With a trio of riders from across the country, the all-new Forbidden Albek Racing team is here and ready to test themselves against the world’s best. Consisting of up-and-coming young names in Aussie DH, William Pope, William Hynes, and William Ireland are riding their new Forbidden Supernoughts around the nation and the world this year in search of DH success.
Who are the Wills, and where do they come from?
From the sunny city of Brisbane, 20-year-old Hynes has been turning heads on the Australian DH stage since before he could drive. Due to the lack of elevation around The River City, Hynes packed his bike bag and made the decision to live and work in the lush landscapes of Tasmania, or more specifically, Maydena Bike Park, at the end of 2021. He now calls Abbotts Peak his local and he isn’t mad about it, allowing him to ride some of the best and biggest trail features in the world before he clocks in for the day.
Nineteen-year-old Pope is fresh into the elite ranks. He comes from Albury, on the border of NSW and Victoria. Spending his youth hooning around Mystic MTB Park, Mt Beauty, and Thredbo, he has developed the skills needed to survive steep and technical DH tracks.
Pope has had his name among the top few riders through his time in the U17 and U19 categories, earning the U19 Oceania Champion’s jersey in 2023 and consistent podiums in the Victorian DH Series. Pope moves up into the elite men this year, and he has much to prove!
Ireland is the youngest of the trio, at 17 years old, but he is no stranger to the pointy end of the national DH series, with his first podium in the U13 category! Growing up in Newcastle, NSW, Glenrock MTB Park and Awaba MTB Park are his stomping grounds, but hardly a weekend goes by where you won’t find him on the Kosciusko chairlift over the summer.
He has honed his skills to be one of the most competitive Juniors in Australia this year, with a first and second place at the first two National rounds; he’s determined to continue this form overseas in 2024.
The Wills hit the World Stage
The only place to adequately prove yourself as a DH rider is to tackle the most significant and most challenging stage on Earth. That is the UCI Mountain Bike World Series.
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All three Wills dipped their toes into racing on the world stage in 2023 and experienced quite a learning curve.
Hynes took on his first year in Elite and was met with challenging conditions.
Living out of a tiny van with minimal support allowed him to ride some amazing places and meet some awesome people. However, being a privateer, Hynes tells Flow there were plenty of long nights swinging off a multitool and honing race craft. Now, he is focused on utilising last year’s experience to climb the leaderboard in 2024.
“The skills and fitness are there to compete with the rest of the top boys,” he says. “I just need to bank as much overseas race experience (as I can).”
Pope juggled his Year 12 assignments with a short stint in Europe in 2023, where he surprised himself with impressive junior category results. The 19-year-old competed in two rounds and returned to Australia with some overseas experience and exposure, including an 8th-place finish at Leogang!
This year, Pope is better prepared and focused on the race calendar. After a successful Aussie National Champs, he’s hungry and ready for the first round in Fort William, Scotland. He tells Flow he is excited to learn how to break each track down piece by piece and figure out where his skill set will allow him to push.
Ireland, too, took on the circuit in the Junior category last year.
“I competed in four races on the circuit and went into each race as a sponge, trying to soak up as much information and skills as possible,” he says.
Ireland got to race the world’s best on tracks that every young racer dreams of, like Val di Sole’s Black Snake and the infamous Fort Bill World Champs Track. Now, coming into his second and final year as a junior, he’s hoping that his experience from last year can help produce consistent qualifying and maybe even a few top-ten results this year.
Unfortunately, the Junior’s recent broken scapula prevents him from competing in the first few rounds. He has his sights set on Leogang for a 2024 debut and is working hard to be fit and ready to race round three.
Awaba DH Track & National Championships Week
This year, the 2024 GWM Australian National Mountain Bike Championships were held at the Awaba Mountain bike park. It is one hell of a track and a fantastic warmup for what awaits in Europe.
The infamous Monkey DH is littered with big gaps, some of the hairiest rock gardens, and dusty, loose dirt. The finals were primed for a big show for the spectators.
On the track walk, local resident Ireland showed his teammates all his sneaky lines down the track. With a high-speed top section (that the trio all preferred) and a low-speed bottom technical section, the bike setup was a make-or-break, so there was plenty of puzzling in the pits after each practice run.
Towards the pointy end of the week, the pressure was building, and the team was ready. Qualifying runs found Pope in eleventh, Hynes in sixteenth, and Ireland with a second-place run in the junior category despite getting a puncture. With some rain hitting the park on Friday night, Saturday morning’s final practice runs were forecasted to be slick.
Ireland decided to hit the hill one more time before his finals run in the afternoon as he was ready to lay down a heater.
Disaster struck, and in the main rock garden, he came down hard on his shoulder. Ending a promising week at National Champs in a sour way, Ireland stayed positive, and he tells Flow that he is now recovering from a broken scapula in four places and is set to come back faster and stronger than ever!
Meanwhile, Hynes geared up to race the now sticky dirt of the Monkey DH for his afternoon finals run and improved his qualifying time by an impressive five seconds. He ended his week in lucky number thirteenth spot in the Elite Men category, an impressive result considering how quickly he got up to speed on a technical track he had never ridden before race week!
Pope’s finals run was smooth and fast. He found himself three seconds back from an Elite Men’s podium, ending his week in eleventh. The Forbidden Albek Racing team was stoked to see their times competing with names including World Cup winner Oisin O Callaghan, Remy Meier Smith, Troy Brosnan, and Kye A’hern. The week provided positive insight into what the future holds for this season.
The bike and team support
The Wills are onboard the Forbidden Bike Company’s newest bike, the Supernought. It’s Forbidden’s first go at a DH bike and the boys are fans.
Ireland describes his suspension setup as “planted and stable, perfect for the Awaba rock gardens.”
Their debut at Thredbo’s Cannonball Festival was the trio’s first time riding the Forbidden bikes, and it was an optimistic week. It is exciting to predict how they’ll go overseas this year as they continue to dial in their new setups and get comfortable.
The team has the full support of Lusty Industries, which has been sponsoring and supporting young riders for over 20 years now. With Johnny McLean at the forefront of things, Wearelusty has supported prominent Aussie DH names such as Sian A’hern, Connor Mielke, Jaclyn Schapel, Ellie Smith, Jack Moir, Remy Morton, Troy Brosnan, Oliver Davis, Graeme Mudd and many more over their years in the scene.
“For many years, I had a Factory Lusty Race team. I’m a superfan and huge believer in supporting the industry that supports us,” McLean tells Flow.
The timing and plans aligned again, as he was discussing distribution with Forbidden, and he had a lightbulb moment! With Forbidden onboard, McLean gained support from SRAM, Oakley, and other brand partners under Lusty’s umbrella to re-start the Lusty Factory Racing Program.
“Very quickly, things fell into place to attach to the Forbidden Synthesis Team and create a pathway for juniors and elites.
“I’m still not sure how we managed to have three Wills, rather unique. Stoked to see what the boys can do. We want them to have fun and make it easier to race their bike,” says McLean
The Forbidden Albek Racing Team sure is one to watch in 2024 and it is exciting to see how William Pope, William Hynes and William Ireland can compete up against the world’s best!
