BRYCELAND PODIUMS AT FORT WILLIAM!
Fort William, Scotland
June 10, 2012
Santa Cruz Syndicate’s Josh Bryceland had confidence all week and carried it through to his final race run taking the fifth spot on the podium at the third round of the UCI World Cup Downhill Series. Greg Minnaar came 6th and Steve Peat was 77th as he attempted a race run after suffering a badly torn hamstring muscle the day before.
Fort William was dry and dusty all week and the midges were out in full force! Fans were as enthusiastic as ever and crowds swarmed the hill as much as the midges. The mechanics had the Shimano/Fox equipped V-10’s dialed each day for practice and the boys were training and getting up to speed together. They had fun on the track walk when Peaty had a BBQ up on the track for a feature for “This Is Peaty” . The week was unfolding well.
Qualifier day spirits were high, but on the last training run Steve had a crash and injured himself. His front wheel washed out and when it slid his legs spread apart and he felt a pop. Rolling to the bottom of the hill Steve couldn’t walk into the medical tent so he rolled on in. Upon examination it was determined that he had a bad tear of his left hamstring. Wanting to keep the possibility of racing open he chose to do the qualifier by just rolling out of the start gate (which is all he needed to do as a top 20 protected rider to qualify). Greg ended up qualifying 6th knowing he could make more time and Josh’s form netted him a 7th place qualifier.
Not having had any rain in six weeks it was no surprise that race day would be the day to rain! Steve didn’t practice in the morning while waiting to see if he would be up for the challenge of the race. He got a good taping from first aid and with pain meds onboard he decided to race. Out of the gate he was going for it giving it a proper go and feeling fast. Then he went down on a wet bridge and had to walk back up to get his bike. He carried on, but wanted to stay out of the way of the next few riders so he cruised from there. Josh took to the course and riding very well and moved into the 3-man hot seat to wait. Greg started off attacking the top and managed to hit a rock and damage his chain ring, thus inhibiting his effort for the rest of the run. He gave it the best he had but the chain was off by the bottom where he could have put the hammer down and just missed the podium by .08 seconds, but was stoked for teammate Bryceland as he was 5th scoring his second career UCI World Cup podium!
Santa Cruz Syndicate Video From 2012 Fort William
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