2012 Hutchinson United Ride Team Announement

Starting out as a conversation in the Morewood Bikes factory some years ago, the United Ride team was created and has come a long way since then. A diverse race team with riders hailing from France, South Africa and now Australia. For the 2012 season United Ride gains some great sponsors and continues to grow the team as we are proud to announce Hutchinson as our title sponsor and the signing of Mick and Tracey Hannah.

Mick Hannah is one of the most respected riders on the circuit known for his solid work ethic, toughness and training:

Mick Hannah

“I’m really excited to be joining with United Ride. We have very similar goals for the next 2 years and I feel like with the support of Morewood and Hutchinson and the great atmosphere within the team we can achieve all that we set out to do. I am also very excited about the opportunity to travel and race with Tracey. She is really focused right now and I think that together, along with the rest of the team, we will have a great season! Thanks very much to everyone that’s getting behind us! It’s going to be a great year!”

In the past Tracey Hannah has shown she could win by taking the Junior Womans World title. Her motivation and speed are still there as she will participate at select World Cup rounds in 2012:

Tracey Hannah

“It’s always been in the back of my mind!
Racing on the “World Cup Circuit” again! What is even more amazing, I will be racing right beside my big bro “Sick Mick” who taught me some of the things I know…… ha! I am so excited to be on the Hutchinson United Ride team, riding for Morewood bikes. Not only to be back racing but to be on a team that is going to help us achieve some of the goals that we have set out to achieve.
There is nothing better than feeling confident and ready going into a season, and because of United Ride we both can relax knowing we will be on one of the best teams out there, riding with some awesome new gear.

I am looking forward to the racing season. I can’t wait to see what unfolds in the up and coming months. I couldn’t be happier!”

We are also glad to welcome  Guillaume Cauvin who finished 3^rd at the last Junior World Championship in Champéry. Guillaume fits in perfectly with the team’s spirit as he is motivated, relaxed and trains hard so it is a pleasure for us to help a young rider like him:

Guillaume “JR” Cauvin

“It’s a great opportunity for me to ride as part of the Hutchinson United Ride which is composed with such good riders. It will help me to improve my skills for sure! We’ve already done some training camp and there is good vibes. I love my MOREWOOD!”

Fabien “ CousCous” Cousinié / Team Manager-Rider

“In 2011, I’ve been in the top 20 during the first half of the season, I wanna do it again in 2012 but for the entire season! My study finally achieved, it’s going to be my first school free season, can’t wait for the PMB!
As a team manager, I’m really happy of the riders. More than the performance aspect, everyone has the same spirit which announce: good times!”

Tim Bentley

Our South African rider stays with the team for 2012 and will be racing the clock with style once again. After a solid first season on the World Cup circuit we are certain that he will keep improving and reach his potential.

« I am really excited to be on the team again this year! I had such a great time and i am looking forward to see what happens this season. I learnt alot last year and i hope i can use the experience to help me !

A NEW NAME GOING INTO 2012:

United Ride Team is very proud of its new partnership with Hutchinson (www.hutchinsontires.com). The brand has worked a lot on the development of some new tire compounds and profiles. The team has run some tests with the new tires and are confident to have them keeping their Morewood’s on track this season:

Arnaud Zumaglia / Hutchinson Marketing Director

“Genetically links to competition, Hutchinson built its success and reputation with the performance and quality of its products. On all kind of terrain and in all kind of circumstances, road ride or mountain ride, Hutchinson works for more than one century with the biggest names of this sport to improve its nowadays products and create the future ones.
With no doubts downhill is the more demanding discipline for the tyres, that’s why we are really proud of those new objectives with the Hutchinson United Ride. An cosmopolitan UCI team with a strong potential with whom we expect to see some international podium in 2012.
A few new tyres will equip the bikes : Dzo, Squale, Toro or Cougar which ones will lead our riders toward the best results.”

Richard Carter / Morewood Bikes (www.morewoodbikes.com)

“It is a great pleasure for us to be moving into our 4^th year supporting the United Ride team with bikes, even if not as title sponsor. They are effectively our factory team and with the addition of Mick, Tracey and Guillaume, we really believe that we have one of the strongest teams on the circuit. From its inception United Ride has worked tirelessly in the development of all Morewood products, and we look forward to their continued involvement. It will be great to have them in our home town of Pietermaritzburg for the first World Cup race in March”

Once again we would like to welcome as one of our main partners, the online bike shop ALLTRICKS. Alltricks’s team is passionate, motivated and really efficient and that aids us in functioning efficiently as a professional race team:

AllTricks (www.alltricks.fr)

“Alltricks.fr is really proud to be a part of the United Ride Team and to support each riders for the next two seasons. Its team manager’s energy and the strong potential of its pilots seduced us straight away. We were looking for a team to join and an international adventure to share and confirm our product offer competitiveness. The partnership represents for us a real showcase of what is our offer in Dh, Freeride, Dirt and 4X.
Working with all the team’s sponsors and selling their products will help us being able to advise better our customers.”

Our official 2012 team presentation will be held a few days before the first World Cup in March where we will unveil our gear sponsor and other news.

We would like to thank everyone from our sponsors to the media to our fans for their support. The future has never been so exciting and our adventure keeps going with the same core ideal : DREAM RIDE SHARE.

Santa Cruz Syndicate Thanks SRAM For 8 Years Of Support

The Santa Cruz Syndicate and SRAM/RockShox brands have been synonymous with one another for 8 years, from the inception of the Syndicate in 2004 through 2011. It is with sadness and great respect that we are parting ways in 2012.

This has been an incredible journey, and the partnership has helped our racers achieve an impressive set of goals and dreams—2 UCI World Cup Downhill overall titles, 10 UCI World Cups wins by Greg Minnaar, 3 World Cup wins and a historic World Championship title by Steve Peat, and a Junior World Championship title by Josh Bryceland. These results were made possible using SRAM, Rockshox, Truvativ and Avid products, along with the world-class technical support of the SRAM team.

Working closely with John Dawson and Jon Cancellier on prototype Black Box projects and receiving their on-site support was a pleasure, and our heartfelt thanks go out to them for their years of dedication to the Syndicate. Thank you also to Dave Zimberoff for making the partnership possible.

Steve Peat says, "Leaving SRAM is a tough one for me. I have been with RockShox for 16 years so you could say the brand is engraved in me. But like most things in life nothing lasts forever and it has been a great time over the last 16 years. I want to thank each and every person at RockShox and SRAM who have helped me achieve my goals in my career. I have made lots of friends and had some fun times. Thanks guys!"

Greg Minnaar says, "Since joining the Syndicate in 2008 your support has been incredible.

Thanks to all the crew that work hard behind the scenes making sure our Black Box equipment was keeping us ahead of the rest."

Josh Bryceland says, "I've ridden SRAM since I started mountain biking and I've come far using their products. Times change and so do sponsors, thanks for 4 years on the Syndicate without a mechanical in a race run."

Rob Roskopp says, "Our partnership with SRAM over the years saw many milestones achieved, Steve Peat's 2009 World Championship in Canberra, Greg Minnaar's win at Maribor in 2010 aboard the first carbon bike to take a World Cup win, and countless podiums over the last 8 years. I would like to thank the whole crew at SRAM for the great memories and support."

2012 IXS Downhill Cup CHanges And Schedule Announced

Already in its tenth year, the iXS Downhill Cup series has grown up and presents itself in a new look. Not only the logo has been redone, it also comes with a new online presence.
 
With the four series under the flag of iXS running for some years already, the layout of the cup had to be dusted off. This has been done with the design of a new logo and the redevelopment of the website. But it's not only the look that has changed, there are also changes within the series as well. The organizers have revised the time table at some stages, but most significant are the changes within the rules of the iXS European Downhill Cups.
 
Five years after its inauguration the cup has left its childhood days behind and established itself as one of the most prestigious series of the world. As a result it will only be open to licensed riders in the future. But the growth in popularity is only one factor triggering that decision, it is also influenced by different national rules. Due to national rules in some countries, the added costs to open the cup to non-licensed riders are extremely high due to added insurance costs and other efforts. In some countries it is even impossible to let unlicensed riders participate. As bridging the gap between national series and the Worldcup has always been the cups main purpose, this step is bringing the cup closer to the Worldcup than before. As a result extra training times for the Top 80 Elite Men and Top 10 Elite Woman categories will be added. Based on the world ranking list, the best 80 men and best 10 women will enjoy an additional three hours training time. Start numbers for the European Cup will therefore only be available on Fridays before each race.
 
There will also be a new system for registration, as a change for the better for those who knew the old system. Due to increased fees for foreign bank transactions paying via PayPal will be the only way to pay in the future. This will cut costs and make funds available quicker for the organizers of the various events. Late registrations and late payments are not possible any longer, registrants have to pay immediately via PayPal and will show up on the list of competitors in real time after they completed the registration.
 
The registration list and starting as well as results lists will be available online in the future, so people can check them at the races with any mobile device connected to the internet.
 
The section with the rider's online profiles has been extended as well. Next to the results riders can upload a picture as well as information about their team, sponsors, bikes and parts used. The profiles can be changed and completed any time. Within the next weeks all participants will be invited to update their data. All existing accounts will still be valid.

2012 IXS Downhill Cup Schedule

2012 MS/Mondraker Team Announced

This new structure is the result of an agreement between Mondraker and the Austrian Race Team MS Racing owned by RedBull athlete Markus Stöckl and will mean for Mondraker a new stage and step ahead in DH Racing after former DH team ¨Mondraker Factory Team¨ and Fabien Barel announced their retirement.

The team will be composed by the following top riders:

Brook MacDonald
3 podium positions at World Cup UCI in 2011

Damien Spagnolo
Silver Medal World Championship 2011 Champery/SUI

Emmeline Ragot
World Champion 2011 Champery/SUI

Markus Pekoll
European Champion IXS Cup 2011

The goal of the team is to be one of the top DH teams of 2012 and to continue the great job of the Mondraker Factory Team of the last seasons.

All riders of the MS MONDRAKER TEAM will be riding the Summum Pro team which has proven to be a very promising and medal winning bike ever since its launch in 2009, with various victories from Fabien Barel in the last few years and Damien Spagnolo's great performance in Champery September 011.

The MS MONDRAKER TEAM will have an impressive infrastructure and a very professional support team available for the riders, as well a professional photographer and movie maker who will be following the team during all the important races starting from the first World Cup race in Pietermartizburg between the 17th and 18th of March.

MS-Racing Owner Markus Stöckl says:

We are very proud to represent the new Mondraker Factory Team, already at my first visit at the Mondraker office we found a good base for our program. The Team is very sad that we had to let some of our riders go but also happy about the new riders Damien and Emmeline and about Brook and Markus to still be with us, each of them is a great Rider and has a cool personality, so we are looking forward to some successful and fun race weekends. It is quite a busy time for us because of the change of our main partner there will be some more changes down the road, but we are stoked about the new opportunities which are coming.

Lezyne Partners With Team Norco International

San Luis Obispo, CA – Lezyne is proud to announce a partnership with Jill Kintner and Bryn Atkinson of the newly formed Team Norco International for the 2012 season. Jill Kintner, an Olympic BMX Bronze Medalist, is one of the most dominant female cyclists in the world, and is ready to take on the 2012 race circuit in DH, 4X, and DS. Bryn Atkinson is a top downhill racer on the World Cup scene who has come up through the ranks along side some of the industry's best. Jill and Bryn are dedicated to toping the podium at every race they attend around the world.

Lezyne has known Jill and Bryn since their days of racing for the Transition Bicycles / Crankbrothers team. Jill contacted Lezyne in November 2012 about her new team with Bryn. "Jill has been a great ambassador for Lezyne and for women's cycling. We are so happy and excited to be working these two star athletes again in 2012", says Patrick Ribera-McKay, Lezyne's Worldwide Marketing Manager.

Team Norco International will be riding with Lezyne pumps, CO2 inflators, multi-tools, bottle cages, tire repair, soft goods and LED lights. Along with representing the brand, Jill and Bryn will provide Lezyne with valuable product feedback gathered from putting Lezyne products through their paces in training and on the international World Cup scene.