Emmy Lan and Gabe Neron take top step at Panorama Canada Cup

After a thrilling weekend of racing nationals at Fernie, Dunbar Summer Series rolled straight into Panorama to test the skills and stamina of Canada’s best downhill racers.

Elite: Past champs reclaim top podium step

In the elite races, two past national champions took top honors on Wednesday at Panorama.

For the women, past junior champ Emmy Lan (Forbidden Synthesis) avenged a second place in Fernie with a solid Canada Cup victory in Panorama. The Vancouver Island racer currently leads the under-21 Enduro World Cup (EDR) standings but was looking fast on her unreleased Forbidden DH bike. For the enduro racer, being back on the big bike was an adjustment.

“It’s really fun, but its way too scary,” Lan told MC Brett Tippie about how her stint back on the downhill circuit was going “Everything’s fun, but you can’t make a mistake.”

It didn’t look like Lan put a tire wrong in her race run, beating two-time national champion Bailey Goldstone by 2.88 seconds. Eva Leikermoser, also from the Comox Valley, finished third with Ainhoa Ijurko in fourth.

In the men’s race, it was 2022 elite men’s champ Gabe Neron (Dunbar/Corsa) earning the Canada Cup win. The Squamish racer has worked his way back to racing from an injury earlier this year.

“It’s good to be back and riding fast again,” Neron told MC Brett Tippie in the finish area, adding of his winning run: “It was wild, but it felt so smooth. I was hitting all my lines.”

After setting the fastest seeding time, Jack Pelland rolled in second in Wednesday’s finals. Patrick Laffey was third, just 0.10 seconds ahead of Forrest Riesco. Alex Storr rounded out the podium in fifth.

Junior men and women

In the junior women’s race, Natasha Miller (Coquitlam) took a solid win ahead of Sophi Lawrence (Whistler). Newly minted national champion, Joy Attalla (Fernie) finished third.

Brock Hawes, the new junior men’s national champ, continued his checkers-or-wreckers style. After crashing in seeding, Hawes takes the win on Wednesday as the only rider outside of elite men to break the three-minute barrier. His 2:56.11 was more than enough to win the junior men’s race. It also would have been good enough for third in the elite men’s race. Henry Sherry (Victoria) was second with Logan Chapman of North Vancouver third.

Under-17 men

The under-17 men’s race is the youngest UCI category on the Canada Cup circuit, but it is just as competitive. Ryder Wilson of Nanaimo put down a 3:04.87 on Wednesday in Nanaimo to win the U17 Canada Cup. That would have put Wilson third in the junior men’s race and was nearly a top-10 in the pro men’s race. What’s more, Jackson Blake finished just 0.29 seconds off of Wilson’s winning time at 3:05.16. Mateo Quist’s third-place time wasn’t far off either.

Dunbar Summer Series racing now takes a brief pause, though many riders will head straight to Whistler from Panorama for Crankworx racing. Dunbar racing resumes in August with two more stops, one at Kicking Horse Mountain Resort and a long-awaited return to Sun Peaks outside Kamloops, B.C.

Complete results from 2023 Panorama Canada Cup, including non-UCI categories.