March 19, 2012 (Pietermaritzburg, RSA) – Greg Minnaar (RSA) Santa Cruz Syndicate took home the win in front of a delirious home town crowd this weekend at the first UCI Downhill World Cup of the 2012 race season. For the women, it was Tracey Hannah (Aus) Hutchinson United Ride making a triumphant return to World Cup racing with a 2-second victory over defending World Champion Emmeline Ragot of France. Vancouver Island’s Steve Smith got his season off to a roaring start with a 5th place podium finish, proving that his off season training has paid off.

The track turned to concrete after the previous night’s rain baked off in the African sun. Dark clouds arrived threatening more rain, but it failed to appear and the hard clay surface was now a freeway. The best in the world tried to keep off the brakes and let it run and then put the hammer down on the pedals, where this race can be won or lost.

Minnaar made up over two seconds on the bottom of the track, much to the delight of his crew who were all in attendance. “My run didn’t go so smooth up top, but I knew that I had to push hard at the bottom to catch up, so fortunately enough that’s what I did.  Winning at home again is bigger than a dream come true. It really is. I’m speechless, I still have to go to drug testing! ”

Hannah was ecstatic, “I don’t know how I did it. Determination, training? I was just keen to come back and race and didn’t want it to be boring I guess. It was a bit of a surprise that I could come back and win, but I’m over the moon. I’ll go home now for a bit and train some more and then I’m off to Europe.”

Smith was happy to be on another podium, albeit it not in the position he wanted. “I ended up casing the stepdown into the tabletops… I don’t know if I thought I was going too fast and tried to squash it, or if it was the headwind but who knows. The track was awesome. I’m lookin’ forward to going to Europe.

“For the final the course was running faster than it had all week, so if anything everyone was going slower than they could and being cautious. I got another podium, but not exactly where I wanted to be.”

The downhillers now get a break until Sea Otter, followed by the next round of the World Cup in Italy, in almost eight weeks.

Full results HERE.