July 31, 2007 (Whistler, BC) – The Kona/Les Gets team scored a double victory yesterday at the inaugural Canadian Open event at Crankworx 2007. Staged on a modified version of last year’s Canadian National DH course, riders made their way down fast open turns and then into steep technical woods, finishing off with a huge pedaling section and a jump into the finish area.

The new section in the woods below the Detroit rock city roll-in had some riders wondering if they should race – straight down, over loam and roots into an unforgiving corner at the bottom, while going full speed with no opportunity to brake. By race day the course had bedded in enough to give riders some semblance of control coming down the chute, but many riders opted not to race anyway.

The fastest rider down on race day was none other than multiple World Champion, Fabien Barel (FRA) of the Kona/Les Gets team. Barel managed to beat Sam Hill (AUS) Monster Iron Horse by two seconds. He crossed the line with just a few riders to go with staggering 10-second lead.

Many riders only got a few runs in before the race and Barel was among them. “My race went super well. I had a nice clean run. I didn’t get a lot of training runs in with only three runs down the track. I tried to analyze the safe line and just pin it down the track and obviously had a good line.”

Barel’s teammate Tracy Moseley of Great Brittain took the victory in the women’s event, her third gold medal and big fake cheque this week at Crankworx. Moseley’s run was filled with small errors, but she managed to put her head down and out-pedal her competition for the win. The women’s field was quite small with many riders deciding to back out due to some sections of the course. Moseley capitalized on her fitness to pull off the win.

“My run was pretty interesting. I didn’t really get that much practice. I took the top ok but ended up really drifting wide in the grassy launch turn and lost all of my speed. I got through the upper woods ok and then I got my head down pedaling on the last section. I looked up and the track went left but I wasn’t going left. It was the end of a long week and I wasn’t focused as I should have been. I’m just happy to get a normal downhill race in here – it was a good track.”

Top Canadians on the day were Claire Buchar (Specialized) and Steve Smith (Cove). Buchar, who lead the Canadian charge in the women’s event, discussed her run with us, “My run went pretty good according to plan. I pinned it and nailed all of my lines. I kept a good average speed the whole way and it just worked out.”

Results

Junior Women (13-18)
1. Kara Fitzgerald (ID) 06:30.1

Amateur Women (19+)
1. Danice Uyesugi (BC) 04:18.0
2. Dawn Cashen (BC) 21.5
3. Kari Mancer (BC) 44.9
4. Terri-Anne Howard (AB) 01:01.9
DNS Kimberly Saprunoff

Boys (13-15)
1. Tyler Allison (BC) 03:13.3
2. Chayse Marshall (BC) 0.26
3. Wills Gower (AUS) 6.69
4. Kyle Marshall (BC) 8.18
5. Nicholas Geddes (BC) 18.76
6. Will Giles (AUS) 20.45
7. Riley Suhan (BC) 20.87
8. Ryan Anderson (BC) 22.42
9. Craig Campbell (BC) 27
10. Kyle Jasper (BC) 30.62
11. Tom Elgie (AB) 36.63
12. Kai Walstrom (BC) 42.72
13. Alex Currie (BC) 47.76
14. Gluecker Dean (BC) 47.92
15. Matthew Gaudon (AB) 54.15
16. Brennan Walstrom (BC) 58.88
17. Danny Frey (AB) 58.98
18. Simon D’Artois (BC) 01:06.4
19. Alexander Gaudon (AB) 01:07.1
20. Zoneveld Thomas (BC) 01:07.7
21. James Zogaris (BC) 01:17.7
22. Anthony Walters (BC) 01:46.5
23. Nick Vanberkel (BC) 02:10.7
DNS Remi Gauvin

Master Men (30+)
1. Adam Wright (BC) 03:13.6
2. Andrew Mulcahy (CO) 1.75
3. John Pitton (WA) 12.06
4. Simon Stevenson (BC) 13.5
5. Colin Miller 19.94
6. Craig Bullen (BC) 21.83
7. Jeff Egan (BC) 22.45
8. Bryon Enns (BC) 24.36
9. Michael Stewart (BC) 26.33
10. James Knowles (Aus) 29.36
11. Angus Coombe (Aus) 29.67
12. Rob Elliott (BC) 30.27
13. Eric Anderson (BC) 31.75
14. Richard Jarman (BC) 35.87
15. Patrick Labbe (BC) 39.58
16. Matt Gallanar (WA) 44.87
17. Claude Larue (ON) 01:10.4
18. DENIS St. (BC) 01:52.1

Amateur Men (19-29)
1. Neil White (BC) ***
2. Luke Nelson (BC) 0.93
3. Kelly Mcgarry (NZ) 1.63
4. James Mcskimming (BC) 2.12
5. Will Dixon (BC) 2.87
6. Sam Townshend (NZ) 2.88
7. Derek Dix (BC) 4.77
8. Tristan Merrick (BC) 7.37
9. Ben Ferguson (NZ) 8.15
10. Harold Woolnough (ON) 8.96
11. Jesse Murphy (BC) 9.97
12. Eddie Parker (BC) 11
13. Brent Hein (BC) 11.43
14. Shaun Kirton (NZ) 12.78
15. Andrew Green (GB) 12.82
16. John Maurus (AUS) 12.86
17. Brian Bennett (BC) 13.19
18. Daniel Bender (BRA) 15.08
19. Rob Stead (BC) 15.65
20. Simon Kersey (BC) 17.06
21. Tyler Pighin (BC) 17.7
22. Ryan Hein (BC) 19.56
23. Derek Ottoson (BC) 20.02
24. Felipe Contreras (CHI) 20.14
25. Matt Boudreau (BC) 21.34
26. Matt Pavlik (ON) 21.96
27. Kevin Tafts (BC) 22.27
28. Jakob Madsen 22.33
29. Kris Johnstone (BC) 22.39
30. Jeff Leigh (BC) 22.94
31. Christian Stadler (BC) 23.13
32. Brad Wolf (BC) 24.65
33. Mike Beausoleil (BC) 25.62
34. Scott Spence (BC) 29.17
35. Landon Pinette (BC) 37.09
36. Andre Sanches (CA) 43.31
37. Bruce Pomeroy (BC) 44.6
38. Henrique Paladino 47.86
39. Omar Deleon (WA) 51.77
40. Alex Attard (BC) 51.82
41. Guilherme Araujo 54.06
42. Rune Madsen 01:02.5
43. Eduardo Nogueira 01:06.2
44. Pat Labrosse (BC) 01:18.3
45. Lucas Ludolf 01:32.8
DNF Gabriel Capistrano
DNF Andrew Brown
DNF Guillame Farin
DNS Vincent Saut
DNF Cody Macarthur

Junior Men (16-18)
1. Kyle Salisbury (WA) 03:12.5
2. Edward Masters 2.29
3. Matt Zdriluk (ON) 5.82
4. Ryan Vanderham (BC) 6.3
5. Michael Langford (0) 8.5
6. Leighton Allsop (BC) 11.17
7. Tom Oskam 11.7
8. Geoff Briggs (AB) 12.06
9. Tyler Mccaul (CA) 12.18
10. Ian Morrison (BC) 12.49
11. Trenton Zoobkoff (BC) 12.92
12. Simon Garstin (BC) 13.01
13. Cam Woods (BC) 14.01
14. Steve Bursey (BC) 14.77
15. Jackson Decker (UK) 17.21
16. Tom Kakamousias (ON) 17.71
17. Nick Woods (BC) 19.97
18. Clinton Gould (BC) 20.47
19. Ken Faubert (BC) 21.12
20. Dale Russell 22.35
21. Steven Pawlitsky (BC) 25.88
22. Jeremy Allouche (BC) 26.89
23. Scott Halvorson (BC) 27.58
24. Robert Mcphalen (AB) 28.19
25. Miles Payton (CA) 28.74
26. Michael August (BC) 29.42
27. Glen Bradley (AB) 33.91
28. Anthony Evans (BC) 35.48
29. Brandon Theroux (BC) 35.59
30. Scott Soles (BC) 37.1
31. Jake Gowans (BC) 39.63
32. Dan Diedricksen (BC) 40.53
33. Wes Taylor (ON) 40.7
34. Axel Royer Gagner (QC) 40.74
35. Jesse Mccrae (AB) 43.03
36. Dan Johnson (UK) 43.06
37. Harrison Gould (BC) 44.23
38. Dylan Morley (QC) 44.38
39. Kodi Stoddart (BC) 46.59
40. Kyle Quesnel (BC) 56.06
41. Justin Hibbs (AB) 58.77
42. Brandon Visser (BC) 01:03.1
43. Mark Lively (BC) 01:05.3
44. Sam Mallett (BC) 01:08.4
45. Nick Spottock (BC) 01:15.7
46. Alexander Macmillan (AB) 02:08.8
DNS Graham White (BC)

Pro Women
1. Tracy Moseley (UK) Kona/Les Gets 03:30.1
2. Claire Buchar (BC) SRAM Specialized 0.89
3. Jennifer Ashton (BC) Oakley/Intense/Whistler Blackcomb 18.83
4. Katrina Strand (BC) 21.02
5. Micayla Gatto (BC) Rocky Mountain 21.77
6. Sheila Morris (ON) Gravitesse 32.97
7. Amber Zirnhelt (BC) 34.81
8. Abigail Hippely (CO) 47.86
9. Kristen Smart (Ont) 49.59
10. Miranda Miller (BC) 01:08.2

Pro Men
1. Fabien Barel (Fra) Kona/Les Gets 02:54.1
2. Sam Hill (AUS) Monster Energy Ironhorse 1.48
3. Greg Minnaar (RSA) Team G Cross Honda 7.05
4. Steve Smith (BC) SRAM/Cove Bikes 8.33
5. Curtis Keene (CA) Specialized/SRAM 10.76
6. Thomas Rose (AUS) Cole Wheels/Battle Cat appreal 10.97
7. Luke Kitzanuk (QC) 11.37
8. Mitchell Delfs (AUS) Intersport/DH Racer/Monster Energy 11.88
9. Mauricio Acu€A (CHI) Rocky Mountain 12.59
10. Andrew Mitchell (BC) Cove SRAM Bike 12.65
11. Jeff Beatty (BC) Orange Moto 13.65
12. Steven Chan (BC) Giant Canada 14.07
13. Kurt Lindemark (BC) Cove Bikes/Troy Lee/Race Face/NRG 14.41
14. Adriano Digiacinto (BC) Cove Bikes 14.67
15. Nick Dent (BC) 15
16. Joshua Button (AUS) Mongoose Bikes 15.19
17. Cristian Araya (CHI) Rocky Mountain 15.5
18. Geoff Pendrel (BC) pinkbike.com/Devinci 15.69
19. Dean Tennant (BC) Dangerboy/Appalache 15.93
20. Eli Krahenbuhl (WY) Trek/Fox/Gamut 16.92
21. Tim Mackersy (AUS) 16.94
22. JD Swangren (CA) Cove Bikes/Troy Lee Design 16.97
23. Drew Pautler (ON) Primary Dare Devil Devinci SRAM 17.55
24. Brett Hornfelt (BC) Empire Bike Shop/Utopia/Crankbrothers 18.05
25. Chris Reading (BC) MTB/Colonies.com 18.65
26. Yannick Wende (BOL) 19.16
27. Pablo Bascunen Vial (Chi) Giant Chile 19.53
28. Scott Graham 19.85
29. Tom Patton (AUS) Orange/Manitou/Troy Lee Designs/Oakley/Bike Addiction 19.95
30. Jeff Hunter (BC) 19.96
31. Jeff Bryson (BC) Specialized/On Top Bike Shop/Hayes/Gammut 20.01
32. Dennis Beare (AUS) Specialized Bikes/Unit Riders 20.67
33. Paul Whitham (BC) Pit Stop Whistler 20.69
34. Justin Brown (ON) 20.77
35. Nick Tuttle (WA) GHY BIKES 20.92
36. Derek Chambers (BC) Pinkbike/Devinci/NRG enterprises 21.93
37. Richard Mukai (WA) Troy Lee Designs/Fox Shox/Magura/Rotec 22.15
38. Tommy Wilkinson mtb-direct.co.uk 22.76
39. Shaun O’Connor (AUS) Spy Optic/Thor MX/Santa Cruz 23.4
40. Cody Eichhorn (BC) Spy Optic 23.58
41. Dan Skogland (BC) Cove 23.91
T42 Boe Mcgee (WA) Go-ride.com 24.02
T42 Nick Foster (QC) Orange Moto 24.02
44. Joey Jenkins (ON) Primary Dare Devil SRAM Wrex 24.21
45. Paul Kalisch (BC) Sombrio 24.29
46. Sam Reed (BC) 24.67
47. Michael Geale (AUS) For The Riders.com 24.82
48. Mitchell Forbes (BC) Luxury/Trek Bontrager 25.34
49. Tim Coleman (BC) John Henry Bikes 25.72
50. Chris Polley (AUS) 26.41
51. Mike Haderer (CA) Fox Shox Yeti Cycles 28.88
52. Stu Hilder (BC) 29.09
53. Tom Grzesik (BC) Commencal/Drop Machine 29.34
54. Darryl Bartlett (BC) Cove/Mad March Racing 29.59
55. Jessi Adams (BC) 29.71
56. Karl Rogne (CA) 29.97