June 8/08 9:05 am - Fort William World Cup DH Final: report, photos, full results

Posted by Editoress on 06/8/08
 

Fort William World Cup Fort William, Scotland

Coverage brought to you with the assistance of Velirium

Women's photos
Men's photos


The sun continued to smile on Fort William for the final day of World Cup competition at the crowd favourite Downhill. As always, the riders responded to the roars, whistles and horns of fans that covered the course from top to bottom. Both the men's and women's races saw the return to the winner's circle of riders who have being missing from the top rung for a while, with Tracy Moseley (Kona) taking her first win since 2006, and Greg Minnaar (Santa Cruz Syndicate) his first since 2005.

The day started misty and damp for qualifying, but strong winds blew the mist and clouds away, and as the day progressed the conditions just got better and better.

In qualifying, Moseley and Minnaar both were fastest, although Moseley had to do a second run after World Cup leader Rachel Atherton (Animal Commencal) crashed ahead of her. Moseley was a full five seconds ahead of world champion Sabrina Jonnier (Maxxis), with Emmeline Ragot (Suspension center) third. Atherton was seeded mid field after her crash. Top North American was Kathy Pruitt (Jamis) in eighth, followed immediately by Claire Buchar.

in the final, Mio Suemasa (MS-Intense), the slowest qualifier, set a very fast time of 5:35.64, which would hold up until Atherton came down and knocked nine seconds off. Atherton's time would hold until Jonnier and then Moseley would both beat it. Jonnier's second place (combined with her second in the semifinal) was enough to bump her back into the World Cup lead.

"I just tried to improve upon the things I did in the semifinal," said Moseley. "There was nothing big, just little bits here and there that made the difference."

However, one difference Moseley did make as to don a skinsuit for the final - something that is causing a lot of controversy in the downhill community. The Mojo Orange team have been using and testing the suits, and claim it can shave six to eight seconds off a run. Moseley's winning margin was four seconds.

Atherton, for one, was outspoken in her dislike of skinsuits. "It was no battle here against a skinsuit on this course," she asserted. "With the top so open and windy, you can make four or five seconds easy. There's lots of issues with using them, I think; if Tracy wants to use one, that's her game, but I don't agree with them at all."

Buhl rounded out the podium in fifth place, with Pruitt tenth, Buchar 11th and Canadian national champion Micayla Gatto (Commencal) 15th.

The men's semifinal saw the following finishing order: Minnaar, Gee Atherton (Animal Commencal), Hill, Steve Peat (Santa Cruz Syndicate) and Fabien Barel (Subaru). Four of these five made the podium, with Nathan Rennie (Santa Cruz Syndicate) replacing Barel after the French rider flatted. All five, plus Dan Atherton (Animal Commencal) were the only riders to go sub 4:50, with rennie the first to set the fast time. He would hang on for fourth, exclaiming "I'm back!"

Peat knocked over half a second off his team mates time, while Hill slid in just behind Rennie. Atherton then knocked another half a second off the top time, but didn't even get into the Hot Seat, as Minnaar's intermediate time was three seconds up. Minnaar kept the gap for the lower half of his run to win by 3.17 seconds, an indication of his complete comeback from shoulder surgery last fall.

"It definitely shows I'm back. and it is very good because this is where my season ended last year. So to do it here feels great; revenge is sweet! The dry conditions made it so hard today, it was actually slippery out there in the dust, and the ruts were changing all the time. I felt like I was on a good run, but it was only 10 metres from the line that I knew I had it. Now, with a fifth, a third and a first I feel like I am on track for the Worlds."

Top North American was Kyle Strait (Specialized) in 31st place, followed by Lars Sternberg in 50th and Canadian Andrew Mitchell in 57th.