NEW YEAR NEW GEAR
Biggest Brit team moves for 2022
Every year we look forward to seeing if our favourite riders will renew their contracts or head to pastures new. It’s always exciting to see how familiar faces will fare on different teams equipped with new bikes and gear. Here are six of the biggest team changes by UK riders for the coming season…
1 JOE BARNES
Scottish shredder Joe and his Hazzard Racing teammate Fergus Lamb (of Dudes of Hazzard fame/infamy) will be racing on Hope Technology’s boutique HB-series bikes in this season’s EWS – including the prototype HB916 enduro bike – after three years with fellow British brand Orange. The bikes may be sleeker-looking, but we expect the lads’ rut-slapping antics, videos and facial hair to remain decidedly lo-fi.
2 LAURIE GREENLAND
Hailing from MBUK’s hometown of Bristol, 25-year-old Laurie should need no introduction. Riding for MS Mondraker for the past five years, he bagged two DH World Championships silver medals, was a regular World Cup winner and picked up coveted Red Bull sponsorship. Now he’s left to join the hallowed ranks of the Santa Cruz Syndicate, alongside Greg Minnaar and fellow new signings Jackson Goldstone and Nina Hoffman. Laurie’s already looking rapid on his V10 – bring on the 2022 World Champs!
3 JOE BREEDEN
Joe has been climbing the Elite ranks since taking silver at the 2017Junior DH World Champs, seeding first at the Val di Sole World Cup in 2019, and cracking the top 10 in 2020 and 2021. Having ridden for Intense Racing UK as a teen, signing with the global Intense Factory Racing squad is a dream come true for the Welshman. The roster is completed by fellow new recruit Dakotah Norton and old hands Aaron Gwin and Seth Sherlock.
4 KATY WINTON
After two top-five finishes in the 2020 Enduro World Series, it was a travesty Katy found herself without a team last year. The Scot soldiered on, putting together her own Moxie XI programme and racing as a privateer. It’s great to see her move to GT Factory Racing for 2022, joining the likes of Wyn Masters and fellow Brit (and Junior DH World Cup champ)
Ethan Craik. Here’s hoping the new team helps the Tweed Valley local build on her thirdplace ranking in the 2017 and 2018 series.
5 BEX BARAONA
The 2021 EWS Tweed Valley winner and Gowaan Girls cofounder/conspirator (with MBUK columnist Martha Gill) leaves Ibis bikes and will race for the Yeti/Fox Factory team. The new bike and kit look fab, and Bex is bringing some strong momentum into the 2022 enduro season.
6 ATHERTON RACING
Not only is the allconquering Rachel Atherton weighing up a return to racing in 2022, after a ruptured Achilles tendon and then giving birth to her first child, but her brother Gee is on his way to recovery from his ‘Knife Edge’ crash in the summer, too. The team have two new members as well – former Atherton Academy rider Dom Platt and Jim Monro, signed after Red Bull Hardline.