Two Bay riders among top seven to advance

Hawke’s Bay pair Brook Macdonald and George Brannigan qualified in the top seven of the downhill at the penultimate round of the Mountainbike World Cup near New York yesterday.

Macdonald, sixth in last week’s world cup action in Canada, was sixth fastest in qualifying at Windham, while Brannigan was one spot back. Five Kiwis qualified for the elite race, with Sam Blenkinsop 11th fastest, Cameron Cole 19th and national champion Justin Leov 28th.

The course retains much of the track from previous years, aside from small sections washed out by Hurricane Irene, which had threatened the staging of the event.

Four other Kiwi riders missed out on a place in the top 80 to qualify for today’s final.

Last week’s winning world cup pair, Samara Sheppard and Anton Cooper, were chasing more podium honours in the cross-country at the weekend.

Sheppard achieved a breakthrough victory at Mont Sainte Anne to move her to No 3 in the world in the women’s under-23 category, while Cooper devastated the junior men’s field and is now leading the world cup standings.

Brad Hudson, Tom Bradshaw and Mathew Waghorn will contest the men’s under-23 class, while Oceania champion Amber Johnson and Samantha Hope will contest the junior women’s race. Cooper is joined by Nigel McDowell and Tom Filmer in the junior men. — APNZ