Here is an arena for everyone to participate and offer their opinions on the first gravity World Cup of the year. This week is 4X and XC only, the DH season kicks off next weekend in Maribor.
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Houffalize, Belgium is going into its second consecutive season as a World Cup destination. In 2009 Jared Graves took the win, surprise surprise, as he added to his list of victories and contributed to his eventual World Cup overall title. Will the awesome Aussie win a second time? Other top finishers in '09 were Dan Atherton in second, Roger Rinderknecht in third and Joost Wichman rounded out the finals in fourth.
Qualifying finished up today and all four of those guys landed back on the podium; Graves had the top time by just .12 over Wichman. Also notable is Martin Soderstrom from Sweden, who finished third at Crankworx last year, who placed a respectable 19th in a field full of top pros. Full results below:
1 188 AUS19821216 GRAVES Jared YETI FOX SHOX FACTORY RACE TEAM 45.313 Q
2 65 NED19780519 WICHMAN Joost RSP 4 CROSS RACING TEAM 45.435 +00.122 Q
3 66 SUI19810504 RINDERKNECHT Roger 45.874 +00.561 Q
4 67 CZE19810401 PROKOP Michal AGANG RACING 46.185 +00.872 Q
5 69 GBR19820125 ATHERTON Dan COMMENCAL 46.346 +01.033 Q
6 68 CZE19870612 SLAVIK Tomas RSP 4 CROSS RACING TEAM 46.577 +01.264 Q
7 73 SVK19820410 POLC Filip MS EVIL RACING 46.780 +01.467 Q
8 70 GER19880304 FISCHBACH Johannes GHOST A.T.G. PRO TEAM 47.053 +01.740 Q
9 76 SUI19890908 GRAF David 47.091 +01.778 Q
10 96 CZE19880308 TEJCHMAN Premek 47.480 +02.167 Q
11 101 BEL19910814 MAGIS Johnny 47.566 +02.253 Q
12 92 CZE19890120 STASEK Adam 47.604 +02.291 Q
13 82 FRA19800826 DELDYCKE Mickael 47.691 +02.378 Q
14 75 NED19830330 MEIJER Jurg RSP 4 CROSS RACING TEAM 47.739 +02.426 Q
15 71 GBR19780602 BEAUMONT Scott ROCKY MOUNTAIN 47.925 +02.612 Q
16 111 GBR19910704 ROBERTS Scott 48.015 +02.702 Q
17 107 CZE19860620 MUHLHANS Petr 48.050 +02.737 Q
18 74 CZE19870217 MECHURA Lukas 48.121 +02.808 Q
19 172 SWE19900304 SÖDERSTRÖM Martin 48.140 +02.827 Q
20 78 CZE19920227 RIHA Jakub 48.145 +02.832 Q
21 114 CZE19800104 HNIDAK Jakub 48.194 +02.881 Q
22 179 SUI19831216 GERBER Sidney 48.252 +02.939 Q
23 91 CZE19780529 MAROSI Michal RSP 4 CROSS RACING TEAM 48.272 +02.959 Q
24 79 CZE19850705 TATARKOVIC Kamil 48.321 +03.008 Q
25 77 SUI19840802 SEYDOUX Pascal 48.344 +03.031 Q
26 94 FRA19800813 FAURY Matthieu 48.426 +03.113 Q
27 140 CZE19890602 NOVOTNY Stepan 48.588 +03.275 Q
28 109 GER19830927 SEIDEL Nico 48.618 +03.305 Q
29 80 GBR19890403 CAMPBELL-JENNER Patrick 48.687 +03.374 Q
30 87 AUT19890208 SLAVIK Hannes RC ALPINE COMMENCAL 48.822 +03.509
31 103 GER19861103 SCHERZ Stefan 48.835 +03.522 Q
32 99 POL19870827 BARAN Lukasz 48.866 +03.553 Q
33 95 NED19880608 PRIJKEL Daniel 48.893 +03.580 Q
34 113 GER19890704 BRÜCKNER Petrik 48.917 +03.604 Q
35 167 GBR19921003 WARD Jake 48.928 +03.615 Q
36 146 CZE19890428 PYTLIK Jakub 48.935 +03.622 Q
37 81 SVK19880617 PESKO Marek 48.943 +03.630 Q
38 83 GBR19841006 EVANS William 48.949 +03.636 Q
39 84 NED19860215 VAN VEGHEL Joey 48.970 +03.657 Q
40 160 FRA19920224 BRESSET Benoit 49.097 +03.784 Q
41 184 GBR19810923 SIMMS Stephen 49.164 +03.851 Q
42 85 GBR19910216 KERR Bernard NORCO WORLD TEAM 49.181 +03.868 Q
43 98 GBR19830202 FERRIS Duncan 49.256 +03.943 Q
44 122 GER19900613 GÖHLER Aiko 49.286 +03.973 Q
45 176 BEL19830323 VINK Nico 49.307 +03.994 Q
46 162 FRA19860402 QUAEGEBEUR Benoît 49.336 +04.023 Q
47 141 SUI19890921 RUFENER Renato 49.375 +04.062 Q
48 89 GBR19860825 MCAVOY Kieran 49.377 +04.064 Q
49 170 BEL19830209 LENSSENS Kristof 49.399 +04.086 Q
50 137 GBR19800520 NORTON Richard 49.411 +04.098 Q
51 148 GER19920519 WRSTALA Maximilian 49.443 +04.130 Q
52 105 SWE19911121 BECKEMAN Felix 49.506 +04.193 Q
53 168 SUI19910616 KISTNER Benjamin 49.533 +04.220 Q
54 88 GER19860316 GOTTSCHLICH Florian 49.587 +04.274 Q
55 178 FRA19850123 MORLAND Jeremy 49.608 +04.295 Q
56 110 SLO19870807 KNEZ Ziga UNIOR TOOLS TEAM 49.725 +04.412 Q
57 116 SUI19790203 MUTHER Werner THOEMUS RACING TEAM 49.726 +04.413 Q
58 118 FRA19830408 DOBY Clément 49.824 +04.511 Q
59 86 GBR19741123 LONGDEN Will 49.845 +04.532 Q
60 100 FRA19830911 GADOIS Ludovic 49.920 +04.607 Q
61 124 CZE19821114 NOVAK Jan 49.947 +04.634 Q
62 115 GER19901217 GLADEN Dominik 49.955 +04.642 Q
63 102 BEL19750809 GEORGES Laurent 49.992 +04.679 Q
64 108 FRA19840403 RICCI Ghislain 50.000 +04.687 Q
65 164 USA19830520 JAKUBIAK Jarrod 50.030 +04.717
66 191 AUT19780813 SEDLAK Markus 50.065 +04.752
67 165 GER19880130 STUCKE Sascha 50.131 +04.818
68 90 GBR19900204 DOWIE Tom 2STAGE FACTORY 50.132 +04.819
69 142 GBR19920826 KNIGHT Tom 50.210 +04.897
70 133 GBR19840113 NORTON James 50.218 +04.905
71 106 GBR19850112 GOULD Jordan 50.245 +04.932
72 119 GBR19901123 RUSSELL Dale 50.262 +04.949
73 185 GER19900515 SCHUBERT Rick 50.436 +05.123
74 189 SUI19851220 WEISS Adrian SCOTT 11 50.481 +05.168
75 166 GER19881222 HUBER Andreas 50.497 +05.184
76 125 SUI19910719 KISER Stefan THOEMUS RACING TEAM 50.518 +05.205
77 163 GER19880620 RUNST Marko 50.603 +05.290
78 117 GER19700320 FUHRMANN Oliver 50.629 +05.316
79 169 GER19840811 HUBER Markus 50.632 +05.319
80 154 GBR19880212 HEWITT John 50.748 +05.435
81 112 GER19831019 FÜLLE Daniel 50.784 +05.471
82 153 GER19880408 BEIGE Klaus 50.801 +05.488
83 180 GER19761201 STROHN Sigi 50.819 +05.506
84 186 GER19891209 EHRLICH Benjamin 50.863 +05.550
85 130 GBR19910505 WARNER Peter 50.871 +05.558
86 128 GER19850616 HUBER Michael 50.992 +05.679
87 104 POL19880327 KULESZA Robert 51.048 +05.735
88 174 GBR19851029 GRAY Michael 51.058 +05.745
89 136 GER19880521 VÖLKER Jens 51.168 +05.855
90 132 SUI19930226 WALDBURGER Simon 51.216 +05.903
91 145 NED19920721 COMBEE Leo 51.266 +05.953
92 149 BEL19931225 VANRYKEL Martin 51.310 +05.997
93 175 GER19800830 HERMS Christoph 51.483 +06.170
94 155 GER19920807 ROSENBERGER Jan 51.492 +06.179
95 190 SUI19880815 WEISS Mirco SCOTT 11 51.591 +06.278
96 151 GER19920120 GAUSS Jonas 51.726 +06.413
97 156 GER19890609 GRAF André 52.267 +06.954
98 173 GER19830225 THALMANN Bela 52.352 +07.039
99 159 BEL19930129 THEATE Xavier 52.381 +07.068
100 134 FRA19871115 GATEAU Vincent 52.635 +07.322
101 182 FRA19870512 KERKHOF Adrien 52.660 +07.347
102 157 GER19901027 SCHAUMBURG Christian 52.676 +07.363
103 143 GBR19910124 LENTHALL Max 52.734 +07.421
104 139 GER19820120 CHRISTIAN Kai Steffen 52.803 +07.490
105 161 GER19820608 KARWATH Andy 52.936 +07.623
106 150 BEL19920912 BERBEN Pierrick 53.043 +07.730
107 187 GER19871002 ZIESLER Lars 53.216 +07.903
108 177 GER19891020 SCHAUFELE Christian 53.388 +08.075
109 126 GER19901116 GERHARDT Julian 53.737 +08.424
110 131 GER19850901 BÖTTCHER Thomas 53.976 +08.663
111 183 BEL19920417 DIDIER Mathieu 54.322 +09.009
112 120 BEL19661003 LECOCQ Christophe 55.212 +09.899
113 93 POL19891209 PARADOWSKI Piotr 55.665 +10.352
114 181 NED19910802 WISSINK Laszlo 55.830 +10.517
115 129 GER19900423 PONZETTA Alessandro 57.038 +11.725
116 158 CZE19841005 SIMECEK Robert 57.600 +12.287
117 123 BEL19850430 RADERMECKER Thibaud 1:00.128 +14.815
The female side of things had the top ten line up "comme ca":
1 34 AUT19801112 MOLCIK Anita 50.836 Q
2 33 NED19820707 BEERTEN Anneke SUSPENSION CENTER 50.880 +00.044 Q
3 38 CZE19830904 HORAKOVA Jana 52.180 +01.344 Q
4 41 CZE19890427 LABOUNKOVA Romana 52.219 +01.383 Q
5 39 FRA19860527 RAGOT Emmeline SUSPENSION CENTER 52.444 +01.608 Q
6 36 AUS19830822 HUNTINGTON Sarsha 53.311 +02.475 Q
7 45 GER19850819 MARTH Steffi 53.458 +02.622 Q
8 35 GBR19820827 GRIFFITHS Fionn NORCO WORLD TEAM 53.597 +02.761 Q
9 37 SUI19810926 OETJEN Lucia THOEMUS RACING TEAM 53.752 +02.916 Q
10 44 GBR19890427 CURD Katy 2STAGE FACTORY 53.765 +02.929 Q
Keep checking this thread for updates and information on the event. Apologies for the lack of photos, Fraser was unable to make this event, but he'll be back for Maribor with crazy image coverage...
The live stream can be found The live stream can be found by clicking on this excessively long piece of text. Unfortunately, the streams cannot be embedded so to Freecaster you go if you want to catch it live. Fear not though, it is free, as will the 4X races all season.
FINALS
The finals have just concluded, with Jared Graves taking the win on the incredibly dusty track. The event was not without some criticism, namely for the dusty corners that nearly cost Tomas Slavic his second place finish. After Slavic in second, Michal Prokop came in third and Roger Rinderknecht rounded out the finals in fourth.
The female side of things had Anneke Beerten in fourth, perennial downhill favourite Emmeline Ragot end up in third, and a couple of lesser known racers taking the top two spots. Anita Molcik grabbed second and Jana Horakova of the Czech Republic pulled out the victory in the first round of World Cup action.
Admittedly, the track was awkward in sections, and did not lend itself to run-and-gun racing, but there was some infrequent but exciting passes. That's all for now, look for more complete coverage soon from the first gravity event of the WC season.
