December 2, 2008 – World ranked downhiller, Chris Kovarik, won the National Downhill Series race on the Gold Coast today. The 30-year-old from Brisbane claimed the win in 3 min 46.75 sec after qualifying fastest earlier in the day. Kovarik’s fiancée, Canada’s Claire Buchar, won the women’s event.

“I qualified fastest to see where I was at which always takes a lot out of you,” Kovarik pointed out. “At the top I was pretty confident I could pull it off if I got through those slippery woods.”

After heavy rain the day before riders had to negotiate a slippery rocky section near the top of the 1.7 km course. “For everyone it was treacherous,” admitted Kovarik. “You couldn’t get through there with your feet on!”

Despite the wet conditions, Kovarik praised the course saying it was as good as any on the international World Cup circuit. Second was Joshua Button from Coffs Harbour with 3 min 52.57 sec. Third place was taken out by Perth’s Deon Baker in a time of 4 min 5.30 sec.

A few of the top riders came to grief in the rocky forest descent including series leader, Jared Graves from Toowoomba out of contention after his bike slipped down the hill making him 2 minutes slower than his qualifying run. Graves finished way down in 40th place allowing Button to take over the series lead.

Buchar claimed the win in elite women despite falling in the slippery forest section. “I was trying to go a bit too fast,” Buchar said. “The conditions are really unpredictable.”

Buchar rode the course in 5 min 35.63 sec a comfortable 5 seconds ahead of her nearest rival Tasmania’s Leigh Douglas. Securing second place now gives Douglas the series lead. Previous leader, Canberra’s Claire Whiteman, moved down the series rankings after finishing in fourth place.. Third place was taken by Canberra’s Caroline Buchanan.

Under 19 winner, Tamryn Murrell from the Gold Coast rode exactly four minutes. The 17 year old time would have claimed him a third place in elite men with his time. Murrell takes over the series lead from Western Australian, Will Gower. New South Wales rider, Shaun O’Connor placed second while local rider Rhys Willemse placed third. The Under 19 women’s winner was Emily Hockey from Adelaide.

For a national series, Gold Coast had record entries over the weekend with the largest group being over 350 downhill riders on Sunday. The third round of the national series continues in Geelong in two weeks time.

Results (brief)

Men
1. Chris Kovarik (Aus) Chain Reaction-Intense 3:46.73
2. Joshua Button (Aus) Mongoose-SRAM 3:52.57
3. Deon Baker (Aus)

Women
1. Claire Buchar (Can) SRAM-Intense 5:35.63
2. Leigh Douglas (Aus) 4shaw-Treadlines 5:40.12
3. Caroline Buchanan (Aus) KHS 5:41.82