Neko Mulally Takes Another Pro GRT Win

Making it now 3 wins in the series for 2013, and 5 in his career, Neko Mulally continues his great 2013 season by winning in Snowshoe, West Virginia, and by another solid margin, this time it was 6 seconds.

The win picks up Neko another 60 points in the series and by our calculations, he moves from 4th to 2nd overall, though the title is not his main objective.

Neko said: "These races have been providing me with an excellent opportunity to train. My training has been largely strength and skill based lately. I've been going hard in the gym and cross-training with XC, BMX and motocross. My coach and I saw this event as a great chance for some skill specific work. I felt like I got a lot out of racing at Windham a couple of weeks back and this race was another great training race for the upcoming 2 World Cups.

We had surprisingly nice weather all weekend because that place is in a rain forest, so I was expecting more mud. The track was a good lead up for the next World Cups, 4 minutes long with really high speeds and pretty rough terrain which made it very physical. Snowshoe was one of the first places where I spent a lot of time racing but I haven't had the chance to race there since 2008, so It felt great to be back.

I am really happy with the pace I'm riding right now and I can't wait to take this feeling into the next 2 World Cups."

Neko will be at the upcoming US National XC Championships this weekend where he plans to race the Super D.

Neko Mulally Takes His 2nd Pro GRT Win Of The Season

Fresh off his strongest start to a World Cup season, where Neko is currently ranked 16th in the Overall, the Trek World Racing rider went to Windham, New York, to race a round of the Pro GRT Downhill Series. After winning in a round of the Pro GRT in Plattekill in late May, Neko was aiming to use this race more as training during his World Cup summer break, but was happy to take a nice win of more than 7 secs over US rider Logan Bingelli.

After the race, Neko had this to say: "There wasn't a huge field here for the event, but it was a fun and a great training race for me. A lot of my friends were there and my brother raced as well. The organizers used another track, not the World Cup track, but it was really fun and seemed to be more technical and a slower average speed. I won the Super D on Saturday night beating a bunch of the XC guys! I was actually last after the first climb then passed them all on the downhill haha! In the Downhill I had a relaxed and great run, and was proud to take the win, and I was stoked to have my brother on the podium with me in 3rd."

Neko used the event for training and is looking forward to coming over to Andorra at the end of this month for Round 3 of the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup, which will be held on a brand new track in Vallnord.

2013 Val Di Sole WC 2 Final Results

Junior Men Results

1	LUCAS Dean	AUS19950502	AUSTRALIA	3:24.630
2	ATWILL Phil	GBR19950111	MADISON SARACEN DOWNHILL TEAM	+0.160
3	SHAW Luca	USA19961225	SPECIALIZED RACING DH	+0.188
4	VERGIER Loris	FRA19960507	LAPIERRE GRAVITY REPUBLIC	+2.498
5	VERNASSA Gianluca	ITA19950904	DEVINCI GLOBAL RACING	+3.788
6	ALGARRA NAVARRO Daniel	ESP19950314	SPAIN	+5.770
7	WALLACE Mark	CAN19950601	DEVINCI GLOBAL RACING	+6.004
8	McCORMACK Stephen	IRL19951028	IRELAND	+6.265
9	ELLISON Luke	AUS19951030	AUSTRALIA	+6.611
10	FAYOLLE Alexandre	FRA19950720	FRANCE	+7.317
11	GRAHAM Innes	GBR19960703	MS MONDRAKER TEAM	+8.730
12	ZABJEK Jure	SLO19951011	UNIOR TOOLS TEAM	+8.897
13	LEBL Martin	CZE19960816	CZECH REPUBLIC	+8.973
14	MEDICI Simone	ITA19950705	ITALY	+9.059
15	THUNELL Jakob	SWE19951109	SWEDEN	+9.136

Women Final Results

1	ATHERTON Rachel	GBR19871206	GT FACTORY RACING	3:43.810
2	RAGOT Emmeline	FRA19860527	LAPIERRE GRAVITY REPUBLIC	+5.235
3	PUGIN Floriane	FRA19890417	GSTAAD-SCOTT	+12.053
4	CHARRE Morgane	FRA19900609	MS MONDRAKER TEAM	+14.233
5	NICOLE Myriam	FRA19900208	COMMENCAL / RIDING ADDICTION	+15.495
6	BROWN Casey	CAN19901027	DIRT NORCO RACE TEAM	+16.060
7	CARPENTER Manon	GBR19930311	MADISON SARACEN DOWNHILL TEAM	+18.355
8	SIEGENTHALER Emilie	SUI19860919	GSTAAD-SCOTT	+20.180
9	CERNILOGAR Zarja	SLO19891218	BLACKTHORN GT	+21.090
10	GATTO Micayla	CAN19880821		+24.639
11	HANNAH Tracey	AUS19880613	HUTCHINSON UR	+26.948
12	KINTNER Jill	USA19811024	TEAM NORCO INTERNATIONAL	+28.856
13	GRIFFITHS Fionn	GBR19820827		+30.777
14	BARTOVA Jana	CZE19900217		+35.591
15	MARCELLINI Alia	ITA19910711	TORPADO SURFING SHOP	+41.857

Men Final Results

1	ATHERTON Gee	GBR19850226	GT FACTORY RACING	3:12.185
2	SMITH Steve	CAN19891125	DEVINCI GLOBAL RACING	+1.001
3	MINNAAR Greg	RSA19811113	SANTA CRUZ SYNDICATE	+1.250
4	BRUNI Loic	FRA19940513	LAPIERRE GRAVITY REPUBLIC	+2.471
5	BROSNAN Troy	AUS19930713	SPECIALIZED RACING DH	+4.121
6	GWIN Aaron	USA19871224	SPECIALIZED RACING DH	+4.123
7	BRYCELAND Josh	GBR19900323	SANTA CRUZ SYNDICATE	+5.280
8	PAYET Florent	FRA19861121	EVIL CK RACING EVIAN	+6.341
9	HANNAH Michael	AUS19831121	HUTCHINSON UR	+6.442
10	PEKOLL Markus	AUT19871013	MS MONDRAKER TEAM	+6.501
11	FERREIRO PAJUELO Antonio	ESP19900103	EVIL VENGEANCE TOUR	+8.760
12	KERR Bernard	GBR19910216	PIVOT FACTORY TEAM	+8.767
13	THIRION Rémi	FRA19900423	COMMENCAL / RIDING ADDICTION	+8.780
14	SIMMONDS Matthew	GBR19870520	CHAIN REACTION CYCLES.COM / NUKEPROOF	+9.119
15	MULALLY Neko	USA19930219	TREK WORLD RACING	+9.826

Brook MacDonald 'Robbed' Of World Cup Podium, Neko On Target

The hot dusty conditions on the super steep track in Val Di Sole saw Brook MacDonald on target for a 4th place result until a crash in the last sector of his run saw those hopes slip away. Meanwhile Neko Mulally who doesn't see this track as one of his strengths, was very pleased to take his 2nd best career result and be on target for the second half of the season.

Earlier in the day Greg Williamson, fresh off his break out ride in Fort William, was sending it down the hill in absolute style, getting green lights all the way from split to split, only to have the front wheel wash out in the corner made infamous by Sam Hill in 2008.

"I was really enjoying myself in the run, especially the last sector and I don't know, my hand slipped alittle and the next thing i know I was surfing the ground. I'm happy with my speed but just disappointed not to convert it into big points today".

George Brannigan was 6 tenths up on the first split, but was suffering all week to get the right suspension set up for this track and ultimately crashed, but will be racing between now and the next World Cup to get his set up where he needs it.

Neko was the third rider from the team to tackle the course and despite the temptation to push much harder, rode a smart race to arrive incident free at the line in 4th place, which was ultimately good enough for 15th, and has moved from 24th to 16th overall.

Brook was aiming for his first top 5 on this track in 5 years, and was well and truly on target the cross the line in 2nd but a loss of the front wheel and damage to his bike resulted in a 24th spot, and a 3rd place overall in the World Cup.

"About half way through my run I was havign trouble seeign and concentrating. My reaction time was suffering. This schedule here was pretty stupid, almost dangerous. It was 7 hours between my last parctice run and the race run and the day was just too long. The UCI need to get this sorted, you can't be off the track for so long betwen practice and a flat out race run. Having said that, I'm sitting top 3 before the summer break and I'll be keen to chase the podium again in Andorra next month".

Mammoth Bike Park Heating Up

The action at the Mammoth Mountain Bike Park is heating up! We had a good amount of rain earlier this week, and the trails are in excellent condition. For this weekend, a number of trails are open, including Lower Twilight Zone, Downtown, Uptown, Big Ring, Paper Route, Juniper, Timber Ridge, Shotgun, Lower Pipeline, Lower Bullet, Lakes Trail and Pioneer Practice Loop.

But the big news is that the Gondola will start spinning next Friday (June 21), which opens up a huge portion of the mountain for the season.

The legendary Kamikaze bike games are back at Mammoth Mountain. Come check out all the action September 4th-8th. Road biking, dual slalom, and the fastest downhill course in the world. Check out Kamikazebikegames.com for more information.

Photos by Peter Morning/MMSA