In the Media

Fry and McConnell deliver again

Sunday 13 December 2009

Day two of racing at the opening round of the Jayco Australian Mountain Bike (MTB) Series saw Rowena Fry and Daniel McConnell come away with their second wins for the weekend while Leigh Douglas and Ben Cory took out the downhill races.

The men’s short course cross country race was a hard fought race between the experienced McConnell and rising star Paul van der Ploeg, 20, who took the initiative early trying to break the race up.

McConnell waited patiently early in the race before closing the gap to the young Victorian and eventually taking the win ahead of van der Ploeg and Ben Henderson but was impressed by his young rival.

“Paul just pushed me and pushed me. I thought he was going to run away with it but I just came good at the right time and managed to sneak away,” McConnell said.

“The future of Paul is just huge. Who knows what he can do. He’s so young and his stills are just awesome and he is definitely a name to watch in the future.”

Van der Ploeg was philosophical about his second place finish saying he always learns a lot from McConnell and might not be quite so aggressive at the start of the race next time.

For Tasmania’s Fry the women’s short course race capped off the perfect weekend of racing when she got the better of Heather Logie and Rebecca Henderson.

At the end of the first lap Fry appeared to have the race wrapped up after Logie crashed and found herself in last place.

Showing plenty courage Logie got back into the race and clawed her way back to second place coming into the closing stages but Fry had enough in reserve to hold on to win by six seconds.

The Tasmanian said she was happy with her early season form but saved much of her praise for Logie.

“She’s riding awesome,” Fry said of the second place finisher.

“I don’t know where she’s come from but it’s great to have another girl riding really well on the Australian circuit and a credit to her.,She’s flying.”

By coming back from her first lap crash Logie, who comes from an adventure racing background, showed the sort of character that could make her a factor for the rest of the series.

“In something this short, it’s over, it’s got to be over,” Logie said of the crash.

“And then I just thought, ‘that’s not me’. That’s not the way I’ve approached anything so why would I give up. I thought I’d just keep going and give it a go.”

In the downhill competition Ben Cory won the men’s event ahead of Amiel Cavalier and Rick Boyer.

Cory said he didn’t feel like his ride was anything special but was delighted with the win and now that he leads the downhill category of the Australian MTB series intends to contest the remaining three rounds in an effort to defend his lead.

In the women’s race it was a commanding win for the series defending champion Leigh Douglas.

Racing on home soil Douglas, the Canadian born Kingston resident, was a staggering 31 seconds faster than second place finisher Emma Lewis and has cemented herself once again as the women to beat in the 2009/10 series.

Third place in the women’s downhill race went to Sarah Booth.

The next round of the Jayco Australian MTB Series will be held in Shepparton, 23-24 January 2010. But prior to that the Australian Championships will be raced in Adelaide 12-17 January 2010.

Results
Elite women’s short course cross country
1. Rowena Fry (TAS)
2. Heather Logie (ACT)
3. Rebecca Henderson (ACT)

Elite men’s short course cross country
1. Daniel McConnell (VIC)
2. Paul van der Ploeg (VIC)
3. Ben Henderson (ACT)

Elite men’s downhill
1. Ben Cory (ACT)
2. Amiel Cavalier (NSW)
3. Rick Boyer (NSW)

Elite women’s downhill
1. Leigh Douglas (TAS)
2. Emma Lewis (TAS)
3. Sarah Booth (SA)

For more information, please contact:

Matthew Keenan - Jump Media and Marketing
(03) 9500 0122 or 0438 048 083
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.