This coming weekend sees the unofficial season opener for the North American
mountain bike race season, and Team Monster Energy Iron Horse will be in
attendance yet again, but this year with a new line up.
20 year old Brendan Fairclough (UK) joins 4 time World Champion Sam Hill (AUS),
to form an all male line up contesting the full World Cup series as well as
other key events throughout the season.
The team will get into Monterey Tuesday night and be on site from Wednesday,
stretching legs on a XC ride after the long haul flights from London and Perth.
Both riders will compete in the Downhill and Dual Slalom, and use the events as
an opportunity to check out the 2008 bikes and set-up in race conditions. The
event is mainly used by the team to launch the new gear, rider clothing and of
course to interact with the fans. The actual Downhill race is not high on the
list of target races for the season, but a good opportunity for early season
press images and to put on a show for the race fans.
Sam Hill: "Haven't been doing a huge amount of DH racing or riding in the off
season, just trying to keep things fresh for the international season. I had a
pretty solid off-season training schedule though, riding XC, riding and racing
motocross. I just started doing a little bit of DH recently... I'm pretty
motivated about this coming season, and I'd like to start off in Maribor right
where I left off in Maribor at the finals last year."
Brendan Fairclough: "I haven't been to Sea Otter before so I'm keen to see
what's going on, and to be at our first event as a team. My goals are for a bit
later in the season, but it will be a good hit out either way. Really happy
with the new bike, and after my first couple of races on it, I've got a good
feeling about season '08".
Team Manager Sean Heimdal: "Looking forward to getting Sam and Brendan together
and getting a race under our belts. The results aren't a high priority for us
here...a good result would just be a bonus. It's awesome for the crowd if the
riders want to throw some whips in their DH race runs and get some great
photos! We'll be doing a product test/set-ups in the days leading into the
event at undisclosed locations...so people may stumble across the team training
at a trail near them in SoCal!"
Team Monster Energy Iron Horse is also sponsored by: Mad Catz, Game Shark, Air
Drives, RockShox, SRAM, Avid, FUNN, Maxxis, DT Swiss, FSA, Crank Brothers, WTB,
e.thirteen, DW Link, Troy Lee Designs, Minoura, Maxima, Obtainium Performance
Products, Five-Ten, Freeestyle Watches, THE, Alligator, Yamaha of Troy, KMC and
Kicker.
Date:
14/04/2008