Thursday, July 30, 2009

Round Seis - Mont St Anne, Quebec

Another round of burly, rocky, long, speedy racing took place in the Great White North this past weekend at the old stomping grounds of Mont St Anne. The Worlds will take place here next year, which will be interesting considering how familiar everybody is with this course.


The big news was the return of Shaun Palmer to DH racing via a brand new Intense bike. I don't think he is sponsored per-se, but it looked like he was given a lot of product to showcase at the pits. He attracts a crowd wherever he goes (even at age 40), and is great at promoting his sponsors.


The race played out as it always does with Sam Hill and Steve Peat battling it out for top spot on the box. Sam won this week, but it was the 50th World Cup podium experience of Steve Peat's career, which is absolutely phenomenal, and may never be equaled again.


Chris Kovaric had a great race and finished 6th, while Steve Smith kept his top-10 overall placing with a solid 7th. Aaron Gwin snuck into the top-10 overall by finishing 3rd, the best result for an American in years. Yeti must be stoked. Sam Blenkinsop rode well, but must have had a crash as his time was so-so.