Saturday practice is in the bag and all that’s left for Mont St Anne is a few cheeky runs in the morning and then the main event.
Here’s some amazing shots from the lens of Jacob Gibbins from today’s action…
The weather turned today and it went from blazing sun to pouring rain … totally changing the game and making today and tomorrow’s practice even more valuable. There’s no resting on a good result in qualies now!
Jack Reading is one of the dudes that it’s easy to overlook – but is super capable of amazing results and has a string of top 20’s at international races to prove it. Jack has spent years on Ellesworth but very recently moved to a Trek. It’s weird seeing him on a different bike but it’s obviously paying off – he scored a 39th place at Fort William and a 59th place yesterday in MSA qualies. Great work for the UK’s fastest eye doctor.
Yep – it’s Rachel Atherton. She’ll be charging hard tomorrow after a disappointing result at Fort William 2 weeks ago (by her own admission…) and no doubt a disappointing visit to MSA in 2011 where she landed in 3rd. She’s come out of the gate fighting with the fastest time in qualies yesterday. Good luck for tomorrow Rach!
Who doesn’t love Adam Brayton? He’s an absolute wrecking ball on a bike, he’s hard as fuck and he’s out for blood. With 2 non-qualies at Val Di Sole and Fort William so far this year the Braytonator will be digging deep tomorrow. With a super-solid 54th in seeding and a place in the final it’s looking good…
Gee Atherton – Everyone is talking about how tough Gee is after his massive crash in practice earlier in the week but it’s Gee’s mental toughness though that he needs to make him a winner. The pressure of disappointing results so far this year and a mechanical DNF last year at MSA will all be piling the pressure on the G-Man. Third place in qualies and still pinning though … If anyone wants it, it’s definitely this dude.
But if you think Gee is tough … Steve Peat must be made out of bloody concrete! Fresh from a hamstring tear and he’s still smashing it!
MSA is a track that Peaty has got a LOT of experience racing on and used to be a venue that people said was “his track” . Steve last won here in 2004 but has been back every year since and scoring decent – if not top step – results. Let’s see if he can bring back the glory days tomorrow eh?
Danny Hart! It doesn’t look like the banter about Brendan’s whips being steezier than his (here) is slowing him down! Danny was obviously bummed last week at Fort William with a second place and you could tell after the race that he was locked in for the win… 4th last year at MSA and a 3rd in qualies this year.
And last but not least it’s Aaron Gwin, the guy that is winning everything at the moment and who won at MSA last year. He played it safe at Fort William and tried to put together a steady, fast run. Who knows what he’ll be planning for tomorrow… Given that he qualied 2 seconds faster than Greg Minnaar yesterday you can bet it’s going to be FAST!
Huge thanks to Jacob Gibbins for the photos and for sending us the goods of the big dogs, good luck for race day Milk-dog!
