Mike Hannah and Tracy Moseley have won. It was about 9 million degrees Kelvin out here today, people are melting at Sea Otter for the first time.
Blazing hot sunshine and slippery, dusty trails were the order of the day for this year's Sea Otter downhill. The track has turned into a blown up, slick mess from the moondust. Inside of helmets, it feels like a blast furnace as riders lined up for early morning practice runs. to make matters worse, an injury at the finish that required medics shut down the course for 30 minutes and forced everyone in line to bake just a little bit more.
Racing finally got underway about 30 mins behind schedule after an extended practice period, and it was Mick Hannah (AUS - GT) and Tracy Moseley (GBR - Trek) who took home the victories. Mick narrowly edged out Greg Minnaar (RSA - Santa Cruz Syndicate) by .1 seconds, with a 2:08.1.
I caught up with Mick at the finish line. "My run was good, but I didn't think it was good enough to beat Greg. It turns out it was, just. It was pretty slippery, but the main issue I had was a bit of a jump in the top rhythm section, I missed the landing into the berm and ended up on the top of the berm and got a bit messy. It worked out in the end."
For the women it was Tracy Moseley, fresh of her win last weekend, who beat Melissa Buhl, last night's slalom winner, by .6 seconds. Moseley pedaled her way down the course, standing and mashing the pedals in every section to score a 2:21.6.
Brian Lopes (USA - Ibis) and Eric Carter (USA - GT) both proved you are only as old as you feel, but scoring 5th and 6th place finishes, respectively. Lopes put in about 20 practice runs over 2 days, hooting and hollering the entire time, loving no longer being a full time racer.
Hannah, pinned as usual.
Tracy Moseley in "the rockgarden".
Blazing hot sunshine and slippery, dusty trails were the order of the day for this year's Sea Otter downhill. The track has turned into a blown up, slick mess from the moondust. Inside of helmets, it feels like a blast furnace as riders lined up for early morning practice runs. to make matters worse, an injury at the finish that required medics shut down the course for 30 minutes and forced everyone in line to bake just a little bit more.
Racing finally got underway about 30 mins behind schedule after an extended practice period, and it was Mick Hannah (AUS - GT) and Tracy Moseley (GBR - Trek) who took home the victories. Mick narrowly edged out Greg Minnaar (RSA - Santa Cruz Syndicate) by .1 seconds, with a 2:08.1.
I caught up with Mick at the finish line. "My run was good, but I didn't think it was good enough to beat Greg. It turns out it was, just. It was pretty slippery, but the main issue I had was a bit of a jump in the top rhythm section, I missed the landing into the berm and ended up on the top of the berm and got a bit messy. It worked out in the end."
For the women it was Tracy Moseley, fresh of her win last weekend, who beat Melissa Buhl, last night's slalom winner, by .6 seconds. Moseley pedaled her way down the course, standing and mashing the pedals in every section to score a 2:21.6.
Brian Lopes (USA - Ibis) and Eric Carter (USA - GT) both proved you are only as old as you feel, but scoring 5th and 6th place finishes, respectively. Lopes put in about 20 practice runs over 2 days, hooting and hollering the entire time, loving no longer being a full time racer.
Hannah, pinned as usual.
Tracy Moseley in "the rockgarden".