Round #2 GregMinnaar/Mongoose DH series

On Sunday the 31st of January I had my first race back after a month and a half break from cycling due to my broken finger. I was a bit shakey the first couple of runs down the hill, when you haven’t ridden for a while it’s not as easy as climbing back on the bike and going fast straight away as I soon found out Sunday morning. The track at worlds view is awesome, very fast and has a lot of natural obstacles that make for a fun course. My first run was ok, a bit conservative but I was happy to get a solid time. My feet blew off the pedals when I landed from jump in the forest which killed my momentum a bit, so I was hoping to have a clean second run. Next run came and the same thing happened down the first straight before the main rock garden, I managed to keep it together and finish the run a second and a half faster. I was happy with the race, gonna take a bit more practice to get up to speed and some training to get some fitness back, but I’m more than willing to do the work.

Overall results for the day were:

1) Greg Minnaar 1.26.21

2) Tim Bentley 1.27.11

3) Tiaan Odendaal 1.30.69

4) Justin Cope 1.31.21

5) Travis Browning 1.32.08

Thanks to Brian and my dad for setting an amazing course, looking forward to riding there again! Thanks to Lloyd for the photo. See a write up on the event at http://www.nsrmtb.co.za/

Round 1 GregMinnaar/Mongoose Downhill series

A broken finger forced me to spectate at our first DH race of the season. The day started off really wet from 3 days of rain. Mud tires were essential for the parts of the track I saw and the feed back given by the riders. The track looked awesome, it was marked from top to bottom with tape and had been prepped really well, a big thanks to race organisers Brian Dinkelman, Morne odendaal and my dad Gary Browning. Unfortunately i witnessed a bad crash at the top of the track over the first rock garden. Young pinner Alan Haterly gapped the rocks and slipped out just afterwards, he went down landing on his shoulder first which broke his humorous and did some other damage I'm not to certain about. Wishing him a quick and trouble free recovery. I was blown away by the spectator and rider turn out for the first race. For the first time in our regional history the track was lined with loads of spectators cheering and supporting the guys. It was really cool to see so many new young faces on the bike, I hope these guys stick around and progress with the sport heading into the future. Racing was super fun to watch. Hayds was on top form knocking seconds off his last run time setting a fast pace for the riders after him. He finished third for the day. Greg was back on the bike for his first time after his injury so he was looking smooth and stylish as ever. He had two clean runs and finished second for the day. Timmi B was pinned as always sending that GT flying down the mountain and just kept it super smooth. He finished a well deserved first for the day. Thanks to the sponsors Greg Minnaar racing and Mongoose and all the spectators and riders that made the event such a success.

Next race is on the 31 January at worlds view, see you all there!

Click here for a full report and more photos...http://www.nsrmtb.co.za/kzn-regional-dh-series-round-1-race-report/

Ride safe,

TB

Broken bones...

For me 2009 wasn’t one of those years that you look back on and think, "wow I wish I could do it all over again." In March I had the biggest crash to date at our regional event on the world cup track. I ended up plowing into the floor head first at about 40kmh over a big gap jump. It left me with a concussion, broken humorous, cracked shoulder blade, and compressed vertebrae in my spine. After a long wait on the mountain I finally got into an ambulance and headed to medi-clinic. After being wrestled off the X-ray bed by only one employee I was taken into theatre where they operated on my arm putting A stainless steel plate with six screws holding the two bones together. I have never been so uncomfortable in my life, for the next few weeks I was walking hunched over and every muscle in my body was in pain. Sneezing was something I tried to avoid for obvious reasons.

Then in December I found myself heading to medi-clinic again after a crash on our pump track in Howick left me with a broken index finger at the joint. Two pins were inserted just above the knuckle which poked out the bandages like a TV antenna. So that was another forced break from cycling for me. I went back to the doc on the 21st January where he used the "grip and rip" technique to get the pins out. Another momento to go with the plate from my arm. I'm looking forward to getting back on the bike end of this month just in time for our second regional event. In our sport It’s so important to be on medical aid, breaking a bone is expensive nowadays.

Ride safe,
TB

Pump track results - 13/12/09

Hey everyone

What an awesome day we had on Sunday the 13th December, the weather was on our side and the son decided to pop through the clouds and watch some of the action every now and then. We had a total of 23 entries for the day which I am hoping will double by the time we have our next event. The spectator support was amazing, the banks were lined with people that came to see what it was all about. We started the day with individual practice runs around the short but technical and physically demanding course. Then the seeding runs started at 11:30 so that the guys could get an idea of how fast or slow their competitors were going. Racing started soon after with the BMX guys up first. The race format was heats of three, and the fastest lap put of those rounds would count for the final result. Brad “death grip” Purchase amazed us all with his no-brake BMX skills, the competition was close between him and Ricardo Springolo who is a well established BMX racer. Ricardo ended up winning just ahead of Brad and Tyler Klumper. There was some fierce competition in the MTB class between Travis Browning and Kelvin Purchase and pro motocross racer Liam O’Farrell. Travis took the win followed closely by Kelvin and then Liam. There were only two entrants into the cruiser class but that didn’t stop Sharlene McGilvray and Dylan Egger from giving there all. Dylan set an impressive lap time to take the win (he’s got skills…watch this space) ahead of Sharlene. Overall it was a super fun day with a good variety of riders. Thanks to all the guys who came out to support the event and to our sponsors Midlands plant hire, FOX, Morewood bikes, Adrenalin cycles, Tilly Fencing and Wimpy for making it such an awesome event. Also to our time keepers, Danni, Judy, Grant and Martin and David for the photees.

Here are the results as well as lap times
20” class :
Ricardo Springolo – 24.58
Brad Purchase – 25.15
Tyler Klumper – 26.51

24” class:
Dylan Egger – 26.98
Sharlene McGilvray – 34.04

26”
Travis Browning – 23.74
Kelvin Purchase – 24.30
Liam O’Farrell – 26.44

Fastest overall lap:
Travis Browning – 23.74

The track is open to anyone at any time during the week and weekends. You can find it at Fairways on main shopping centre, Howick (right next to Adrenalin cycles.) The shopping centre is open from 8am to 7pm at night. If you want any info on the track give me a call on 082 297 6587.

Ride safe,
TB

Taking Shape....

Things are slowly coming together at the pump track in Howick, we have done quite a bit of building since my last post on here. The track is now ridable but there is still some fine tuning to be done, some burms didn't work out the way I planned as they just to tight. So we gonna go back to the drawing board and re-design parts of the track and make it alot smoother when we are happy with the finalised plan. Other than that I'm really happy with how it came out. It's loads of fun to ride and is very physically demanding...3 laps of half this track at flat out race pace and you start seeing black dots and feeling a bit woozy. We had a session there yesterday once the sun had gone down and it cooled a bit, there's just so much you can do on this track it's awesome. We just rode and practiced cornering, finding new lines and playing some tag on the bikes, I'm really looking towards our grand opening and first pump track race! Here's some fun facts on the track as it looks now:

Track direction: Anti-clockwise

Left hand turns: 6

Right hand turns: 2

180 degree burm: 1

Rollers: 19

Tables: 2

Step ups: 3

Bob-cat working time: 6 1/2 hours

Man hours so far: +- 15 hours (and counting)

Sun burns: 2

Grant from Adrenalin Cycles has a key to open the gate above the pump track, so feel free to give it a test ride anytime! Thanks to Kelvin, Hayden and my dad for the help with building. Watch this space for more pics as well as the date for our grand opening event.

Check below for some updated photees

Ride safe,

TB