#OnTheHunt – Team CRC/Nukeproof – Windham
It was yet another amazing display from the CRC/Nukeproof Team at Windham. Maybe not the amazing Sam Hill win this time but all their riders finished in the top 10!
Another amazing weekend of racing with Mike Jones sixth, Sam Hill seventh and Joe Smith ninth. All three riders less than 0.6 of a second off the podium.
What another amazing weekend for Team CRC/Nukeproof at the penultimate round of the UCI Downhill World Cup in Windham Mountain, USA, with all three of the team riders in the top 10!
We hit another team goal in Windham, having all our team riders in the top 10 of a World Cup race. It was going to be hard to top last week’s result with Sam Hill winning in MSA, but this week’s team achievement came close with young Mike Jones in sixth, Sam Hill seventh and Joe Smith ninth, all three riders less than 0.6 of a second off the podium. The racing was that close!
Team Manager Nigel Page gives us his take on the weekend’s racing:
The track in Windham is quite a bit different than last week’s track in MSA. Windham is fast, gnarly and short. You have to be at 110% from the start gate to the finish line, hit every line perfect and be off the brakes. It made for an amazing race with all the riders pushing beyond the limits of speed on a downhill bike.
The times were super close all weekend through timed practice, qualifications and finals. It was always going to be a close race.
With all our riders safely through to Saturday’s finals it was some last minute practice runs on Saturday morning to try and find some extra seconds. All three riders were looking super-fast every run. This is not a favourite course for Sam as it’s so short and pretty much flat out one line, but he worked hard all weekend. The first straight which is flat and rocky was always going to be a slight disadvantage for Sam and Joe on flat pedals, but the rest of the track was fine.
As the men’s finals got underway some riders were posting some super quick times, then it was Joe Smith out of the gate. Joe looked amazing on the big screen and the first split time showed green and he was the fastest so far, he then looked faster and faster as he descended the track with a bigger lead at split two but we are still talking a fraction of a second. Joe held it together to the end and went into the hot seat with a blistering time of 2.28.194. Joe was straight onto the top step of the hot seat for quite a while, until team mate ‘Mad’ Mike Jones was on track. Mike set a super quick first split which ended up being the fourth fastest of the race and looked strong and pinned all the way to the end, posting a time of 2.27.734 knocking Joe down to second. For a while that’s how it stayed with our two riders sat in first and second.
Then it was time for Sam Hill. Sam looked super quick also hitting all his lines and looked fast and smooth. But Sam was down on Mike’s first and second splits but then did a super quick last split where you could tell he was getting angry. Sam crossed the line in 2.27.921, just 0.1 of a second slower than his team mate Mike Jones. This showed what an amazing ride young Mike had just put down.
In the end we ended up with Mike in sixth, one position off the podium by a cat’s whisker. An absolutely amazing achievement in Mike’s first elite season (Mike’s been robbed not having a place on the Worlds team in Norway).
Sam Hill ended up seventh for the day (now with six out of six top ten finishes this season and fourth overall) and finally Joe Smith achieved what we all know he is capable of with a ninth place – I’m so happy for Joe, well done fella. Mike and Joe were actually fourth and fifth (podium positions) until the last 23 seconds of the race. Crazy!
It was a great achievement by the whole team to all be in the top 10, especially on a track this close and be the number one team for the race.
Well done to everyone involved in our team and all our great sponsors for the support and the belief in us.
Bring on the World Cup finals in Meribel in two weeks’ time; it’s going to get wild!
