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GT News: South African Nationals Report

4/6/2009

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Here it is already, the start of the 2009 MTB season. Even though it has been about seven months since the last World Cup event it feels like it was just weeks ago. This year the UCI MTB calendar begins in South Africa in Greg Minnar’s hometown of Pietermaritzburg. To help prepare for the World Cup event the local organizers planned a national event the weekend before to see how the courses and venue would work out. This gave the new GT Bicycles MTB team a chance to settle in and shake off some jet-lag and to give team mechanics Mark Maurissen and Terry Chanethomvong some time to dial in the much talked about full carbon GT Fury downhill machines for the World Cup. This must have been the plan for most of the other international teams as most had arrived early making the national a good indicator of how the racers would measure up for the World Cup.
 

 
GT 4X rider Roger Rinderknecht made the trip down from Switzerland to get some time on the course to be used for the World Cup. One of the longest 4X courses in quite some time it would be a test of not only speed and skill but of endurance and conservation to stay consistent throughout the race. The time trial was ran to rank the riders for the qualification rounds and Roger dominated it making him the man to beat. Roger easily won all of the elimination rounds giving him gate choice in the final. With fastest group of riders all coming together in the final Roger popped the gate with the lead going into the first turn and just as he was squaring it off his front tire blew out washing out his front end putting an end to his run for the top of the podium but still was able to get a respectable 4th.
 
 
The team geared up and got their practice in on the newly built Pietermaritzburg downhill course. Race day came with very warm tropical conditions so keeping cool and hydrated was very important. Being that it was a national event the categories were age-based by the UCI criteria which put GT team rookie, at 18 years of age, Kevin Aiello in the Junior Men’s group. He would have some solid competition as South Africa has been churning out some fast young racers over the last few years. Kevin rode smooth and dominated the class with a win of nearly a 7 second margin. Overall Kevin would finish up in 12th landing him ahead of several other World Cup top-dogs which is huge confidence booster for the rookie.
 
 
In the Elite Mens category there was a strong field of competitors with most of World Cup regulars in attendance. New GT team rider from the U.K. Marc Beaumont was looking to get some race laps in on his new GT Fury and feel out the long Pietermaritzburg course. It was a two run format with the best time of the two counting and in Marc’s first run he had a great time of 4:02 in 4th place but within 2 seconds of the fastest time. In his second attempt he scorched the course with a time of 3:58 (3rd place) with a close finish for the top-three positions.
 
 
It was a great warm up for World Cup to be held on April 10-12. The team is looking forward to few days off to experience some of what South Africa has to offer with a safari and some beach time in Durban but it will be back to business on Wednesday as the weekend schedule for the World Cup begins. Check back for the wrap up report for the World Cup as the GT MTB team makes their 2009 run at the gravity titles.
 
 
For more updates and photos on the South African national in Pietermaritzburg check out http://dirtmag.co.uk/ and http://www.littermag.com/2009/.
 
 

GT Bicycles is proud to be supported by:
SRAM, Kenda Tires, Champion System, Mavic Wheels, UFO, SDG, Funn and e.thirteen.

 

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