The Air Downhill is done at this year's Kokanee Crankworx, and Brian Lopes has taken home his fifth consecutive victory in the event. AC Chausson won the women's for her third victory of the week-long event.
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Words and Photos by David Peacock
Much like in years past, Brian Lopes has been crowned the king of A-Line. There?s not much else that can be said, really. This is Lopes? fifth consecutive title, and sixth in total. Lopes was about 5 seconds faster than in 2009, so Number 55 is showing no signs of slowing down in any literal or figurative sense. Close behind was Sam Blenkinsop; the Kiwi was a scant .48 seconds back, and may soon succeed Lopes.
The fans and hecklers at Crankworx are Fort William-esque. Yes, that is a Mexican wrestling mask.
One foot table? Nothing like A-Line to bring out the freerider in a racer.
Fresh off his Garbanzo victory, Chris Kovarik wasn't as lucky on Wednesday. 30th place.
The racing on Wednesday was hectic to say the least; in total, nearly 400 individuals competed. This meant that for a period of 6 hours, it was non-stop action on A-Line. Until Lopes came down to win it all, the event organizers had been sending a rider down the track every 30 seconds for the entire day. One can only imagine the amount of work that the WMB trail crew has put in to ensure that this amount of traffic doesn?t completely annihilate the course.
This long and shale-ridden portion of A-Line is crazy fast when you're not racing, and even faster when the clocks running.
In the weeks prior to the event, A-Line was receiving sporadic improvements and fortifications, but the dry weather was a seriously limiting factor in how much could be done. Fortunately for the racers, the rain that came during Dual Slalom and Garbo DH aided in the continued amelioration of the racetrack, and Lopes? time is indicative of this.
Brosnan speeding down, much to the delight of El Downhillio.
Notable North American performances, aside from Lopes, came from Evan Turpen and Mikey Sylvestri, who finished in 6th and 8th, respectively. Moving down the list, Curtis Keene placed 11th, with Riffle one spot behind him and Mitch Ropelato managed a fourteenth. The top Canadian was freerider Thomas Vanderham, in 20th with a 4:26.
Jared Rando on his way to 10th place, 6 seconds off the pace, good showing for Rando!
And Rando's teammate Duncan Riffle scrubbing the deck.
In Juniors, Remi Gauvin of PerformX/Evil unloaded a smoking time, but Bryn Dickerson from New Zealand managed to edge out the young Canuck for top spot. The times in Juniors were very competitive, and the top 5 riders were all within 1.15 seconds.
Matt Simmonds finished 28th; he'll be looking to improve on that at the Canadian Open and WC Finals.
AC Chausson continued her surprise return to racing successfully, beating Emmeline Ragot by two seconds. In her first race back from injury, Rachel Atherton placed third, three seconds slower than Chausson. Full results from every category can be found here.
Stevie Smith had some bad luck in his run and finished 77th.
Lopes truly is the master of A-Line. Chalk up another W for Flyin' Brian.
Giant Slalom (basically a bastardized fourcross) is tomorrow, and Lopes will be shooting for another victory in that event. Chausson has three first places this week, and is in a position to sweep the gravity events at Crankworx.
Brian speaking to Bobby McMullen post-race. Bobby is an amazing inspiration, and raced the Air DH in 6:43.
