A brand new World Cup Downhill venue and track capped off by some insanely close racing with two of the four winners decided by less than .1 second. Now that’s a race weekend! Jack Rice interviews the racers, so you can get your thoughts on the weekend as Lawlor’s video footage plays in the screen.
Interviews
0:00 – Ronan Dunne
2:10 – John Lawlor
3:47 – Dakotah Norton
7:02 – Marine Cabirou
8:35 – Asa Vermette
9:25 – Neko Mulally
10:35 – Heather Wilson
11:51 – Loic Bruni
14:04 – Camille Balanche
15:37 – Nina Hoffmann
18:16 – Loris Vergier
19:37 – Jess Blewitt
20:19 – Amaury Pierron
21:57 – Luca Shaw
#MTB #DH #bike
Ronin dun first win at World Cup how does that feel yeah pretty pretty crazy to say that I want a wion a World Cup I’m just yeah over the moon it’s been a pretty pretty wild sick week and just to take a win is yeah I’m so happy dude you’re so up on the hill between the squids we were all betting it was either you or Dakota yeah what is the team is it the team is it you guys feeding off each other what what’s making you guys so freaking fast up there I think it’s just yeah it’s a mixture of everything the team have been on it the bike’s going like I’m loving the bike and just like having Dakota as teammate is insane he’s yeah I’m gooded for him today that’s really really to see and but I know he will he’s he’s going to put me back in my he’s going to put me in my place pretty soon and but yeah like it’s yeah it’s a pretty dream come true um and to do with the new team and give MRE here their F this this Factory team it’s first win is pretty true yeah I’m pretty I’m yeah over the moon yeah it’s h yeah an Ireland Second World Cup win it’s pretty cool it’s really sick to see yeah it’s for you seeing you with John I mean I even got a little emotional and you I’m not Irish but it’s just so cool to see um looking forward yeah yeah it’s can you do that like in this moment or is it just I yeah I’m I’m really yeah I’m enjoying it just uh yeah job’s not done we still have a season thee and yeah keep the head down and I’ve Hardline necks so it’ be cool to try to go for the oh double double on that and then we go to Leo gang which I’m stoked for that it should be a really really fun race it’s going to be yeah just looking forward to the rest of the season yeah I was going to say what like I’ve been asking everybody what do they think of the new venue and stuff it’s been great yeah really cool track it’s been a mixture of everything I think everybody’s been yeah it’s been it’s really cool what are you looking forward to coming back yeah I’m looking forward to coming back here the crowd was sick the track was cool crowd was mental up there can’t uh can’t beat it well uh congratulations first first World Cup win and I’m happy to be intervie interviewing you yep and uh let’s go have fun Cheers Cheers fin Mt beers I’m with the one and only John Lawler John Ronin D your fellow Countryman has just W won his first World Cup how does this feel dude it feels pretty unreal I mean oi doing the last year in Snowshoe was it wasn’t really a surprise for me because I’ve seen how fast he was as a Jor and then get a couple years of um injury and he was just plagued with bad luck and stuff and then for him to win last year in Snowshoe and then for Ronin I met with Ronin uh a few weeks well a couple of months ago now and uh you guys had a raw right we had a raw yeah about six weeks ago or so now I think it was and he is just so fast that’s just the only simple way to put it committed Not Afraid yeah and I think everyone could see last year that um he had the Speed but he sometimes didn’t really have the race consistency or the Race Craft as it’s called now so he seems to just put it together more recently and to win today it’s I’m not really surprised but I’m just really really happy you think that team is pretty cohese I think so I I haven’t really seen the setup but from the SS of it him and Dak and Pinky are really happy with the setup and I guess if you look after your Riders and put them on good bikes and keep them stoked on how things are running you’re going to get results not just results as in podiums but you’re going to get like a rider who wants to continue to develop yeah well I just yeah take seeing you two together was that that was a moment and uh just thank you for everything you do and I’ll see you at the next race thanks Jacky cheers vland T beers this may or may not come out I’m with Dak Norton um they might put it out how do how does that all weekend dude flying playing on track having a good time and then when it came down to business you put down heaters and just one thing takes it out oh dude what is that I don’t know I’m not Superman I can’t predict where the track’s going to be wet or dry I can’t I mean I feel like maybe some part of me could have began to look ahead and been like oh there was a lot of black dirt there it was slippery I should have known um but you can’t like be looking thinking about how you could craft if you’re going to be thinking about how you’re going to win and those two things are conflictual so overall I think like over the course of the weekend I’m riding so sick right now and like I feel at home and like I’m riding the best I ever have and it’s really tough to uh man uh not a lot of times in my career have I convinced myself that I could win and um I yeah I I I thought you I told every a lot of people did a lot of people did and that’s cool like that is a thing all in itself you know to to believe you can win and to have other people believe you can win like you can make up a fairy tale in your head and think that you can win and be totally off the pace but like what I’m seeing is like so many people are are so like you know behind me which is really cool and then you know like everyone’s telling me I’m riding good and it helps and the reality is like yeah that was really hard to drop but I when I was in the sitting and the starting G I wasn’t Last Man Down I was just dropping in for a race run trying to win and I dealt with the pressure really well I thought it wasn’t like I choked and blew it um in my personal opinion I just dude I turned in it was slippery and I just didn’t anticipate the track condition it was tough well I think just also you as a person and as a rider I don’t think maybe 2 years ago if I asked you to have an interview that we could have this conversation because of you be you know I’m out ex but I think overall just like that shows growth brother you know yeah I’m really happy with with I’m I mean we talk about this on the podcast and like that but dude I am so here’s what I’m most proud of yeah I semi first cool whatever what I’m most proud of is the fact that I how I handled the pressure I’m proud of like I got in the gate calm I warmed up I I’ve just I feel like I’m really starting to be okay um with the pressures of racing and I’m getting better at that and that’s what the biggest Victory is this weekend I got in the gate last matter to drop or last man to drop and I was ready to go so unfortunately just uh with a team behind you and they got whoa buddy they got their first you guys you know first uh win as a team and and I know you and Ronin get on so well so you know super happy for him just uh yeah it’s a bummer darn shoot well the way you’re handling it is is awesome and um you we got a whole season ahead of us so yeah lots more races back to work on Monday okay everybody be good peace I am so genuinely happy to see you and cuz I’ve seen the the the drive you have on track to get back to where you were how do you feel of course I’m super happy to take the win here in Poland is just amazing the truck wasn’t easy all week it stranged a lot and the truck was really desperate for the final and with the weather especially it was again harder Yeah but I I try to do my best and were you I saw you a couple times were you like really trying to like figure all this out because I would see you stop so many times to like get it so it must have paid off cuz I mean you won so was it were you just like taking it bit by bit or like how what’s what was the process yeah I tried to build my week step by step because I have a really bad week in for William so I wanted to be back and just find a good set up on my bike and I spend a lot of truck on time to check the line see the new thing because the truck lot of corner was gone for the semi final and everything so I just want to build and step by step third in I finished third in qual St in semi-final and every time my time was improving so I just tried to improve every run and finally everything come together in final good well I don’t I’m kind of getting emotional I just want to say welcome back and that was awesome and I can’t wait to see you at the next round thank you so much thank you m by L T beers I’m with the one and only ASA vermet ASA just sealed the deal in the second round of the uh UCI down World Cup how’s it feel dude yeah it feels insane it was a loose run just like when I was start sitting in the star game sideways rain and I was just like all right we just got we just got to let her rip and man it was darly D any anything that you thought you were going down or yeah in the very first corner I like went inside and like slid all the way to the top and it was kind of good cuz it was like a reminder to like it’s wet like you can’t go that fast yeah and then yeah just tried to stay up the rest of the way awesome man so what um are you going to be doing any rounds back home what’s coming up next next we’re going to Mountain Creek me and Nico are going to go race Mountain Creek so uh yeah we’ll be there Tuesday awesome well I’m going to be following you so I’ll see you there perfect congrats thank you Nico ASA just did it uh that’s got to feel good dude yeah so stoked for him I mean I’ve spent a lot of time around him and I see how much the Riders put into their race so when it comes together you’re just so proud that they achieved what they set out for and like it being the second race and him like kind of doing it again kind of the same as Heather just just does it show more that like this he’s the real deal you know like I’m really impressed by both of his races this year how composed he looked like most Juniors look pretty out of control and their runs they’re throwing everything they have at it you expect that but for the times that ASA did he looked so in control of the bike and so precise and in two pretty different tracks and conditions like this weekend it was raining only for the race run so he didn’t get a chance to really feel it out and that’s a really tough thing and something that requires experience so for only a second world cup to be able to ride that well with a time like that yeah um yeah just super impressive sick man well well he’s a ringer and uh we’ll be we’ll be watching so see you at Mountain Creek thank you thank you ni the rumors were that you had a little Advantage at Fort William but I think you just proved everybody wrong how’s it feel it’s just like unbelievable because I actually thought that too maybe Fort William was just like an exception I knew the track really well and maybe cuz it was a home track I got the win and then I came here and I was like wow maybe I could maybe scrape a third after qus and then just coming over the line and going into first it’s just I just can’t believe it how do how was it your run like I know the conditions weren’t favorable but did did it catch you off like totally or did you have somewhat of a know like a game plan uh I didn’t really have a game plan I just tried to like ride my bike down and it worked um it was so loose at the top I mean I almost died a few times on some of the bits but then um at the top it was really uh it was I was going quite sketchy on the jumps and I was like okay let’s just let’s just make this a l run and then uh some of the corners were gone and I was like and I had like one foot out in one of the corners I was like oh my goodness this is really uh this is something else all the good you got the job done yep it was all it was actually really fun and I really enjoyed it awesome thank you Heather thank you uh look you have a line behind you uh cuz you’re uh one of the best in the world but um how do you like Poland dude Poland was sick Bro the place isn’t real I think beautiful area I didn’t really know what to expect I was a bit Yeah like stuck in the cliche of being like cold war Eastern Europe bit weird country like right right right and it’s so much better than what I thought so the track was quite rough and dead so difficult for us to race on finding the limits was you find it too late when you find it you’re on the floor you know so it was really difficult to to race physical and but overall like amazing cuz the crowd was sick the weather held on held on yeah yeah and the race track was quite tight like made the racing super tight so I think it was it was sick good man I mean that was a heater of a run it held up forever so I mean you’re in a good place no yeah yeah I wish he held more than he did because Ronan just beat me for not much it’s so tight I know so it is what it is obviously like racing always has sometimes like tough cruel like second places and stuff but it is a good result and I’m happy to have to be second like considering yesterday crashing yeah I can’t really complain but today I think uh I was able to bounce back and I’m proud of myself for that good good and second is good solid season start of of the season it’s still a really long one so yeah I try to take every race as it is this week was like really yeah but yeah Marine just showed up yeah Marine sent it D I got to chase her down next but I’m dude I’m so stoked for you and you got to get to these line of people bro you’re going to be here all night there’s about 100 Polish people waiting for to sign some there was some people on the track like I was this morning bik like pushing my bike back up and they were like oh I was like so sorry I’m trying to work here like I’m struggling to find the L Stu and they were like a little bit mad but now we got time to yep I we’ll spend it all right well good luck bro thank you bro thank you bro come over vital Mt beers I have the pleasure of standing with Camille banch C me tell me about your run just a really good run safe top to bottom that was my goal because I did way too many mistake and crushing semi so I like no just go back to the basics save friends and so H that’s why I did and it was really good well it looked like you were fastest in the Middle where you was there some picking up speed or a mistake made like after that or yeah I had a couple of little mistakes just like section where I didn’t like I break too much and then I end up like I was getting out slow and I could feel it but I really didn’t want it to race too much so I was okay with it and I just kept going and I just hope for the best at the bottom and then when I end up first I was like yeah I was just so stoked and yeah what do you think of Poland what do you think of the venue it’s good especially now that the track is f and there was like quite a lot of F and so yeah surprisingly not surprisingly but like no it’s good I think to be honest I think a lot of us thought maybe this once we walk the track we’re like wao what are we doing but it turned out okay yeah but like that was like when a tracking brand new is always a bit the thing you know it’s going to change but when you see it the beginning we like oh my God that’s so bik back and easy but then obviously it gets destroyed because we have so many riders so SI well uh I just wanted to congratulate you touch base and I guess we’ll see you in Leo game yeah for sure awesome thank you Cam see you soon vital Mt beers I’m with Nina Hoffman who is moving and grooving how was your day all right um no I’m actually happy um with the result because yesterday was a bit of a nightmare with two crashes and two Ed runs and I just wanted to play it safe today especially with my last practice run being quite a wild one stopping a lot of times because of washing the front or the rear or sliding somewhere so I said to myself I do like a 90 95% run today and uh just want to bring it down safe and not crashing again to get some points for the overall that’s what I did still successful then still when you’re down there and then you’re losing by like two seconds you’re like oh man I could have pushed so much more somewhere but then I could have lost it so um but all good you’re consistent right yeah I mean yesterday was not that consistent today was but um yeah you’re always learning and uh I think I think if I would have been younger I would have not played it that safe today but I after the patience now but that that that says something about you as a rider yeah I got a bit older I got a bit more smart and uh so actually I’m happy here you ready for Leo again I’m ready for game fin you want to have a race where everything goes to plan you’re feeling like Min on a buing and it just can pin it on race run awesome but um let’s see if fing is going to be the one yeah what did you think of this track what did you think of the Poland yeah so when I did track work I thought it was quite an easy track like it’s nothing crazy in it um but with like almost 400 rers going down it got it like changed so much and the rain did a lot of um like affected the track a lot and uh it actually got way harder than I thought way more technical than I thought you were fighting for grip the whole way down just like fighting like pushing the front and stuff like that yeah or the rear just like I’m not good at stuff like that just to be like is that to me be patient I’m like I’m not patient I just want to have firms and like compress into them and like pump out of it but it was a lot of turns where it just needed to wait and let the bike do the work let the tire work just feel the edge of grip and um I need to learn like work on that there where I’m where I’m like not having enough experience yet Laing a little bit of skill I think um so yeah something to work on awesome well I won’t keep you any longer congratulations for today and I’ll see you in Austria see you in Austria gang she’s going to go Dance Now by Mt beers I got the one and only Loris virier right here finished third today how was that for you buddy uh it was quite loose I really wanted to push to give it a go trying to yeah give it my best obviously made some big mistakes but still end up quite close to the win so it’s I have no regrets and I’m happy about my weekend it was like consistent all yeah all weekend long so hopefully we can build on that and get faster through the season or at least grab as many points as today so awesome man y it was good well I should ask you cuz I haven’t asked anybody what do you think of this Poland what do you think of the venue uh we discussed it with a lot of friend like a lot of riders and I think we all think the same like there’s some potential for sure some section that needs to be fixed to be honest like it’s just a square Ed Square turns to no speed exit is not what we like right some catch burms were going so obviously like a bit more momentum through some corners and make it more like a proper workup right but overall it was a great venue like uh people were crazy the truck was holding up and it was still good so just a little tweak and then we have a sick venue sick so we’ll be back next year probably hopefully okay AV thank you my friend thank you Jess I we’ve seen it in the past we knew you were fast how does it feel to get up there and seal the deal uh yeah it’s pretty good to be back at the pointy end but I mean I know I can do it so it was just kind of a matter of time and it’s good to be back so yeah it’s been like a long off season for me I guess the last race did was about last year so yeah a lot of waiting and wasn’t really sure how it was going to go so great so this must be good for your momentum and everything right yeah I’m pretty stoked to keep the season rolling like this awesome yeah Warner Brothers is pointed me out so I got to go thank you so much for your time thank you Amry you’re back how does it feel brother it’s uh it’s insane I’m so happy you know so about myself sorry for the song yeah so about myself so about the team we’ve been uh living in a nightmare you know yeah and um be able to be back on the podium uh it’s insane couldn’t ask more like I couldn’t believe uh to be back on the podium on the second one and uh just had so much fun on that track he was a brand new track and I think we did definitely need more stuff like that you know brand new trucks it’s it’s so good cuz it’s fresh everything anyway did you enjoy Poland as a honestly enjoyed so much Poland yeah truck was sick fans were insane just Good Vibes all week long and even with the rain the truck was even better I just saw Tech and loved it so yeah insane weekend that’s awesome man so you’re feeling good for the next one then yeah we just following the process and I’m so happy how this weekend goes and now yeah focus on the on the next run is going to be another step cuz it’s uh it’s going to be fast loose T will be even tighter so it’s going to be another step but anyway talk to the weekend and uh and let’s enjoy the next way yeah well congratulations and thank you thank you very much thank you by LT be I got Luka sha Luka you got sixth place dude and you were hammering all weekend uh what I didn’t actually see the run I heard the crowd but like what happened up there yeah I mean the weekend was great um and yeah the the race was good too I’m just kicking myself for one little mistake that uh just before the second split um so it wasn’t a perfect run but I felt like I was pushing hard and like I’d much rather you know go for it and make little mistakes than just ride too conservative and go go slow so um yeah proud of my proud of my ride and yeah just a little frustrated when I see the time since know that I left a little time up there so but no uh all in all really happy um really another really really solid weekend for me so um yeah stoked with the start of the Season yeah sorry about the audio folks um I mean you’re on it dude I does it feel like when you’re we see that you’re on it does it feel like you’re you know like got the juice or I don’t know how to explain it but yeah I mean I don’t know it’s it’s uh racing is it’s kind of a mystery sometimes I feel like and I I feel like to be honest it’s just this year I really feel like it’s just a product of all the hard work we did all winter and um the new bike from Canyon is really working sweet and I’m just like every time I throw my leg over it I’m so stoked oh sick um and yeah I mean I busted my ass all winter to feel good at the races so um it it makes me uh yeah makes it all worth it when when I you know lay the power down on those flat sections yes but yeah no it’s uh yeah just just having fun with it and you know keeping the pressure low and just enjoying it and um I think that’s the key honestly last thing what do you think of Poland what do you think of this place man such an awesome track honestly like and I think the fans really turned up good dude um insane so happy that the rain stayed away for our race um totally expect did a uh show with rain today and we got sunshine so um awesome weekend track was so much fun I love how it got choppy and rough and kind of like a motocross track yeah and uh yeah great weekend really really stoked hope we come back many many more times perfect well glad you’re you’re doing good looking good feeling good so I’ll uh leave it at that and I’ll see you in uh Leo G sounds good Jack thank all right brother thank you
3 Comments
Dak gonna win one of these sumbitches soon!!! Mondraker in da house!!
Dak Norton wins everything just from this interview
But fuckin Ronan…….wtf