Philip Buys (Scott Sports SA), Cherie Vale (Paarl Media) and Gregg Brown (Team Jeep) claimed the fourth and final round of the Elite cross-country and downhill races in the 2014 Southern African Mountain Bike Cup Series, which took place at Hayterdale Trails near Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape, at the weekend.
The Elite men had to complete 7 laps of the 4.2km XCO track that offered 130m of climbing per lap. Buys had strong start together with Gert Heyns (Heart-Sports ASG), posting a 12-minute 15-second lap time. The chase to the singletrack off the start line saw Buys enter first, followed by Heyns, Matthys Beukes (Scott Sports SA), Rourke Croeser (Kargo Pro MTB Team), Arno du Toit (Heart-Sports ASG) and Brendon Davids (Trek SA). The gaps began to open, and Buys showed his strength as he continued ahead in the lead. Croeser moved into second place, unable to close the gap. Buys took the win in 1 hour 30 minutes and 13 seconds, with Croeser second in 01:31:26. Heyns claimed third place, followed by Davids and Beukes for fourth and fifth respectively.
It was Cherie Vale (Paarl Media) who claimed the Elite women’s 6-lap race. Samantha Sanders (Valencia) had a great start to complete the first lap in first place in 15 minutes and 37 seconds, followed by Candice Neethling (Time Freight VELOlife) and then Vale. But Vale fought back and was in strong contention after lap two, when the race between her and Sanders ignited. Vale continued the latter part of the race ahead of her challengers and posted a winning time of 01:39:18. She was followed home by Neethling half a minute behind, with Sanders finishing third (01:40:47).
Junior competitors once again had the chance to earn UCI points at Hayterdale Trails, which formed part of the UCI Junior World Series.
Alan Hatherly (Heart-Sports ASG) set a cracker pace from the get-go to record a lap time of 12 minutes 43 seconds. He maintained a consistent pace throughout his five laps to finish in a commanding time of 01:06:27. He was followed by Team Jeep’s Julian Jessop in a time of 01:08:57, with Tristan de Lange claiming third place (01:08:58).
Bianca Haw (Time Freight VELOlife) claimed victory in the Junior women’s race, completing her four laps in a time of 01:07:17. Haw dominated her race, and was followed home by her teammate Frankie du Toit, 43 seconds off the pace. Genevieve van Coller (Heart-Sports ASG) finished in third place (01:10:21).
KwaZulu-Natal’s Thomas Jessop claimed the Youth men’s victory over Matthew Keyser by over half a minute, while Allison Morton won the Youth women’s race ahead of Sabrina van Wyk.
The downhill race took place along a 1.77km track with a vertical drop of 240m on Sunday. Team Jeep’s Gregg Brown claimed top honours with a winning time of 3 minutes 19.928 seconds. It was a KZN 1-2-3 as Andrew Martin finished second (03:20.499) and David Hogan third (03:29.428).
With the series done and dusted, riders will now look ahead to the once-off 2014 SA National MTB Championship, which will take place at Thaba Trails in Gauteng, from 19 to 20 July.
Cycling South Africa extends a big thanks to the hosts, Hayterdale Trails and their team for preparing the tracks and for hosting the event. We also thank our sponsor, Stihl, for their continued support in mountain biking.
Download the full set of XCO results here.
Download the full set of DHI results here.
The 2014 Series Log for the XCO and DHI disciplines has been uploaded and can be viewed here at the following web links:
XCO http://www.cyclingsa.com/App_Resources/Uploads/FILE00003769.pdf
DHI http://www.cyclingsa.com/App_Resources/Uploads/FILE00003770.pdf
Summary of results: SA XCO Cup #4 (Hayterdale Trails) 21 June 2014
Elite Men – 7 laps
1 Philip Buys 01:30:13
2 Rourke Croeser 01:31:26
3 Gert Heyns 01:32:10
4 Brendon Davids 01:33:03
5 Matthys Beukes 01:34:06
Elite Women – 6 laps
1 Cherie Vale 01:39:18
2 Candice Neethling 01:39:49
3 Samantha Sanders 01:40:47
4 Ashleigh Moffatt 01:54:31
Junior Men – 5 laps
1 Alan Hatherly 01:06:27
2 Julian Jessop 01:08:57
3 Tristan de Lange 01:08:58
4 Marco Joubert 01:09:26
5 Nicol Carstens 01:10:11
Junior Women – 4 laps
1 Bianca Haw 01:07:17
2 Frances du Toit 01:08:00
3 Genevieve Van Coller 01:10:21
4 Jessica Alcock 01:13:42
5 Alexandra Mapstone 01:14:19
Youth Men – 5 laps
1 Thomas Jessop 01:13:32
2 Matthew Keyser 01:14:05
3 Jarrod van den Heever 01:14:21
4 Andrew Sparks 01:14:57
5 Andreas Kuhn 01:17:24
Youth Women – 4 laps
1 Allison Morton 01:15:42
2 Sabrina van Wyk 01:24:05
Summary of results: SA DHI Cup #4 (Hayterdale Trails) 22 June 2014
Elite Men
1 Gregg Brown 03:19.928
2 Andrew Martin 03:20.499
3 David Hogan 03:29.428
4 Tian Strooh 03:32.016
5 Duran van Eeden 03:32.041
6 Adriaan Smit 03:34.449
7 Jonathan Philogene 03:35.342
8 Timo Godfrey 03:39.547
9 Wesley Auths 03:39.704
10 Nicholas Camp 03:44.793
