Steve Smith Pulls The Triple Crown At The 2012 Crankworx

Crankworx Festival | WHISTLER, BRITISH COLUMBIA—Crankworx 2012 will go down as the hottest, driest, burliest DH shake-up in recent memory. It will also be etched as the year Devinci Global Racing’s Steve Smith edged all takers, becoming the first rider ever to win Whistler’s Triple Crown of gravity events.

Festivities launched with the Garbanzo DH, the longest DH race in the world. Devinci young gun Mark Wallace set the first podium worthy run; a time that would stand until the final 10 riders blasted into Whistler Village. Smith topped the Devinci charge, splintering the competition with a seismic 5.48-second rift. Jr. charger Mark Wallace captured 5th, Nick Beer 9th, and George Brannigan 13th.

Next was the world-renowned A-Line DH, where Smith backed his previous win—eclipsing the field by 3.75 seconds. Beer scorched into 8th, Whistler local Ian Morrison finished an impressive 10th, and Brannigan locked in 12th.

“I was stoked and surprised to take the win in the A-Line by so much over guys like Lopes and Mick,” Smith says. “I went for it and things worked out.”

The weekend’s Canadian Open finale saw rabid fans swarm Heckler’s Rock to see if Smith would repeat his 2011 win and seal a never-been-done-before Crankworx Triple Crown. Again Wallace set the early podium pace, where he sat until the last 10 riders. After the smoke settled, Wallace was bumped to 5th, Beer sat in 7th, while Smith decimated the entire field by 4.64 seconds—earning the King of Crankworx crown as the winningest rider of the festival.

“My favorite event at Crankworx is the Canadian Open,” Smith says. “The track was amazing, the new carbon Wilson was mind blowing in its first race, and it felt great to close out Crankworx with the win.”

DGR team manager Gabe Fox adds: “It was an amazing weekend for the whole crew. Stevie really stood above everyone—it’s hard as hell to win three events like this. I was very impressed with Wallace’s results at this level, and Nick and the rest of the squad were solid all weekend.

“With the launch of the Carbon Wilson for Sunday’s race, you really couldn’t have scripted a better weekend.”

Next up for Devinci Global Racing are the UCI World Championships in Leogang, Austria, followed by the World Cup Finals in Hafjell, Norway.

Devinci Global Racing is proudly supported by: Cycles Devinci, SRAM, RockShox, Avid, Truvativ, Easton Wheels, Schwalbe, E-Thirteen, ODI, Selle Italia, Fox Head Clothing and My Package.

2012 Crankworx Jeep Canadian Open DH Results

2012 Canadian Open Downhill Results

2012 Red Bull Joyride Results

2012 Crankworx Joyride Results

2012 Teva Best Trick Showdown

Jordie Lunn Wins Session One And Tom van Steenbergen Takes Session Two

WHISTLER, BC August 16, 2012 – Today’s Teva Best Trick Showdown at Crankworx Whistler had all the ingredients for an awesome competition; sunshine, steeze and lots of cold hard cash. The riders brought their bag of tricks and laid them all out for the huge crowd assembled at the bottom of the Joyride course.

In Session One everyone was just getting warmed up when Jordie Lunn launched a huge cork 720. Lunn’s trick held it’s own against impressive tricks from slope riders including Martin Soderstrom, Yannick Granieri and Thomas Genon. For his efforts early on in the game Lunn rode away with $4,000.

At Session Two of the Teva Best Trick Showdown the riders stepped things up at the Bud Light Cabin step down. Tom van Steenberger executed a front flip tuck no hander to take home the $4,000 on the second feature of the event.

The Teva Best Trick Showdown is a peer-judged, two-session, best trick jam where the winner of each session comes away with $4,000. With the riders getting more mileage in on the Joyride course and getting dialed in on the jumps they will be good and ready to unleash their talents to the world on Saturday, August 18 at the Red Bull Joyride.

Tomorrow’s action at Crankworx Whistler includes more slopestyle with the Red Bull Joyride Qualifiers getting underway at 1:30-3pm. Then from 6-8pm the GIANT Dual Slalom will showcase exciting head to head race action at the base of the Whistler Mountain Bike Park. Both events will be live webcast at www.crankworx.com.

The village-wide expo and demo zone will also be hopping so make sure to check out the Jeep® Rocks and Roads course where visitors will be able to experience the vehicle's unparalleled capabilities while manipulating obstacles that demonstrate the wild ride that only Jeep® can deliver. The course and on-road test drive includes a stability ramp, a boulder crawl, a log pile and a 16-foot dirt mountain to demonstrate traction. The test drive area will run until August 19, 2012.

Mitch Ropelato and Jill Kintner Win The 2012 Ultimate Pump Track Challenge

Both Athletes Take Gold For 3rd Time In As Many Events At Crankworx Whistler

WHISTLER, BC August 16, 2012 – For the third time in a row, at the Ultimate Pump Track Challenge presented by Rock Shox, defending champs in both the Pro Men’s and Pro Women’s categories kept their titles. Mitch Ropelato and Jill Kintner took the wins for the third time in as many years at Crankworx Whistler.

It was a new track in a new venue but the story stayed the same, Mitch Ropelato (USA) stayed on top to cinch the title; with Troy Brosnan (AUS) in second and Cody Johnson (USA) in third.

Jill Kintner (USA) pulled in first against second place Micayla Gatto (CAD) while Melissa Buhl (USA) took third.

Pump tracks, an endless loop of steeply banked corners, doubles, gaps and rollers, have grown steadily in their popularity. This year the pump track was moved from the Whistler Mountain Bike to Whistler Olympic Park to create a compact and spectator-friendly arena in the heart of the village. It is estimated over 4,000 spectators gathered to watch the head to head showdowns as riders pumped through the track’s whoop-dee-doos and berms.

Tomorrow’s action at Crankworx Whistler includes the Red Bull Joyride Qualifiers getting underway at 1:30-3pm. Then from 6-8pm the GIANT Dual Slalom will showcase exciting head to head race action at the base of the Whistler Mountain Bike Park. Both events will be live webcast at www.crankworx.com.

Keep up to date on all things Crankworx through crankworx.com, Facebook.com/crankworx and make sure to follow @crankworx on Twitter.

The village-wide expo and demo zone will also be hopping so make sure to check out the Jeep® Rocks and Roads course where visitors will be able to experience the vehicle's unparalleled capabilities while manipulating obstacles that demonstrate the wild ride that only Jeep® can deliver. The course and on-road test drive includes a stability ramp, a boulder crawl, a log pile and a 16-foot dirt mountain to demonstrate traction. The test drive area will run until August 19, 2012.