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.

Things Are Heating Up At Trek World Racing

During the recent opening round of the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup in Fort William, Trek World Racing unveiled the latest tool the team will have on hand for their riders in the 2013 season. The TWR HotBox as pictured is essentially a bike warmer for use at the top of the mountain prior to race start.

In a similar vein to the systems used in motor sports to have various components of their race machines at optimum temperature in race conditions, the team studied various scenarios and compiled data pertaining to the performance of the Session 9.9 in cold conditions and determined that heating the bikes to a particular temperature would allow the rider to have the bike feeling responsive immediately from the get go, supple over the initial hits and read for the first heavy compressions with complete traction. This has an impact on suspension, hydraulics and some tire compounds.

Designed by 23 Degrees Sports for the Trek World Racing team, the HotBox is totally portable and can be easily taken to the top of the mountain by chairlift and/or gondola, and erected in less than 10 minutes. The team will have the HotBox on hand for key races later in the year, namely in Norway and Leogang, where they'll be used should the ambient temperature at the top of the mountain fall below a pre-determined number.

Team Owner Martin Whiteley commented: "We've had races where the temperatures at the start house were down as low as 5 degrees Celsius, and there is clear evidence that the bikes and technology we run now are simply not operating as they should in these conditions for up to 4 major compressions. There'll be some who think this is going too far, but there are those who said that in motor-sport some time ago and now it's the norm. I spend a lot of time around motor-sport and the advice and information I've been given has been very helpful in arriving at the current design of the HotBox and the various temperature parameters we used both in heating, and start mode. I'm keen for the riders to use it now in race conditions".

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".

TWR Team Scores Podium and Top 10 At World Cup Opener in Fort William

Trek World Racing opened its World Cup account in Fort William today with a 2nd place for Brook MacDonald and a 10th place for rookie pro, Greg Williamson, and solid positions for both Neko Mulally and George Brannigan. The team, now in its fifth season, has helped Trek rack up an impressive 34 World Cup podiums for the Session bike since 2009.

The Scottish Highlands served sunshine all week and a track that was dusty and not easy to read, and despite the threat of rain, the clouds held off in front of what must have been a record World Cup crowd at the Fort. First rider to come down for Trek World Racing was Scotland's Greg Williamson who turned 21 this weekend and had his whole family in attendance. Crossing the line after a fast bottom sector Greg took the hotseat by a massive 3.5secs and was to stay there for close to 25 minutes before eventually taking a career best 10th place.

Next up for the team was George Brannigan (NZL) who's on the road the recovery from major knee surgery and today achieved his goal with a solid qualifier and final, now ranked 31st in the World Cup going to Round 2. Neko Mulally was next and after scoring a point in the quali's yesterday was set for a top 15 today until a small error in the forest section put him back to 25th. The pace is there and his favorite tracks are yet to come.

Finally it was Brook 'Bulldog' MacDonald who qualified 6th fastest and was down at 13th place at the first split in his race run, but he dug deep in the lower section to take the fastest time and move into the hotseat. Only local favourite Gee Atherton who rode a great race, could finish ahead of the Kiwi.

Brook said: "I'm so happy. This is my best result at Fort William and only my 5th career podium so far. To do this at my first World Cup for my new team is very special, couldn't be happier".

Greg said: "I suffered from nerves pretty bad yesterday in my quali and today I was so chilled I nearly missed my start! To get my first ever top 10 in a World Cup, in my home country, I'm speechless".

Finishing top 10 is one of the criteria for Greg to be selected for the British team to the World Championships. Spots on that team are hard fought for and the 7 riders will be named after Round 3. Trek World Racing finished 3rd today in the team ranking and showed it is super competitive and ready for the rest of the World Cup season.

The team will now head straight to Val di Sole in Italy for Round 2 of the World Cup next weekend.

Brook MacDonald On The Podium At British DH Round 3

Trek World Racing took advantage of the close proximity of the 3rd round of the British Downhill Series here in Innerleithen, Scotland, to next week's all important opening round of the UCI World Cup in Fort William, to get the riders up to speed and iron out any remaining preparations. The weather was unseasonably warm and extremely sunny making the narrow, rooty and repetitive track fast, and hard to learn.

Local riders took the lion's share of the podium with Brook MacDonald the only non-UK rider taking a spot, finishing in 4th place ahead of many of the World Cup's top international riders. Practice runs took up to 2 hours a time due to the large number of riders and the relatively slow uplift system, so learning the track wasn't made easy.

Greg Williamson took a solid 13th place but was a little disappointed after taking the hot seat, not to stay there longer. He was kicked out by Nick Beer (SUI) but was still happy overall with what felt like a top 20 world class ride. Neko Mulally and George Brannigan were both on their first visit to this technical track and used it simply as a way to clean out the cobwebs from long travel and be ready for the big race next week.

Brook said: "This track is so narrow with trees lining nearly the entire route and you really have to watch your handlebars and keep it tidy. It's not an easy track if you haven't ridden it much, but I was happy with my lower half of the race run and met thegoal of podium this weekend. All good."

Greg said: "I'm happy with that, and even though it wasn't the perfect run, it was good enough to get me close to the top ten in what was a pretty stacked field."

The team heads to Fort William tomorrow and is looking forward to getting the World Cup series started with the classic course at Nevis Range.