Laurie Greenland Leads Junior World Cup

In a weekend of trying weather at the second stop of the UCI Downhill World Cup in Fort William, Scotland, Trek World Racing’s Laurie Greenland emerged with the coveted leader’s jersey and yet another 2nd place in the world class racing. Another highlight for the team was George Brannigan’s 9th place, his career best result on the tough 2km track.

Torrential rains and strong winds caused a complete cancellation of the Saturday World Cup schedule, resulting in no training or qualifying. This is mainly due to the fact that the gondola to the top of the hill cannot operate in high winds when transporting bikes. Additionally this venue is the only one on the circuit that doesn’t have an alternative access route to the top of the track via a fire road.

The schedule for Sunday was long, starting at 6.15am for training, followed by qualifying and then the finals. In George’s race run he was held up by a rider who’d had a mechanical problem, and he was offered a re-run by the UCI. Not an easy decision on a physical track but George’s decision to head to the top resulted in a 6 second improvement on his affected run, and his first top 10 result at Fort William.

George said: “After a full effort in qualifying and then again in the final, I wasn’t sure what to do when the Commissaires came over to me and offered a re-run, but I had a fair bit of time to recover and in the end it was the right thing to do. To be honest I’m pretty happy with 9th here.”

Laurie Greenland who finished 6th on this track last year, qualified in 3rd on Friday and was confident of being able to improve on his time of 5m 08s. In the final he improved another 5 seconds, was fastest in the most difficult technical middle sector, and took 2nd place to last year’s winner on this track, Martin Maes (BEL), The result was enough to take him into the lead in the overall series going into round 3.

Laurie said: “Pretty amazing feeling to be up on the podium on my own and being awarded the jersey, such a great feeling and an honour to wear it. I’d be lying if I said I was happy to get 2nd again….it’s 4 races in a row now, so I’m hungrier than ever for the win.”

A crash in the 2nd sector put an end to Brook MacDonald’s hopes after showing great speed all week. Fort William is one of his favourite tracks but a loose rock caught him out and the time loss was too great. Brook recovered though to be 2nd fastest rider of the day in the all-important final sector where fitness is key. Local hero Greg Williamson had a difficult run and finished 26th. Despite the disappointing run, he took home a good swag of points and has elevated his World Cup ranking by 40 positions.

The team heads to Leogang, Austria, this week for round 3 of the World Cup.

Laurie Greenland Finishes 2nd At World Cup Opener in Lourdes, France

Trek World Racing’s junior rider Laurie Greenland started the 2015 World Cup season by landing yet another podium, while crashes marred the Elite Men’s race where Brook MacDonald finished 12th for the day.

The standout ride for the team came on Saturday when Laurie qualified fastest in the juniors by close to 3 seconds over his rivals and in a time that would have qualified him 9th in Elite Men. His middle sector was only 0.5sec off fastest qualifier Loic Bruni (FRA), but unfortunately in the race run on Sunday Laurie arrived at a corner in sector 1 that had been blown out and had no chance to avoid it as he was already committed to his line. He didn’t crash but lost time coming to a complete stop on an important section for carrying momentum. Despite losing over 2 seconds he pulled back all but 3 tenths to finish 2nd. Laurie now sits 2nd in the overall World Cup standings heading to Fort William.

Laurie said: “So much to take away from the weekend. Seeing that I had comparable speed to the Elites was encouraging after all the hard work and training over the winter. Of course I’m disappointed not to have taken the win, but it’s a long season and I’m keen to get to Fort William which has been kind to me over the years.”

Brook MacDonald was looking for a solid top 10 on this new course and was a little disappointed to finish 12th but the points haul against some of his main rivals was very strong and Round 2 at Fort William promises to see Brook as a podium threat, like he was in 2013 finishing 2nd.

George Brannigan had great pace on the track and was bringing his New Zealand season form to the table in the qualifier where he would have finished top 6 had he not been slowed up by a rider who’d punctured and failed to clear the course. In the final practice session George had a small crash but damaged his Fox Forks and needed to head to the pits for a fork change. Unfortunately getting to the top of the hill 4mins too late and was denied a final practice run. This impacted his final race run as the course had changed to powder in many sections and a crash in sector 1 cost him dearly.

A spectacular crash for Greg Williamson ended what was shaping up to be a great run for the Scottish rider. Despite an earlier crash higher up on the course, Greg was 0.4secs up on the 2nd split but mechanical issues suffered in the first crash contributed to his dramatic flight over the bars, off the edge of a bridge and onto the road below. Fortunately not suffering any serious injury the crowd applauded as he walked away from a potentially nasty crash.

Greg said: “I literally found myself on a road and had no idea how I got there. It’s frustrating because I’d gained a lot of pace on this track after struggling on practice day 1. Practice prior to the race had gone great, and I was sure I could get a solid start to the season here. Time to ice up, recover and be ready for my next race in May.”

Team Director Martin Whiteley says: “A very interesting start to the season. New tracks often provide mixed results and the weather was also completely different to what we all expected; we ended up with 27 degrees Celsius and the track turning to powder. We’re fortunate to get through the event with everyone in one piece unlike some, and the new 2015 Trek Sessions performed flawlessly. Laurie’s pace is extremely exciting, but all 4 have shown this weekend that they’ve done their homework over winter, and if not for a couple of small errors, the results would have been quite different for us.”

George, Greg and Laurie will all compete in the 2nd Round of the British DH Series at Fort William next month.

George Brannigan Defends National Title

In a team 1-2 that saw Trek World Racing’s George Brannigan and Brook MacDonald claim the gold and silver at the New Zealand National Downhill Championships today in Rotorua, the team also saw the continuation of the title staying 'in house'. Since Justin Leov won the title in 2012, Trek World Racing riders have taken their Sessions to the winner’s circle 4 years running.

In a superb run today, George was the only rider to break the three minute barrier on the new course at the Skyline Rotorua Mountain Bike Gravity Park, finishing in 2mins 59.85secs. Brook took second with a 3m 03.35secs with both riders well clear of World Number 5 Sam Blenkinsop in third at 3mins 05.82secs.

George said he didn’t let the fact he was defending champion play on his mind.

“To be honest I just treated it like any other national race because in New Zealand everyone is so laid back, and I think that helped because I didn’t feel any pressure,” said Brannigan.

He also enjoyed the chance to retain his jersey on the new course.

“Everyone had to adapt to this new course, but it’s the style of track I like – fast and rough. Coming down I had a couple of moments, but that’s just natural because the track is so loose, so I was like ‘man I hope I stay on’, and I did.”

Brannigan had earlier set the fastest seeding time, with a 3:00.69 run, nearly five seconds better than his closest rival.

“I got three (minutes) flat in seeding and didn’t pedal too hard, so I knew I could break it (the 3 minute barrier) – so I just pedalled hard and it worked out”.

Both George and Brook take some time off from local racing now to focus on the upcoming events at Crankworx Rotorua at the end of next month.

Trek World Racing Confirms Roster for 2015 Season

Next year sees the UCI Elite Team, Trek World Racing, entering its 7th season on the World Cup circuit and will do so with 4 talented riders returning from 2014. World #9, Brook MacDonald clearly demonstrated that he has returned to form after his shoulder surgery by ending the 2014 season with a great 5th place at the World Championships as well as scoring 2 World Cup podiums in Leogang and Windham. 

Brook is joined by compatriot George Brannigan, the current New Zealand National Champion who showed his growing potential in 2014 with a World Cup podium in Leogang, an 8th in Windham and by seeding 7th at the World Championships. Scottish rider Greg Williamson also returns after his best World Cup season to date. Greg scored two 9th places in Fort William and Méribel and for the 2nd year in a row scored a spot on Team GB for the World Championships.

The three elite riders are joined again by junior phenom Laurie Greenland who will next year race the full Junior World Cup circuit after having a great finish to the 2014 season scoring a silver medal at the World Championships, and his first ever World Cup podium in Méribel.

Neko Mulally has requested to leave the team in order to pursue other opportunities.

For 2015 the team will once again focus on the UCI World Cups as well as selected European events, basing themselves out of France. The team is returning to its usual roster of 4 riders and all will be racing the Shimano/Fox equipped Trek Session 9.9 650B which many times recorded the fastest speeds in the World Cup speed-traps throughout the 2014 season. The Session has scored more than 40 podiums since it starting racing World Cups back in 2009.

Next month sees the start of national racing on the New Zealand calendar with the highlight being the National Championships for Brook MacDonald and George Brannigan on February 14 and 15, a title that has been held by Trek World Racing riders for the past 3 years. This time it will be George Brannigan’s turn to defend the Championship.

With Laurie Greenland moving into the 2015 season carrying the ranking of number 1 junior in the World, and three talented elite riders all capable of World Cup podium results, it will be another strong year for the Trek World Racing program. More news on co-sponsors and new video releases will be announced during the remainder of the off-season.

George Brannigan Wins NZ National Title on 650B Prototype Session

Last year it was Brook MacDonald, and the year before that it was Justin Leov, but this year the Trek World Racing rider to win the New Zealand National Downhill Title was George Brannigan, aboard his brand new Prototype 650B Trek Session. The racing was held in Rotorua, site of the 2006 World Championships, and in good weather. Some red flag course holds delayed the start of the final but George was feeling good on his new bike and ready to try and win his first Elite Title. Both Brook and George received their prototypes just the week before and had the option of riding these or their 26 inch bikes for this important race. Both opted for the new bike.

Brook said: "I felt comfortable on this bike from the beginning. It's crazy the difference to the 26, as a race bike it's a lot faster for sure! I'm really looking forward to racing it on the World Cup this year."
This was Brook's first week back on a DH bike, so his 5th place confirms he's on track and his recovery from shoulder surgery is on target.
For George this was a very important race. After spending all of 2013 coming back from major knee surgery, this is the first time that he's felt 100% in a race for a long time. Despite winning the Junior National Title in 2010, this was the title he was after. In winning he not only achieved his first Elite Title, but became the first rider to win a National DH Title on a 650B bike.

George said: "It's good to win that race and show the new bike is where it's at! It's amazing to be feeling how I was a year or so ago. I have put in a huge amount of work to get back. So this makes me so happy. I'm really stoked to take the win, can’t wait for Oceania's next."

The Oceania Continental Championships are being held at Mt Hutt (NZL) on March 15 and 16.

If you're in California this weekend, be sure to get to Fontana where Neko Mulally and Greg Williamson will be aboard their new 650B Prototypes.