Racing: Red Ass NSW State Downhill Championships, Greenvalleys
It’s always going to be a great weekend when you can grab the big bikes, a whole bunch of buddies, your finest heckling devices and road trip down to Greenvalleys. Last weekend it played host to Rocky Trail Entertainment’s biggest Downhill event of the year; the NSW Red Ass Downhill Enduro State Championships.
Ellie Smith stepped it up from U17’s to Elite womens’ for the weekend and didn’t disappoint. 1st place with a 2:20.343.
Greenvalleys, situated in the lush pastures of Tongarra and only 2 hours’ drive from Sydney city, has become one of NSW’s best mountain bike destinations. Boasting a hill full of trails and jumps as well as shuttle road, it is the perfect home for the rowdy crowds and racing of the State Champs.
The first year of the new ‘Downhill Enduro’ format, riders get the chance to take the best of two race runs as their final place. This allows for a far more friendly competition for all that have problems or crashes in their race run, keeping everyone stoked when they go home.
Joel Willis was on a blinder on the day, taking out the overall with a 1:58.048 – narrowly trumping Brent Smith by just under half a second.
“Having Green Valleys close to home works out pretty well for me. It’s helped me to be more spot on with my riding – linking every section together and trying to push in spots where you never thought you would. It has also gave me the chance to meet the young local shredders that are aiming to keep getting better and better.”
The dream of owning your own mountain bike park coming to life.The final singletrack to chute across the creek into the finish line, where riders came hauling ass brakeless through the forest into a final sprint.Event centre or cow pasture?The classiest of overtaking strategies from Tyson Wise.
Dialled shuttle system straight from the field to the summit in less than 5 minutes.The 4-pack halfway down the track was a huge treat.
Being a freeride park, there is no shortage of jumps to style the hell out of every single run – making it a photographer’s dream.Lantana and loam.
“Ahh suuuuh dude!” Our favourite enduro wizard Keiran Volk is a very familiar face at every Greenvalleys event. A Woolongong local and GV trail builder, Kezza is no stranger to this trail. Nevertheless, his times were as on-point as his beard with a 5th overall on the day on his trusty Santa Cruz nomad – the quickest trail bike of the day.
What is a downhill track without a finish show jump? Duke Millington doesn’t let winning U19’s men get in the way of a nice whip.One of the biggest casualties of the day goes to Connor Mackne – after a whole season in whistler, a wild crash in heckler’s rock garden sees the demise of his steed just a week after coming home.Paul “Kingy” King got in a bunch of shuttle runs with all the racers before residing in the MC’s chair for racing, calling the shots and keeping the crowd pumped. Cheers Kingy!The hecklers were out in force today! Chainsaws, broken bike parts clanged together, air horns, a nightclub sound system and an air compressor-powered train horn! Though it may have thrown some off, the huge crowd of cheering spectators made race runs even more exhilarating.With one of, if not the quickest line through the rock garden, Pat Butler proves time and time again why he chooses to enter Elite instead of U17’s; 2.67 seconds off the top time of the day – sitting him rightly in 3rd place overall.
The no. 1 plate, Brent Smith, taking home 2nd place overall.
Theres always a super atmosphere of mates and banter at Rocky Trail events, we can’t wait till our next! Till next time lads!Your elite men’s podium – 1. Joel Willis 2. Brent Smith 3. Pat Butler 4. Josh Lea 5. Keiran Volk.
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