Sea Otter Classics event report:
With the 2008 Sea Otter Classic Festival the first event of the Season has passed by. As usual this mountain bike happening included several races while the bike industry put their new products out for display. It was great to be back in the racing scene again…..
MS-INTENSE FACTORY-RACING took part in the 2008 Sea Otter Classic Festival with all its riders racing all gravity disciplines. Additionally we are entering this season with a whole new lineup: new riders, a bunch of new sponsors like Titec or Alpinestars as well as our new mechanic Jerry. Some people may know him from back in the past when he worked for Manitou, the Specialized team and Shaun Palmer.
The Race:
As mentioned earlier all our riders had registered for all gravity disciplines and therefore it was a premiere seeing Matti start in a Dual Slalom race and the 1st time wearing his brand new Red Bull helmet. Since qualifying 32nd he had to race against Brian Lopes in his first round. Even though the odds of winning against somebody like Lopes were not the greatest the duel turned into an impressive neck and neck race between both riders. Finally Matti had to surrender to Brian and now it was up to the girls to pull the chestnuts out of the fire. But although we saw Anneke and Mio fighting hard they didn’t make it on the podium.
Pro Men results:
1.Greg Minaar/ Santa Cruz Syndicate
2.Steve Peat/ Santa Cruz Syndicate
3.Andrew Neethling/ Mongoose Cycles
8.Chris Kovarik/ Chainreactionscycles Intense
32. Mattli Lehikoinen/ MS-INTENSE FACTORY-RACING
33. JD Swanguen/ MS-INTENSE FACTORY-RACING
Pro Women results:
1.Sabrina Jonnier/ Maxxis Ironhorse
2.Melissa Buhl/ KHS
3.Fion Griffith/ Norco
6. Mio Suemasa/ MS-INTENSE FACTORY-RACING
8. Anneke Beerten/ MS-INTENSE FACTORY-RACING
The Sea Otter Classic downhill competition slightly differs from its European and World Cup counterparts. The course was quite flat and required a lot of pedaling. But the actual weird part was the timing. It was conducted manually, which means that someone pushes a button igniting a launch mode with 6 beeps. You go off too early - you get penalized, which unfortunately happend to Anneke.
At the end a lot of the top-notch riders found themselves in positions they are not used to. While Matti finished 42nd, Sam Hill only managed to reach 53rd, Brendan Fairclough only 68th position. The podium was fought out by the rather geriatric squat of downhill racing with big names like Steve Pete, Greg Minaar, Chris Kovarik and 1993 downhill World Cup winner Juergen Beneke. After all Minnar reached the fastest time beating Kovarik by 0.44 seconds.
Pro Men results:
1.Greg Minaar/ Santa Cruz Syndicate
2.Chris Kovarik/ Chainreactionscycles Intense
3.Justin Leov/ Yeti Cycles
…
42. Mattli Lehikoinen/ MS-INTENSE FACTORY-RACING
61. JD Swanguen/ MS-INTENSE FACTORY-RACING
Pro Women results:
1.Melissa Buhl/ KHS
2.Fion Griffith/ Norco
3.Sabrina Jonnier/ Maxxis Ironhorse
…
8. Anneke Beerten/ MS-INTENSE FACTORY-RACING
12. Mio Suemasa/ MS-INTENSE FACTORY-RACING
Even though this downhill race was more or less a demo event riders took it quite seriously. Afterwards the they got back home to continue their season preparation with some test racing at the world champs track in Northern Italy’s Val-di-Sole. World Cup round No.1 in Maribor (SLO) will follow on the second weekend in May.
Tech News:
The Sea Otter Classic Festival is known to be the bike industry’s first event of the season to display its new 2008 products.
Intense Cycles showed up with a trail bike featuring the same new VPP system that can be found in the Santa Cruz Blur. All new bearings and a grease system (causes some spy shots) the for the lower linkages are also included. Furthermore it offers the rider the opportunity to adjust the travel between 5.5 and 6 inches, therefore converting the machine into a true trail blitz and making it the training bike of choice for the MS-INTENSE FACTORY-TEAM. Watch out for this new ride at the MS-RACING pits during the World Cups.
p.s.: The bike still doesn’t carry a name but there has been a name-this-bike competition already. The winner will take home the first production frame signed by Intense Cycles CEO Jeff Steber.
Shimano released the new Saint drive train. Thus some of the riders got the chance of using the product at the event. So far the Saint components are looking good and Shimano obviously assimilated the feedback of the racing scene. The result is a light top-quality product line that fulfills the needs of the DH riders. Take the new 4-piston brake for example: According to Matti it provides enough power to satisfy the high demands of pro racers.
Our long-term partner Manitou came up with the first production samples of the Dorado fork with air spring technology. With 2.7 kilos (5.9 lbs) this fork is incredibly light. In addition it features some nice details such as a pattern for direct stems, which are standard by now.
Titec presented some new prototypes for a new product line that will be enhanced by the team during the 2008 season. While listening to our feedback they are working on wide bars and some other sophisticated stuff, thus giving us the opportunity to convert our idea of the perfect product.
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