Brendan Fairclough Wins The 2012 Crankworx Speed And Style

WHISTLER, BC August 11, 2012 – The invitational Dual Speed & Style presented by AVID was a huge success with the inaugural Whistler event filling Whistler Village, while thousands more tuned into the live webcast powered by Red Bull Media House.

Britain’s Brendan Fairclough, a rider widely recognized as one of the most well-rounded racers on the DH circuit, ended up in the final with Spain’s Andreu Lacondeguy, one of the world’s best-known freeriders. Lacondeguy, who actually has history battling the clock as a DH racer, gave Fairclough a run for his money but in the end pushed too hard and ended his race in a spectacular cloud of dust while the British World Cup racer sailed over the finish line to take gold.

In the battle for third place two freeriders were pit against each other; American Kyle Strait, who qualified first yesterday, and Sweden’s Martin Soderstrom. Soderstrom was pulling out Joyride-worthy tricks in every heat but in the small final was bucked on a roller and fell, giving Strait the bronze.

Pro freerider Cam McCaul, who lent his expertise as an announcer at the Dual Speed & Style, feels that going fast and having the ability to pull multiple variations of tricks is going to be the type of riding that will prevail in future rounds of Speed & Style.

“Andreu was going up against a World Cup racer so he had to push his speed limits beyond probably what was comfortable for him,” says McCaul. “That race was his to lose but Andreu actually had the speed to stay with Brendan, and the tricks to take the win, if he could have held on. You have to keep within 1.2 seconds in the ‘speed’ area to take the win with ‘style’.”

Dual Speed & Style is a new event on the freeride mountain bike scene. Riders race through a dual course head-to-head for time and earn .6 second deductions for the most stylish tricks pulled on the mid-course booters. Partly influenced by motocross and then brought to life by Kyle Strait’s glory run through the dual course in Whistler during Crankworx in 2011, the SRAM Dual Speed & Style in Les 2 Alpes on July 12, 2012 was the first Speed & Style event organized by Crankworx with Cam Zink taking the win. Judging by the crowds gathered today for the Dual Speed & Style presented by Avid, the event is an exciting addition to the world of freeride competition.

Tonight the Bud Light Crankworx Concerts featured ambient rock and power-pop starting with Jets Overhead at 7:45pm and Said The Whale at 8:45pm at Whistler Olympic Plaza. Stay tuned to www.crankworx.com for upcoming news and connect with Crankworx through Facebook.com/crankworx or Twitter.com/crankworx

Stay tuned to www.crankworx.com for upcoming news and connect with Crankworx through Facebook.com/crankworx or Twitter.com/crankworx
Online Results: www.crankworx.com/whistler/results
Current event photography: www.flickr.com/photos/crankworx/

Live Streaming Webcast Schedule for Crankworx Whistler 2012
The webcasts, powered by Red Bull Media House, are live streamed at www.crankworx.com www.redbull.com/bike and by online media partner www.pinkbike.com

Saturday August 11
• REPLAY – Canadian Open Enduro - live.redbull.tv/events/120/crankworx-whistler-canadian-open-enduro/
• REPLAY - Dual Speed & Style presented by AVID – live.redbull.tv/events/121/crankworx-whistler-dual-speed-style/

Sunday August 12
• Garbanzo DH - 4:30pm-7:00pm

Wednesday August 15
• Air DH - 3:30pm–5:30pm

Thursday August 16
• Teva Best Trick - 4:00pm-6:00pm
• Ultimate Pump Track Challenge presented by Rock Shox - 8:00pm-9:00pm

Friday August 17
• Red Bull Joyride Qualifiers - 1:30pm-3:00pm
• GIANT Dual Slalom Amateur - 3:30pm-5:30pm
• GIANT Dual Slalom Pro - 6:00pm-8:00pm

Saturday August 18
• Red Bull Joyride Finals - 5:30pm-7:30pm

Sunday August 19
• Jeep Canadian Open DH - 3:00pm-5:00pm

The ninth annual Crankworx Whistler is presented by Whistler Blackcomb and the Whistler Mountain Bike Park. Crankworx Whistler is the biggest annual event held in Whistler and is also the largest freeride mountain bike festival in the world. Crankworx Les 2 Alpes took place for the first time July 9-15, 2012 and was the first Crankworx event to take place outside of North America. This new event will build on Crankworx’s legendary legacy in the arena of freeride mountain biking.

Steve Smith And Casey Brown Win The 2012 Garbonzo DH At Crankworx

WHISTLER, BC August 12, 2012 – Crankworx Whistler’s Garbanzo DH is infamous for being the world’s longest DH track used in competition. Canadian World Cup racer Steve Smith has been defeated by the very long and technical track the last four times he has raced it; either crashing or just not going fast enough.

This year Smith finally defeated his nemesis, crossing the finish line with a time of 12:33.27, an impressive feat considering the length of the course is 12km and drops 3,400 vertical feet. Second fastest man was Columbian Marcelo Gutierrez Villega +5.48 and in third, Australian Chris Kovarik +15.40.

Canadian women swept the podium today with Casey Brown in first at 14:28.74, Miranda Miller in second +3.23 and Whistler’s Claire Buchar (CAD) +3.26.

“This is the first time I have had a clean run in competition on Garbanzo and I took the win,” says Smith. “It is a long race so you don’t absolutely ‘kill’ anything. I just kept a good pace all the way; I wasn’t really slow and I wasn’t really fast.”

This kind of race really tests the World Cup racers since they train to reach the maximum speed they can sustain for the duration of 3-4 minutes. The Garbanzo track has them descending three times as long as that. The most successful riders have to find the fastest pace they can sustain for a long period of time and just hang on. At the end of the day, the conditions couldn’t have been more ideal for the race. The track was rolling really quick and the clock showed it with athletes coming in with the fastest times ever recorded in Garbanzo DH competition.

Course Route
The same course as 2011 was used - Riders start behind the Garbanzo lift hut -> Original Sin (including the uphill section) -> exit Original Sin at the step down/step up tree island on the Dave Murray flats -> proceed down Blue Velvet -> traverse and proceed into In Deep -> after rock face turn left towards Container (FatCrobbat would require a right turn at this point) -> from Container into No Joke/ Duffman -> remain on Duffman until merges with Golden Triangle -> continue on World Cup Singletrack -> Ho Chi Min -> Longhorn -> Monkey Hands -> GLC drops to finish.

Online Results: www.crankworx.com/whistler/results.php
Current event photography: www.flickr.com/photos/crankworx/

Live Streaming Webcast Schedule for Crankworx Whistler 2012
The webcasts, powered by Red Bull Media House, are live streamed at www.crankworx.com www.redbull.com/bike and by online media partner www.pinkbike.com

Saturday August 11
• REPLAY – Canadian Open Enduro - live.redbull.tv/events/120/crankworx-whistler-canadian-open-enduro/
• REPLAY - Dual Speed & Style presented by AVID – live.redbull.tv/events/121/crankworx-whistler-dual-speed-style/

Sunday August 12
• REPLAY - Garbanzo DH - live.redbull.tv/events/122/crankworx-whistler-garbanzo-dh/

Wednesday August 15
• Air DH - 3:30pm–5:30pm

Thursday August 16
• Teva Best Trick - 4:00pm-6:00pm
• Ultimate Pump Track Challenge presented by Rock Shox - 8:00pm-9:00pm

Friday August 17
• Red Bull Joyride Qualifiers - 1:30pm-3:00pm
• GIANT Dual Slalom Amateur - 3:30pm-5:30pm
• GIANT Dual Slalom Pro - 6:00pm-8:00pm

Saturday August 18
• Red Bull Joyride Finals - 5:30pm-7:30pm

Sunday August 19
• Jeep Canadian Open DH - 3:00pm-5:00pm

The ninth annual Crankworx Whistler is presented by Whistler Blackcomb and the Whistler Mountain Bike Park. Crankworx Whistler is the biggest annual event held in Whistler and is also the largest freeride mountain bike festival in the world. Crankworx Les 2 Alpes took place for the first time July 9-15, 2012 and was the first Crankworx event to take place outside of North America. This new event will build on Crankworx’s legendary legacy in the arena of freeride mountain biking.

2012 Crankworx Garbanzo DH Results

Pro Men
1 Steve Smith 12:33.27
2 Marcelo Gutierrez Villegas 12:38.75
3 Chris Kovarik 12:38.75

Pro Women
1 Casey Brown 14:28.74
2 Miranda Miller 14:31.97
3 Claire Buchar 14:32.00

2012 Garbanzo Downhill Results

2012 Crankworx Dual Speed And Style Results

Dual Speed & Style Results
1. Brendan Fairclough
2. Andreu Lacondeguy
3. Kyle Strait

2012 Northstar Pro GRT Images Loaded

Finally have the Northstar Pro GRT images loaded. They are all in there no editing that will be done if an image is ordered. If in doubt email to confirm the image is good you can also view original size to get an idea of how it lokks.

2012 Tahoe Pro GRT Pictures