Minnaar poised to win MTB World Cup
Brad Morgan
3 September 2008
South African mountain bike downhill ace Greg Minnaar is poised to lift the World Cup title after winning the Mountain Bike World Cup in Canberra at the weekend. Minnaar took the victory over Australia's Nathan Rennie with a stunning last run.
Another Australian, Sam Hill, had topped the World Cup standings before the Canberra event, but he managed only 11th place, ceding top spot in the standings to Minnaar.
It was a case of mission accomplished for the SA star, whose goal before the Canberra World Cup had been to take over the world number one ranking.
Title decider
The World Cup title will be decided at Schladming in Austria over the weekend of 13 and 14 September. Thanks to Minnaar's sensational showing Down Under, a nail-biting end to the season is in prospect.
If he stays atop the standings in Austria, he will claim his second world title, having previously been crowned world champion in 2003.
In the semi-finals in Canberra, Santa Cruz Syndicate, Minnaar's team, swept the top three places, with the Pietermaritzburg star edging out Steve Peat for first place with a time of 2:47.64, compared to the British rider's time of 2:47.96. Rennie, in third, was just less than two seconds slower than Minnaar.
Room for improvement
Despite his victory in the semi-finals, the South African star felt he could go considerably faster in the final. "I knew I made a lot of mistakes in the semi, so I knew I could improve my time," he said on his website.
He said his semi-final run was hampered when he ran into a section that had been softened by overnight rain. It slowed him down and, he added, he also lost speed on the final jump.Minnaar's assessment proved accurate as he put in a faultless performance in the final to he destroy the hopes of his challengers with a blistering run of 2:41.34, which took over six seconds off his semi-final time. It also gave him victory by almost five seconds over Rennie.
'This feels great!'
''This feels great,'' he said afterwards, as he also celebrated the Springboks' record 53-8 victory over the Wallabies.
The win in Canberra was Minnaar's third victory of the season. Previously he won at Fort Williams in Great Britain and at Mont-Saint-Anne in Canada.
Another South African, Andrew Neethling, enjoyed an excellent outing in the final in which he claimed sixth place.
SEMI-FINAL RESULTS
- Greg Minnaar 2:47.64
- Steve Peat 2:47.96
- Nathan Rennie 2:49.48
- Fabien Barel 2:49.85
- Filip Polc 2:50.28
- Gee Atherton 2:50.83
- Sam Blenkinsop 2:51.17
- Sam Hill 2:52.18
- Dan Atherton 2:53.15
- Bryn Atkinson 2:53.69
FINAL RESULTS
- Greg Minnaar 2:41.34
- Nathan Rennie 2:46.02
- Gee Atherton 2:47.00
- Fabien Barel 2:47.64
- Chris Kovarik 2:48.38
- Andrew Neethling 2:48.67
- Steve Peat 2:48.78
- Jared Rando 2:49.19
- Bryn Atkinson 2:49.39
- Sam Blenkinsop 2:50.01
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