Neethling Takes 2nd at the Mazda MTN DH Championships
Tuesday, March 18th, 2008
The 2008 MTN/MAZDA South African Downhill Championships were held in Pietermaritzburg over the weekend. The event was held on a long and challenging track, and I was excited and looking forward to defending my 2007 title.It was good to see Greg Minnaar back after recovering from a shoulder injury and this added even more class to an already quality field. Greg would be racing in his home town of Pietermaritzburg, which is a candidate city for a 2009 World Cup Event.The format was best of 2 runs for the Overall Title. Heavy rain made for interesting practice the day before, but the sun was out on race day and the track was drying very quickly.Greg posted a speedy first run of 4min 38 sec, and I was bit further back in 2nd opting to take my first run easy and go for it in the 2nd run with a drying track.I had a good top section which was the technical part which then led into a steep rock section named Doctor EVIL. This was followed by some fast stuff and then the pedaling which led into a spectacular flat out section of jumps to the finish for all the spectators to see. I gave it a huge go on the pedaling and posted a 4min 41secs for my second run. It was not enough and Greg posted a 4min 38 sec again.Jonty Neethling also went way quicker in his second run and rounded out the international quality field for 3rd position. Here are the top 5 finishers.2008 Mazda MTN South African Downhill Mountain Bike ChampionshipsCascades, PietermaritzburgLeading Overall Results:
1 Greg Minnaar (Santa Cruz Syndicate) 04min38.09sec
2 Andrew Neethling (Mongoose) 04:41.033
3 Jonty Neethling (Morewood Fox Oakley) 04:51.514
4 Johann Potgieter (Cannondale) 04:55.835
5Wesley Augustyn (Mongoose) 05:00.65
Thanks for all the support,Andrew Neethling