The traditional wheels of speed downhill event on the ex world cup track in Willingen, Germany took place this past weekend. Gee Atherton (UK) Animal Commencal and Canadian Claire Buchar (Chain Reaction Cycles) took home to titles and the nice euro paychecks that go with them.
The track itself here is comprised of huge jumps, blind hucks and lots of berms as it winds it's way down a small hill in the middle of a small German town. The gondola was actually paid for by a BierGarten at the top of the mountain, as drunks had been jumping off of the old rickety chairlift or passing out and dying of exposure walking down after a few too many drinks.
Racing itself took place on a track that was easily the fastest it had ever been, rock hard, gravel covered in areas and not for the faint of heart. It was checkers or wreckers all the way as riders chased down 15 000 Euros in prize money.
Atherton slipped just ahead of Mick Hannah (AUS) GT, but the closest margin in recent years at a MTB event, .001 seconds. " It was mega close, i knew it was going to be close. The track doesn't have much to divide the riders up. I knew it would be tight, but that was incredible. There was little safety ruts missing we'd been catching all weekend. I guess they dug them out to keep it safer or something. I got lucky and came in and managed to hold my line."
Claire Buchar was excited about her take of the prize money for the win. "It's great I like this track, there's tons of jumps and it's way faster than t used to be now that it is all packed in and worn down, I really enjoyed it."
Canadian Steve Smith (MS Evil) was equally excited to take home some beer money in 7th place. "My run went really good, it's a short track with no room for error. I pedaled really well and hit the corners well. I just had a solid run and I'm really happy with that."
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