Canada Cup DH season kicks off at Silver Star

After a slight delay, Canada Cup downhill season got off to a flying start at Silver Start Bike Park on Sunday.

Along with establishing new Canada Cup series leaders, the Silver Star race also crowned B.C. provincial champions for 2022.

The Canada Cup series continues this coming weekend with the second edition of Dunbar Summer Series’ “Super Week of DH.” Three events, including two Canada Cup rounds and Canadian DH nationals, run from Sunday July 17 to Sunday July 24, travelling from Fernie, B.C. to Panorama and Kicking Horse Mountain Resort.

Elite men and women

Bailey Goldstone and Gabe Nuron (Dunbar Cycles) are the new B.C. downhill provincial champions and Canada Cup leaders for 2022. Nuron narowly edged out Jackson Frew (Gowrie, Aus.) by 0.33 seconds to take the win. Samuel Thibault of Bromont, Que. takes third with Kendall McLean (Specialized) and Haydyn Wynter rouding out the podium.

Goldstone was chased by Whistler’s Amy Ertel (GT Bicycles). Chloe McKenzie (Specialized), winner at the Revelstoke NCES, was unable to start finals.

Junior men and women

Kelowna’s Max Halchuck (Blueprint Racing) and Comox, B.C.’s Eva Leikermoser (Gravity MTB) are the new provincial champions in the junior men’s and women’s categories.

Leikermoser set the fastest women’s time of the day to win the junior title. Lily Boucher (Forbiden/Corsa Cycles) followed in second with Emma Wilson of Squamish, B.C. rounding out that podium in third.

Halchuck was joined by Brock Hawes (Graviti Driven/Intense) and Zac Stratton (Instinct Development) on the junior men’s podium.

New aMTB race joins calendar

In the Adaptive DH race, Landon McGauley (Bowhead) and Tanelle Bolt of Victoria, B.C. take the wins. Cameron Lochhead (Silver Star Gravity Team) and Ethan Krueger of Surrey, B.C. share the aMTB podium with McGauley. After a hugely succesful debut at Dunbar Summer Series in 2021, the aMTB DH category is expanding to more races this year.

Under-17s

In the u17 races, Wyatt Harrington (North Van) and Natasha Miller (Coquitlam, B.C.) proved to be the best of the next generation of riders.

In a wildly close finish, Miller wins the under-17 women’s race by a razor-thin 0.04-second margin. Mhairi Smart (Instinct Racing) takes an incredibly close second place. Pemberton, B.C.’s Violet Cleland rounds out the podium in third.

After Harrington, Ryan Griffith (Pivot Factory NextGen) narroly edged out Lewis Allbon (Canberra Off-Road Cyclists) by 0.18 to take second in the junior men’s race.

Full results for UCI junior and elite men and women, for aMTB and novice races and for U17 and B.C. Provincial Champs races are up on Zone4.ca