The race weekend start with ups and downs as Emmeline qualified 2nd in the women’s competition, Brook crashed, Damien got 19th and Markus 33rd. The point of departure seemed to be good for the race as Emmeline showed her strength already and Brook is known for doing well after big crashes or random qualifiers.

Saturday practice and the weather forecast brought another dynamic in our preparation for Sunday’s finals as there was a good chance for heavy rain.

Contrary to the forecasts the weather was good on Sunday morning and everything was right for a fair and exciting race.
Girls were the first to come and Emmeline was able to score right away with a 3rd place behind an incredible riding Tracy Hannah and Manon Carpenter.

At the men’s race Markus was the first of the MS Mondraker squad to come down. Unfortunately he crashed and so he finished in last position. Brook was ready for the race and was pedaling hard, but after the crash in the qualifying and the problems during the practice runs a 19th place fast the best place he could end up. Damien had a solid run with just little mistakes, which already make a big difference on a challenging track like the one of Pietermaritzburg- he end up I 25th position.

We are now in 4th position in the overall team standings, which is a promising point of departure for the rest of the 2012 race season. Now we are going back to Europe for testing for the next worldcup round in Val Di Sole Italy.

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Big thanks to:
 

 
special thanks to Michael Kull and Schwalbe tires, who support us with awesome black gold for this specific race!

First of all and maybe the most obvious change was our main partner. After being three years on Evil we switched the bike and are now with Mondraker bikes to continue their race program after Fabien Barel has retired. This was maybe the biggest and most risky changeover as we felt confident with the bikes we had, but Mondraker not just offers a competitive bike but also a new home and a strong partnership.

The next big change was our rider lineup. Luke, Filip and Wyn left and join individual programs and vice world champion Damien Spagnolo and world champion Emmeline Ragot joined the MS Mondraker Team. In the scene this move was maybe unexpected, but for us it was a logical step to improve in the UCI world cup team ranking.

Last but not least some new sponsors joined the team. Marzocchi, SRAM, SDG and Renthal complete the 2012 program with our long term partners Alpinestars, Mavic, Schwalbe and Formula.

The all new program started with a test session in New Zealand where Brook MacDonald and Markus Pekoll participate their training for the upcoming worldcup season. Based in the Red Bull basecamp Brook and Markus worked with Cesar Rojo of Mondraker and a Marzocchi engineer on setting up the bike.

Back in Europe the testing continued close to Barcelona. Damien Spagnolo, Emmeline Ragot and Markus Pekoll were testing suspension setups for the first worldcup in Pietermaritzburg with the Marzocchi M works engineers, Cesar Rojo from Mondraker as well as our new mechanic for 2012 Andy Ward.
To get the final touch and some race experience all three riders were competing a race in St. Andreu de la Barca, which ends up with 2 podiums for the MS Mondraker team. Emmeline won by almost 20 seconds and Damien got 2nd just 0,8 seconds behind local matador Guardia Pascual Bernat.

Last but not least there is another big change for the 2012 race season, which is not just a massive improvement for the team, but for the whole mountainbike sport. The International Cycling Union (UCI) is delighted to confirm that the Red Bull Media House GmbH is the new official media partner of the RockyRoads UCI Mountain Bike World Cup presented by Shimano. We are looking forward to be represented thru Red Bull, which is known for it’s high professional media production as well as for their world- wide distribution network. This will help the mountainbike sport to grow and we will reach a new level of international media interest. Stay tuned on Sunday the 18th 12:15 GMT on www.redbull.com/bike or on www.redbull.tv.
 
Now we are off to South Africa to the first worldcup race of the 2012 race season in Pietermaritzburg. Stay tuned on Sunday 12:15 for the finals of the 1st UCI MTB DH worldcup.

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The photo was made by Stefan Voitl. He is one of the most talented photographers from Austria, who got big honor from Mr. Dirt Mike Rose: “this has to be one of my favorite shots of the year… KABOOOOOOMMMMMM. Austrian National Champion and IXS Cup Champion Markus Pekoll lights up for the lens of Stefan Voitl. A great cover to end a year.

Check out the latest issue of the DIRT magazine and stay tuned for the latest news on the new partners and riders of MS-RACING

 
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The blue sky with sunshine looked like we were blessed by the gods of Mt. Ishizuchi, the highest mountain in West Japan. The 2nd edition of Red Bull Holy Ride was held on November 12th in perfect weather, with the course at its best condition despite the anticipation of rain. 95 downhill riders gathered at the Ishizuchi Shrine, including top riders from Japan Cycling Federation Elite Class.

Moreover, Red Bull athlete, Filip Polc was invited to the race as well as the top three winners of the last year’s Red Bull Holy Ride. This had made the race even more exciting, and the event site was filled with more than 2,000 spectators.

The race course was made of 238 steps of stone stairway which run for about 500m. Although short in length, the set-up course still wowed the spectators with the heartbreakingly steep steps of 33 degrees at the start point, followed by many more steps and cranks, which was the biggest highlight of the race. The riders aggressively battled to get in a better line side-by-side, racing down the hill, and showed those who had never seen a MTB race how exciting and fun it could be. The spectators cheered loudly when the riders sped up and jumped high at the man-made drop-off section set up in the later half of the course. One of the riders said breathlessly: “I felt like I was falling off the stairs rather than riding down.

Filip Polc and top rank local riders won their way up, and the competition got more heated as the race goes on. Polc and Naoki Idekawa, the runner-up of last year’s Red Bull Holy Ride, raced at the finals. Polc had pedalled his way through the first corner, putting himself in the in-course, and managed to finish the race as the champion.

After the race, Polc commented, “I’ve heard a lot about the disaster (happened on March 11th), but I feel that people here are very strong. I am very grateful that so many people came to see the race here. I will definitely come back for the next Holy Ride if there will be one in Japan.” Red Bull Holy Ride successfully finished with the victory of Filip Polc in site of Japanese god!

 
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The last European Series racing weekend kicked off on Friday with fantastic weather for the free training session. The “Bike Petrol” course had been only slightly changed from the previous year, however had everything anyone could wish for in such a top notch race. Saturday morning saw the first rain, resulting in significant changes in the conditions for riders. By the time the seeding run came around it was dry again, however this didn’t change the fact that the course was still wet. Marcus Klausmann (GER – Ghost ATG) coped with the conditions best, underlining his ambition to achieve third place in the Series rankings – still a realistic option – with a best time of 2:48 mins.

On Sunday the weather forecasts turned out to be right and it rained again – continuously. There was even a snow fall as the race began. In some places the riders could have used a rubber boat instead of a downhill bike. Many competitors however confirmed that it was still possible to achieve a fast time, so it turned out to be just a race under extreme wet and cold conditions.

In the overall rankings it was already clear before the race that Markus Pekoll (AUT – MS Evil) in the Elite Men category had an excellent starting position to win the Series if he achieved two safe runs. He should actually have been competing against Josh Button (AUS – SC-Intense) for the title. Button, however, was forced to call a premature end to his season because of an injury sustained at the World Championships, thus finishing second in the overall rankings. In the Elite Women category it was already clear following the penultimate race that Miriam Ruchti (SUI – SC-Nukeproof) would be taking the title for the fourth time in succession.

Florent Payet (FRA – SC-Intense) grabbed the Red Bull Hot Seat in the Elite Men class with the initial best time. The end of the day saw the winner in Pila/ITA finishing fourth. Markus Pekoll was first to beat Payet’s time and was visibly pleased, since his third place meant that he had gained overall victory. The previous year’s overall winner, Nick Beer (SUI – Scott 11), took second place at Châtel, once again demonstrating his talent. Marcus Klausmann (GER – GHOST ATG PRO TEAM) was the last to ride the course and already had a 5 second lead at the interim time check. He was able to maintain this lead until crossing the finishing line; a clear winner with a time of 2:49 mins. This meant that he was able to achieve his goal of third place in the EDC overall rankings, the same as last year.

Emilie Siegenthaler (SUI – Scott 11) took victory in the Elite Women class with a time 3:26 mins, ahead of Miriam Ruchti. Junior Sandra Reynier (FRA – C&K Racing) took third place, meaning that she finished just behind Ruchti, Siegenthaler and Harriet Rücknagel (GER – OnTheEdge) in the overall rankings.

A time of 3:35 mins made Tahnée Seagrave (GBR – Fox/Intense) the winner in the U17 category, ahead of Lisa Kreuzer (AUT – RC Kreuzer). It would also have been good enough to get her third place in the Elite category, which she will be starting in from next year. Lisa Kreuzer was, however, able to secure first place in the overall rankings.

The fastest U17 male rider was again Gianluca Vernassa (ITA – Argentina Bike), also the winner of the overall rankings. He was followed by Marcel Etheve (FRA) and Jan Berkenkopf (GER – Young Guns Racing).

In the Masters Heinz Hostettler (SUI – BanditBike.ch) managed to beat the rest of the pack, winning ahead of Javier Santiago (ARG – Moser Sport) and Marcel Waldmann (SUI – Fatwork). The overall victory, however, went to Wilfred van de Haterd (NED – Specialized) with Waldmann finishing in second place ahead of Santiago.

The placings in the overall rankings were not only rewarded with total prize money of € 6 000, but also with very valuable watches for Ruchti and Pekoll from timing partner TAG Heuer.

The video section also has a narrated GoPro ride from Friday’s training session. It wasn’t hard to persuade Johann Potgieter (RSA – Mongoose), third in Pila, to do it for us, as you can hear from his comments. Click on the direct link to see the video: http://www.ixsdownhillcup.com/downloads/videos

Coverage of the race and a retrospective on the 2011 European Cup will be airing on Servus TV on 14 October. The fourth season of the Series is now history, but it will be continuing next year, again under the iXS banner. Dates will be announced at the end of the year.

 
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We inside the race circuit all know Martin and appreciate his service and this is why we honor his work with building him a bike:
Santa Curz Syndiciate and Rob Roskop were responsible for the frame
MS EVIL RACING helped out with Mavic wheels, FOX 36 fork and gravity components
Brook MaxDonald himself organized brakes from Formula
Dan Brown and the Atherton’s gave the highend XTR drive train
Sean Heimdal and the Monster Specilaized crew supplied those really fancy Crankbrothers full titanium Candy pedals
CRC complete the bikes with some fine Schwalbe tires
Alpinestars set him up with a nice XC riding kit
Peter of Adidas took care of Martins vision…

…and last but not least Christian Schandl head mechanic of MS EVIL RACING and one of the closest friends on the circuit built the bike.

Thanks Martin for your work over the last seasons, enjoy your ride and we are all looking forward to see you next year!

 
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The timed training was characterized by many crashes as well as with the one or other mostly unknown rider in the top rankings. Even it was just a training the riders were already testing their limits and so almost all riders of MS EVIL crashed. Especially Brook went down hard and his attendance was at risk. Filip was still handicapped from his crash he had in Val di Sole and so he just did a smooth run to keep at least the option to race on Sunday.

In contrast to the first days in Champery the weather changes from sunny to rain and we expected really bad weather for race day. Brook seemed to be happy about the forecast, as he knows that these might be his conditions.
And so it comes. It was pouring down rain, which made the track look like a torrent and the fog was changing the vision constantly. The team doctor of the Slovakian federation decided that Filip is not allowed to start and so MS EVIL RACING was just represented by Luke Strobel, Markus Pekoll and Brook MacDonald, who had the best chances for a podium.

When Luke came down the vision was maybe the worst of the day and he was far away from being happy with his race run or the actual conditions. As expected the characteristics of the track where changed by the heavy rain and so Luke, Markus and many other riders didn’t make it to the finish without big troubles or crashes. Our last men in the race and our joker Brook MacDonald showed up on the screen and the split time showed that he is already 7 seconds off. He made up time the further he came down, but when he crosses the finish line our dream of a world championship podium was over. Brook left the finish area and there are no words to describe how disappointed he was. There where the conditions he loves and he was good in when we have been racing here in the year before, but a crash before the 1st split destroyed the chance on being on the world championship podium.

After a pretty successful season with the first worldcup podiums of Brook MacDonald, the 6th place in the worldcup overall ranking of Brook and the 6th place in the UCI team overall ranking we left Champery without a medal, but with a 9th place of Brook, a 16th place of Markus and a 22nd place of Luke, which is a good overall result and which showed the power of our team.
Now all the team spread out over the whole world. Luke, Brook and Filip went home to recover and have some time off before they will start their preparation for 2012. Markus will race the season final of the European IXS Cup in Chatel where he has the chance to take the overall. Stay tuned for more news.

Dhi Fi Me Results

 
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Enjoy the photos and stay tuned for more news of Champery world championships 2011.

 
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Enjoy the photos and stay tuned for more news of Champery world championships 2011.

 
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