RACING NEWS 

Team Morewood - Norba Final and the road to the World Championships

Norba #6


Norba Final - Snowmass Colorado 11-12 august 2006

The last destination on the 2006 Norba circuit and site for the final showdown to decide the winners of this year's Norba Season. This venue has been used for several years now and despite the area resonating to the sound of construction of the multi-million life-style center, the courses and organization was excellent.

There is no doubt that the permanently maintained 4-cross course is the best on the circuit and the newly constructed dual slalom course was tight and ideal for those riders with a BMX background, but great from a spectator perspective as you were able to view the entire course from one position. The downhill course was little changed from last year except the high-speed switch-back section had been made faster as the corners had been rounded out. Riders were hitting speed of 50mph going through this section and if you came off here, you stayed off… I witnessed a hi-speed crash where the rider flew through the air for at least 40 ft before crashing to earth like a rag doll. His bike cart-wheeled a further 50 yards and disappeared down a ravine. Fortunately the rider suffered only a minor concussion, two tacco'ed wheels, a shattered helmet and a few cuts and bruises.

As this was the Norba Final it was mandated that all riders should be there and none of these races could be a discard in the series. So with a good turn-out of some of the worlds finest downhill, mountain-cross and cross country riders the scene was set for an outstanding weekend of riding. The serious racing kicked-off with a 'fun' dual slalom on the Friday night which was, quite frankly, the best dual we have seen all season. Although it was a fun race, it was hotly contested with the two finalist being Greg Minnaar and Rich Houseman. In the final run, these two riders were absolutely neck-to-neck the whole way, giving it everything they had. Both crashed right at the finish with Greg sliding over the finish line to beat Rich by a fraction of a second. The women's race was just as tightly contested with Amelia Colasuro finishing first, just ahead of 2nd placed Joanna Pettersen on her Morewood Ndiza ST.
The rain stayed away this year and the Mountain Cross finals went ahead on an awesome, but slightly damp course. Rich Housemen won his final in convincing style and was the overall Norba Mountain Cross champion for 2006. Joanna finished 2nd which gave her 1st overall for the Pro Women Norba series and Cole Bangert was the top placed Morewood men's rider and ended up the Norba season as the 6th placed rider in the Pro Men Mountain Cross series.

The rain started falling in earnest on Saturday afternoon and turned the dusty DH course into slippery slope of muddy porridge. For the Experts racing on the Saturday afternoon, it was a matter of survival and trying to make it down the course without crashing. Identifying the riders and their race numbers became an impossible task as they were so covered with mud. It continued raining on Saturday night, but Sunday dawned clear and the course rapidly dried out and was in perfect condition for the DH final.

Disaster struck the Morewood Team in the morning practice as Joanna Pettersen, currently leading the Pro Women's DH points, crashed heavily and rode down to the first aid tent with what transpired to be a broken ankle. This is a double disaster as Joanna had been picked to ride for her country in the World Championships and now she couldn't compete in this or the mandated Norba final putting her out of the top 5 in the final Norba standings. Lisa Myklak, the other pro women Morewood rider, rode a precise race and finished in 3rd place just behind Tracy Hannah in 2nd and Sabrina Jonnier in 1st. Despite missing 2 Norba races in the early part of the season, Lisa ended up in 3rd place overall for the Norba series.

The Pro Men's DH series winner would be decided between Sam Hill in top spot, only a few points ahead of Greg Minnaar….Greg had to win by 3 places to be declared the winner. Morewood riders Cole Bangert - USA and Jonty Neethling - South Africa, both of whom have been selected to ride for their countries in World Championships, were going to be extra careful to make sure they didn't get injured prior to flying to New Zealand. Geritt Beytagh, the 'missing' Morewood rider who has been sidelined with a broken shoulder for most of the season, was back in the saddle and keen to prove that he can still mix it after a 12 week layoff.
Jonty and Cole put in fairly conservative runs and finished with a 26th and 20th respectively. That placed Jonty at 25th and Cole at 10th for the overall Norba season. Geritt, who had had a slow qualifying run due to a flat tire, came blasting down the hill and occupied the hot-seat for the next 40 minutes until the final eight riders descended and he ended up 9th - just 5 seconds behind the eventual winner Greg Minnaar. Sam Hill finished 2nd which was enough to give him the overall Norba DH title.

Overall it has been a great Norba season for Team Morewood and despite some serious injuries they finished with 18 Pro podium places and 3 riders selected to represent their country at the World Champs in New Zealand.

Morewood would like to thank their sponsors for their great support - Manitou, e.thirteen, Industry Nine, Cane Creek, Dainese, Crank Bros, Hayes and Sun Ringle