corners toward the bottom of the course were particularly challenging, and I must say that Kovarik ruled the corner with his attacking, let it loose style.  Practice sessions went well for Rennie and Peat; their Santa Cruz V-10’s lessened the beating from the demanding track. “It’s the kind of course that you are constantly turning on.  There are short straightaway sections, so you have to keep linking up the turns,” said Rennie.




//STEVE PEAT: SANTA CRUZ SYNDICATE

Peat says, “It’s a good track, technical.  I feel good in practice.  I’m just trying to have fun with it, get some drifts going.  I like to do full runs, I don’t really like to section things too much.   It’s nice to ride the V-10 on a hard course. We’ll see how the day goes.”

QUALIFYING:
NATHAN RENNIE FASTEST QUALIFER

Rennie crossed the line on this long, rough track in 3:55.61, besting Sam Hill’s 3:56.54, nearly one second back of Rennie.  Peat rolls in a safety run in 8th place protecting his overall interests.  Greg Minnaar is third with a 3:57.11 in a serious chase for points to keep ahead of Hill for the overall.  Mickael Pascal comes 4th with a 3:58.21, and Gee Atherton rounds out the top five at 3:59.42.

Rennie says, “I saw a lot of people taking it easy off the start.  I just thought I’d give it a good crack and see if I could carry the momentum throughout the run.  I had no idea where I was going, there were huge holes everywhere.  I was rolling the dice.  I was just hangin’ on, letting it run itself.  It turned out well.”

Peat says, “I just wanted to get down safe in the qualifier.  I played it a bit safe to get down the hill, but I don’t like being out of the top five.  I’ll have to pin it in the final.”

PEAT WINS UCI WORLD CUP DH SERIES OVERALL!
RENNIE COMES SECOND IN THE RACE, FOURTH OVERALL.

FINAL DH RACE RUN OF THE UCI SERIES:

Rennie had good race run going until he went over a berm and came to a dead stop in the final run.  “The Schladming course had lots of bumps and even though I went off the track, I’m pleased with finishing 2nd in the race, and 4th overall,” said Rennie.

Sam Hill smokes the field, Rennie second, Minnaar third, Matti Lehikoinen fourth, and fastest junior racer this year, Brendan Fairclough hit the podium for the race.

//NATHAN RENNIE: LICKED ON RACE DAY

It definitely was a points race for the top three riders, effecting their stratagies.  Peaty rode in safety mode, Minnaar rode to try to retain second place overall, but did not.  And Sam Hill just pinned it, same as he did last year on this course.

Peat says, “I’m really happy to win the overall.  I rode conservatively to protect my point’s lead to win the title.  I wasn’t happy with my run, but I’m stoked to come out on top for the year.  The overall is an important title and I wanted to make sure I won it.  Thanks to my mechanics Mathieu Dupelle and Rick Clarkson for having a perfect season with a perfect running Santa Cruz, SRAM, RockShox bike.  I’m stoked.”

Peaty wins the overall title!  Sam Hill surpasses Greg Minnaar for second, and Nathan Rennie come 4th overall for the UCI DH World Cup Series.

We had a great party at the Santa Cruz Syndicate pits after the race.  Champagne was flowing, and all over me, and it was awesome to have teammate Jamie Goldman there to see his first World Cup race.   Steve’s wife Adele was there, and Steve’s friends from the UK, including Farmer Jack and his brother were there arguing who had the biggest nose.  It was a classic end to a fantastic season!! 

Final race:

SAM HILL                                        3:49.83
NATHAN RENNIE                      3:55.34
GREG MINNAAR                  3:55.38
MATTI LEHIKOINEN           2:56.29
BRENDAN FAIRCLOUGH   3:56.36

Qualifying top five:

NATHAN RENNIE  3:55.61  (SANTA CRUZ SYNDICATE)
SAM HILL                3:56.54
GREG MINNAAR    3:57.11
MICKAL PASCAL   3:58.21
GEE ATHERTON     3:59.42

7TH:  MARC BEAUMONT  4:01.69  (MBUK SANTA CRUZ)
8TH:  STEVE PEAT  4:01.69  (SANTA CRUZ SYNDICATE)

//ELITE MEN: SERIES PODIUM

Thanks to the Syndicate sponsors:

SANTA CRUZ BICYCLES
SRAM
RockShox
Truvativ
Avid
DT Swiss
Kenda
PUSH
Crank Brothers
Chris King
WTB
Clif Bar
Troy Lee Designs
5Ten

SEE THE KIWI PERSPECTIVE: WITH BLAIR CHRISTMAS
PICTURES FROM KATHY SESSLER

THE NZ RIDE "WORLD OF NZ DH" TEE
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// Rotorua DH Course Headcam
See the roto '06 page for a Full length head cam run of the Rotorua '06 Worlds Course

// COMPETITIONS

Check out the competions page for regular give aways and stuff. At the moment we're running two seperate competitions to guess the fastest Kiwis and the fastest overall rider in the upcoming World Champs in Rotorua.

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Watch out for our special feature on the Atherton family - coming up soon.

//NZ RIDERS

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//INTERVIEWS:COMING UP

We’ve got some wicked interviews lined up in the next couple of months, so be sure to check back regularly for profiles on Steve Pete, Chris Kovarik, The Athertons, Sam Hill and many more…