Spoke Magazine » Fort William

KENDA PLAYBIKER FORT WILLIAM VID

Caleb Smith — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 11:16:38 +0000

It’s actually a pretty good watch apart from the fact that Shaun needs to get himself a personality. Rankin and Wyn get some good footage but probably not the results they wanted.

Blenki vs fort william

Caleb Smith — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 21:42:30 +0000

A sweet little insight into Sam Blenkinsop’s Fort William race…

DIRTTV AND MTBCUT FORT WILLIAM VIDEOS

Caleb Smith — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 22:34:39 +0000

Okay this probably won’t be the last Fort William post, cause there’s still a bunch more videos to come in and a few more race reports (Trek and the Syndicate are lined up straight after this post). So I don’t want to take a single thing away from Cam Cole’s second cause that is just amazing and so deserved; we here at Spoke just can’t say enough about it! But as Sam Blenkinsop’s old sponsor (Matt from Wide Open) just pointed out, Sam is bad (not bad meaning bad, but bad mean good). The guy is wearing a wrist brace, he’s just back on the bike after breaking his wrist and he’s done no training over summer at ALL, then he qualifies second and finishes sixth! Mental health! Over on Vital MTB there is a pic of Sam in his last practice run (Photo 7) that shows just how bad Sam is!

SRAM RIDERS (AND BLINKY) DOMINATE FORT BILL

Caleb Smith — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 09:01:18 +0000

This past weekend marked the fourth round of gravity racing in the mountain bike World Cup series. If you didnt get up in the wee morning hours to catch it on Freecaster, you missed some heated racing! Fort William, Scotland is known for wet weather, huge crowds that never disappoint, and arm-blasting rubble!

The Santa Cruz Syndicate has now won four out of four. Frenzied fans were lucky enough to witness Greg Minnaar of Santa Cruz make short work of the rock filled race course and won with a time of 4:38.98. As Greg crossed the finish he was surrounded by his closest mates and extended South African family. South Africa was alive and well in the Scottish pits that night! Runner-up Sam Hill was hungry for a win but fell short by a second and a half. Sam would later say, Syndicate got their four in a row, now its time to get my four.

Steve Peat (1st place overall) and Greg Minnaar (2nd place overall) currently stand at two wins each with only 150 points separating the top five riders in the overall standings. Its the closest action seen in years, and racers need to have a good, if not great, qualifying run to maintain points in the race for the overall DH title.

Four Cross is a crowd favourite in Fort William. Spectators lined the track and even hung from trees to witness the side-by-side racing action. Jill Kintner displayed her talent with a strong move in the first corner and continued to battle Fionn and Caroline Buchanan for the win. You have to give it up for Jill this year. Jill wears many hats acting as team manager, mechanic, PR manager and athlete. Congratulations on the win and for moving up into the top position in the overall standing!

1 Greg Minnaar (RSA) Santa Cruz Syndicate
SRAM, RockShox, Avid, Truvativ
2 Samuel Hill (AUS) Monster Energy / Specialized / Mad Catz
SRAM, RockShox, Avid, Truvativ
3 Samuel Blenkinsop (NZL) Yeti Fox Shox Factory Race Team
4 Gee Atherton (GBR) Animal Commencal
5 Michael Hannah (AUS) GT Bicycles
SRAM, RockShox, Avid, Truvativ

BLINKY PODIUMS THIRD AT FORT WILLIAM

Caleb Smith — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 15:21:19 +0000

Sam Blenkinsop had a blistering run at Fort William, finishing third at the fourth round of the DH World Cup yesterday. Greg Minnaar took the win with Sam Hill in second. Things didn’t go too well for Justin Leov though, a bent crank in qualifying saw a 20th start position and a finish just outside of the top ten in 11th. Justin still sits in sixth overall with Sam B knocking at his heels in ninth.

Sam Blenkinsop pinning it down to the finish line!

Justin Leov held the hot seat for a while but was knocked off by ex-Yeti teammate Aaron Gwin

FORT WILLIAM LIVE WEBCAST (BLINKY QUALIFIED 4TH)

Caleb Smith — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 22:54:06 +0000

Calling all MTB race fans… this weekend marks a new era for Freecaster.tv. Due to overwhelming demand, we will be announcing the launch of our first ever DVD at the NISSAN UCI MTB World Cup in Fort William, Scotland.

Featuring all eight rounds of the World Cup and the World Championships, this will be the most comprehensive summary of the DH and 4X race season in the history of the sport. Featuring official coverage with Rob Warner’s inimitable commentary, highlights, interviews, Fox Course Walks and more, the DVD will be ready in October 2009 and ONLY available on pre-order.

Stay tuned to Freecaster.tv in the coming weeks as more details about how to pre-order will be appearing shortly.

In the meantime, the action continues, with LIVE 4X racing at 20:00 CEST on Saturday June 6th, and LIVE DH from 14:00 CEST on Sunday June 7th, direct from Scotland.

LIVE Webcast NISSAN UCI Mountain Bike World Cup Calendar
June 6-7 – United Kingdom – DHI 4X
June 20-21 – Slovenia – DHI 4X
July 25-26 – Canada – XCO DHI 4X
August 1-2 – Canada – XCO DHI 4X
September 13 – Switzerland – XCO
September 19-20 – Austria – DHI 4X

LIVE Webcast NISSAN UCI Mountain Bike World Championship
September 5-6 – Australia – XCO DHI 4X

BILL vs MINNAAR

Caleb Smith — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 22:18:17 +0000

Helmet cam footage from a casual Greg Minnaar at Fort William last year… Next weekend should be exciting.