Justin Leov Wins At The 2012 Highland Park USGP

Trek World Racing's Justin Leov and Neko Mulally were in action yesterday at the 3rd round of the US Grand Prix of MTB at Highland Park, New Hampshire, on the US east coast. Neko stunned the field in Sunday morning qualifying with a run that was 5 seconds quicker than any rider, but unfortunately crashed in the finals in the first wooded section. Justin on the hand was nursing a broken finger from Windham and was a conservative 5th in qualifying but laid it down for the final run.

Fresh after his announcement that this year would be his last on the World Cup DH circuit, Justin showed why h e is still considered one of the class acts in Pro Men's DH racing. After the drama of last weekend where he was set to have a great World Cup race and then smashed his hand against a tree on his last training run, Justin wasn't sure he could race at Highland Park as the pain was still very evident. Nevertheless he buckled down and put in a solid run, one that he thought would be enough for 2nd. After the podium he got news that he wasn't expecting. Originally told by the Albany Medical Center that his fingers were free of any fractures, a late email came from the same medical center shortly after he'd won the race yesterday saying in fact they have since noticed a volar plate fracture in the finger. Justin will now be having the finger seen to on his return to New Zealand this week to ensure it's all good for the next World Cup in a few weeks.

Justin said: "I feel less soft now haha! Seriously though, this weekend was tough for me, after the crash of last week I hones tly didn't think I could really race this weekend. Cotton wool and tape helped a lot and after a roll down in qualifying I knew that I at least wanted to give it a real go in the final. I felt a lot faster and managed to put down a solid run. I know Neko would have beaten that time today if he hadn't crashed, so it's good to see him back on form again. He looked fast and committed all weekend. I'm so pumped to be going home for 10 days, I can't wait to have a little break and get healed for France." Justin now has a commanding lead after round 3 of the 4 race US series.

For Neko it was clearly a disappointing afternoon after posting such a strong time in the morning qualifier, one that stood as fastest of the day; all eyes were on the hill with his team mate in the hot-seat, as it all looked set for another 1-2 for the Session 9.9 equipped Trek World Racing. Just a small error at speed had Neko over the bars, uninjured but finishing down in 25th.

Neko said: "All weekend I felt that I'd found the flow that I was riding with at the beginning of the season and I was really pushing myself here today. I attacked the track the way I wanted to on all my runs and was really enjoying it. However, I went over the bars pretty hard in my race run but managed to come away from it unscathed and I'm totally OK. That happens sometimes when you're trying to ride at your limits. I can take a lot of positives out of this weekend, and I'm looking forward to taking on the next r ace with the killer attitude that I had this weekend."

Aaron Gwin WIns WIndham WC 5 While Leov Announces Retirement

In front of the partial home crowd and a large contingent from the Gwin family, Trek World Racing's Aaron Gwin took his 4th World Cup win of the season, and a career 9th, when he bested the rest of the world class field here in Windham, New York. Drowned out by chants of U-S-A, U-S-A, Aaron battled to find the words to describe the feeling of winning in front of his American fans.

Aaron said: "Whether I won or lost today I knew the fans would have my back and be supportive of my racing, but there's no doubt that the win here feels very special. You can hear the fans all the way down and i t pushes you on. I actually took the chairlift quite late today and it allowed me to see what times the top guys were posting and I knew I'd have to be on it to win. I made a mistake early on where I hit 3 course marking poles and I know I lost time in the first sector but I was trying to stay cool and keep the pace right to the line. Walking out onto the podium here with the US flag here means a great deal to me."

Meanwhile it was a bittersweet weekend for Justin Leov. For a number of months now he has been preparing to announce that this season will be his last on the World Cup DH circuit. It's his 10th season and his career includes many highlights such as 3 World Cup podiums, winning some US national events, Crankworx Garbanzo, and importantly having a major impact on the careers of Aaron Gwin and has compatriots Sam Blenkinsop, Cam Cole and Brook MacDonald.

Justin said: "I've given this a lot of thought and for me there's no question that this is the time t o announce my retirement. The sport has given me a great 10 years, and these last 4 with Trek World Racing have been the real highlight. There are other things for me to do and both me and my wife Tory are looking forward to the future. I'll be giving it my all for the next races and aiming for the best results possible, I'll always be a super competitive and committed person but for now it’s time to turn these traits to another life."

In his last practice run before the final Justin smashed a tree with his left hand and raced the final with a suspected broken finger. The damage was evident but x-rays later confirmed he escaped serious injury and is off to Highland Park, NH, next week to race.

Team Director Martin Whiteley said: "While I've known for some time that this will be Justin's last year on the circuit, the public confirmation of it doesn't come any easier. Justin is an integral member of the team, a hugely talented rider, and an amazing mate and team m ate. We will savour every week we have with him for the remainder of this year and then wish him well in his new chapter in lifer. We are truly indebted to Justin and all he has given us, the team and this sport."

Neko Mulally made a solid return to racing after his nasty crash last weekend in Canada and scored a 36th place which he was happy with and gives him the confidence that he's getting back on track after the recent setbacks.

Aaron Gwin Wins 2012 Mont Sainte Anne World Cup

For the second year in a row, Aaron Gwin has won the World Cup at Mont-Sainte-Anne, Canada, the track where he made his dramatic debut in 2008. Team mate Justin Leov scored his first top 10 of the year after qualifying 5th, and Neko Mulally walks away from a horrific crash that had his family and the team looking on with great concern.

Certainly a day of action and drama for the team, but there is little that can be taken away from Aaron Gwin in yet another display or pure talent and determination on one of the world's toughest courses. Last year both he and main rival Greg Minnaar crashed in their final runs, but Aaron's was less costly in time. This year a couple of small errors saw his opening leading of 2.9secs whittled down to 1.3secs at the finish line, but enough to take his 3rd win of the season, and extend his World Cup lead over Greg Minnaar to 135 points.

Interestingly in the last 11 World Cups (7 in 2011 and 4 so far this year) there have only been two winners, Aaron with 8 and Greg with 3. Historically, Aaron now holds the record for the best percentage winning streak having won 8 of 11 consecutive races (previous best was Nicolas Vouilloz with 7 from 10 consecutive).

Aaron said: "It's always special to win a World Cup but this venue holds a special place in my heart. The pressure was on today as I knew Greg would step it up and he's had his fair share of success over the years here. The course has some sections which feel almost designed for me, I love them, and I know if I hadn’t made those two small errors in the lower half of the course I would have sc ored a better time, but hey, I'll take it!"

For Justin it was great to have the speed here this week and after qualifying 5th he was sure he could score his best result of the 2012 World Cup season, ideally a podium. His race run was for the most part going really well, especially the first half, but then in a couple of sections Justin lost a little time by riding conservatively.

Justin said: "Moving on up, which is always a good feeling, my rank is now 11th overall so that's good. I just felt in a couple of sections that I was just doing enough to get through them rather than pinning it, but what I've learned this week I'll take to Windham ."

Neko Mulally, after qualifying in a solid 17th place was on target to have another top 20 result when he had a terrible crash caught live on the broadcast. Fortunately we can report that after on site treatment by the medical staff, Neko has walked away without broken bones, and is suffering a mild concussion. He will be under observation for the next 48hrs but is expected to make a speedy recovery.

Neko Mulally Belatedly Awarded The 2011 US National DH Title

During this past weekend in Vermont, many people saw Neko Mulally (Trek World Racing) was wearing the US National Flag on his left sleeve, as is required under UCI rules for National Champions in DH racing. This, despite the fact that in earlier races this year American Logan Binggeli was wearing that sleeve.

In the forthcoming issue of Decline Magazine, Neko goes into detail, in his Trek World Racing column, on just how this came about but essentially the UCI have declared Neko the 2011 US National DH Champion and informed USA Cycling about this decision.

The confusion stems from the fact th at even though Neko rode the fastest time on the day at the US National Championships, he was told to ride the junior category as per his age in 2011. He was awarded the Junior National Title by USA Cycling and Binggeli the Elite title. However the UCI does not, at National Championship level, recognize the junior category and as the results were awarded UCI points based on scratch results (irrespective of category), Neko, as the fastest rider, is the National Champion under UCI rules. This is also the case in Canada and Norway this year.

This means for the next 2 World Cups in Mont-Sainte-Anne and Windham, Neko will proudly be running the US National Champion sleeve, alongside Justin Leov in his New Zealand National Champion sleeve. Neko will also run this at the Highland Park US Grand Prix, before going to Beech Mountain, North Carolina on July 21 and 22 where he will be hoping to defend his two 2011 National Titles, Dual Slalom and the recently acquired Downhill.

Justin Leov Wins Vermont Round Of US National Series

The latest round of the US National Series visited the new venue of Sugarbush Resort in Vermont on the US East Coast, where the sun shone, and the track was dry and fast. The event saw Trek World Racing's Justin Leov setting the pace, as well as Neko Mulally making his return to racing after suffering a fractured ankle, which x-rays confirmed is fully recovered.

In Saturday qualifying Justin was fastest aboard his Session 9.9 with Neko close behind in 2nd. Justin did 3m 32.31secs and Neko 3m 33.96secs. The weather was again perfect for Sunday's race with blue skies and a dry track. The course was reall y fast up top with typical Vermont style sections and some good woods sections that could catch a rider out if not paying attention. Just took nearly 8 seconds off his qualifier to win with 3min 24secs, with Mitch Ropelato (USA) in 2nd and Neko finishing 3rd, 4 seconds ahead of his quali.

Justin said: "My goal for the weekend was to work on my speed for Mont-Sainte-Anne next weekend. I was pretty disappointed after the European World Cups so I was motivated to really work on getting my speed up. I was happy with both my quali and race runs this weekend, both felt fast and definitely in the right direction for the racing coming up in the next few weeks. It was also great to have Neko back racing this weekend, good to see him back on the bike and also riding well. Good prep for him leading into MSA."

Neko said: "My goal this weekend was to get comfortable on my bike again and build up speed for next weekend. My ankle is feeling pretty good and I'm glad to be back r acing."

The guys drive north to Quebec this week and join the rest of the Trek World Racing crew for the all important Mont-Sainte-Anne World Cup Round 4.