Casey Brown claims third at EWS Petzen Jamnica

Casey Brown made the most of her first Enduro World Series appearance of the year, finishing third behind race winner and EWS powerhouse Cecile Ravanel and second place finisher Isabeau Courdurier. The Men’s race saw Sam Hill return to his winning ways after dropping the third round of racing in Montagnes du Caroux, France to Richie Rude (Yeti)

The Revelstoke, B.C. rider has been focused on the Crankworx World Tour up until this point, where she has landed several podiums over the first three stops of the four event series. Brown (Trek Factory Racing) seemed at home on the root and loam filled trails of the Black Hole Enduro, which traversed between Slovenia and Austria over the course of two days of racing.

Andréane Lanthier Nadeau (Rocky Mountain / Race Face) had an impressive return to racing in Petzen-Jamnica, finishing ninth in her first race back since injuring her wrist last September. Lanthier Nadeau rode steadily on day one before finishing all three stages of Day 2 racing inside the top 10, including a 5th on Stage 5. Rachel Pageau (Unior Devinci Facotry Racing) followed up her strong 12th place finish at Round 3 with a 17th place this weekend in Austria-Slovenia

Sam Hill (Chain Reaction Cycles Mavic) survived the competition, and a hard crash on Stage 3 of the first day of racing to claim the fourth round of EWS racing. After winning the opening two rounds in South America, Hill had a rare off weekend at the rainy, treacherous France round, allowing Richie Rude to earn his first victory of the season. There was no chance of a similar opening this weekend, as Hill stormed to the win in three of the weekends six stages of racing.

Like Lantheir Nadeau, Rocky Mountain / Race Face’s Jesse Melamed went into the weekend recovering from a recent injury, and planning to race steady to try finish instead of focusing on a result. The strategy worked, and Melamed not only finished, but snuck into the top 10 by the end of two days of racing. An impressive result, considering Melamed was unsure he’d be able to start the race when he arrived in Europe.

Petzen-Jamnica marked the first time the full Rocky Mountain / Race Face team was at an Enduro World Series event since the team formed earlier this year. Rémi Gauvin, the teams final member, struggled on the slick roots, crashing several times on Day 1 racing and sliding down the standings to finish 26th by the end of Sunday’s timed stages.

Max Leyen of B.C. made his first EWS appearance of the year, finishing an impressive 42nd after six stages of racing in Austria and Slovenia. Leyen won the opening round of Canadian National Enduro Series racing in the Fraser Valley, and has had strong results at previous EWS appearances in the U21 category.

McKay Vezina (Giant Factory Off Road Team) started well, ending Saturday in 23rd position, but only finished two of three stages on Sunday before dropping out of the race. Other Canadians racing the fourth EWS round were Brendon Edgar of North Vancouver, who finished 87th, Vancouver Island’s Trevor Thew (97th) and B.C.’s Aidan Jones (111th)

Enduro World Series Round 4: Petzen-Jamnica by Matthew Pioro on Scribd