The fourth event in the six-race Phat Wednesday Downhill Series took place on July 21 with another sold-out field of racers taking on a course that included Dirt Merchant and Lower Easy Does It - a course that started technical and got greener as the riders progressed. It also made for a long race with only a few riders breaking the four-minute mark.
Tyler Morland was the fastest out of 112 riders in open male with a time of 3:55.86. He was followed by Tyler Allison in 3:57.87 and Kenny Smith in 3:58.49. Also in the top 10 were Jimmy Pollard in 4:00.51, Tristan Merrick in 4:00.93, Trevor Burke in 4:01.35, Robin Potvin in 4:01.50, Curtis Robinson in 4:01.72, Berend Boer in 4:02.17 and Chris Young in 4:02.38.
Bart Brown won the Masters 30-Plus race in 4:00.83, followed by Chris Dewar in 4:02.12, Glen Franks in 4:02.70, Chad Hendren in 4:04.25, Seb Kemp in 4:06.71, Jon Burr in 4:07.93, Joel Robinson in 4:08.98, Todd Hellinga in 4:10.04, Richard Bedford in 4:10.51 and Darryn Hendersen in 4:10.92. There were 35 racers in the category.
Brook Baker won the Open Female category for the second week in a row in 4:21.44, just four-hundredths of a second ahead of Katrina Strand's 4:21.49. Julie Istvan was third in 4:29.72, Miranda Miller fourth in 4:31.15, Shelly Flood fifth in 4:31.52, Trish Bromley sixth in 4:34.29, Amalie Budgen seventh in 4:35.26, Lisa Mason eighth in 4:35.84, Jenny Liljegren ninth in 4:37.65 and Simmone Lyons 10 th in 4:38.39. There were 21 women racing this week.
Bryn Dickerson won the Junior Male group by almost three seconds in 4:01.17, followed by Ollie Gregory-Jones in 4:04.00, Thomas Zonneveld in 4:05.13, Kip Shortreed in 4:10.92, Xander Geddes in 4:11.98, Skylar Allan in 4:14.00, Hajime Imoto in 4:14.37, Jamie Hoare in 4:14.49, Mac Banner in 4:14.91 and Cam Johnson in 4:15.07.
The overall series standings remain close with just two events - and up to 200 points per rider - remaining, on Aug. 18 and Sept. 1.
Kenny Smith is topping the men's list with 275 points, followed by Tyler Allison with 219.
Bart Brown is leading the Masters with 320 points, followed by Chris Dewar with 279 and Andrew Gunn with 203.
Brook Baker has won two races and placed second twice to lead the women's field with 340 points. Sarah Leishman - winner of the opening two events - missed the last two races and now sits second with 200 points.
Ollie Gregory-Jones has made all four events and leads the juniors with 316 points. Xander Geddes is running second with 238.
The July 21 draw prizes were also good with three Sram drivetrains up for grabs. The winners were Ray Daniels, Chad Odinbrit and David Wes. Benedict Freudenmann won the Hayes Brakes, Dyland Wolsky the Maxxis tires, Trent Blucher the Decline Magazine subscription and Josh Lyons the Coast Mountain Photography gift certificate. Other prizes were donated by Race Face, Odi, Decline Magazine, Dakine, Garbanzo Bike and Bean, the GLC and Kokanee.
