Greg Minnaar finished 2nd today at the opening round of the NORBA Series in the
USA, hosted at Deer Valley, Utah, which is an altitude venue sitting at around
2,500m. This was Greg?s first visit to the race venue since 1999, and the
course was altogether new but with many features reminiscent of US downhill
racing in the late 90?s. Teammate Matti Lehikoinen, at his first ever NORBA
race, was forced to watch from the sidelines as he continues to recover from
his shoulder injury sustained during World Cup racing in Austria last week.
Training went well for Greg, without incident, and at two and half minutes the
course was not too difficult to learn. The course was quite open at the top
before heading into a technical rocky section, which Greg described as ?old
school but fun?. The course then ended up in a series of traverses across the
mountainside and switchbacks, bringing it to the finish.
In the qualifier Greg rode a steady race, pushing to 80% of his physical
exertion, and 100% of the technical limit. Unfortunately he ran wide on a
corner after slipping in loose gravel, and cost himself a little bit of time.
Nevertheless he finished up 3rd and on the same second as the 2 riders in
front, Andrew Neethling (RSA) and Jared Graves (AUS).
In the final Greg stepped up the pace further but was disappointed with his
final time, which was 2 seconds short of his goal. He mistimed a few corners
that lead onto long traverse sections, and this is where he feels he lost some
valuable time. 2nd fastest qualifier and winner of the Sea Otter Classic
downhill earlier in the year, Jared Graves, beat Greg by just 0.4sec to take
the win. Unlucky Andrew Neethling who qualified fastest suffered a broken
derailleur in the final
#1 Greg Minnaar (2nd Place)
?I wasn?t comfortable today. In some ways I just didn?t feel aggressive enough
and I also missed a few key corners that should have carried speed onto some
important straight sections. The altitude wasn?t too much of a worry, it was
more the way I rode the final. I?m happy to have a podium but the top step is
what I?m here for. Well done to Jared, he rode really well this weekend.?
Team Director Martin Whiteley
?Due to date clashes we?re unfortunately not able to do the whole NORBA series
this year as the World Cup is our main focus, so today was all about having the
best possible result in Deer Valley. We came very close and I know Greg has the
chance to go one better in Idaho and Colorado later in year. For Matti it was a
good recovery week and so far all the signs are good for a return to racing
next week.?
The team now leaves for Mont-Sainte-Anne, Quebec, Canada for Round 4 of the UCI
World Cup, where Greg is currently the overall series leader.
Today?s Qualifying Results:
Pos.
Date:
19/06/2005