Brakes Wide Open returned to Garapine, the home of gravity enduro Australia and the first location hosting the format in Australia. After a stellar Queensland Enduro Series put together by White Lightning Events, it was time to put the feet back on the pedals for State Championships. With the MTBA title up for grabs in the respected classes, there was no doubt there was going to be some epic racing on show.
As the sun floated over the horizon on the Sunday morning and racers started to arrive, it was clear it was going to be a hot day with plenty of sun. Temperatures tipped over 30 degrees in the middle of the day with next to no wind to cool the riders down. Garapine is known for it’s loose and rocky conditions and the race course was unchanged from the Queensland Series race earlier in the year. The course consisted of ‘Bone Yard’, ‘Dumb It Down’, ‘King Brown’, ‘Double Barrel’, ‘Short Notice’ and ‘Drop Bear’.
One hundred and thirty two riders lined up at Garapine for the 2019 Gravity Enduro State Championships and it sure was a scorcher. The trails were starting to get a little blown outin the loose and dry conditions, with no lack of riders sliding off the track in different stages. Short Notice took out no fewer than 6 tires on the rocky outcrops and certainly made getting down the trail without a puncture a task in itself. Jeff Coplick managed to punch a hole through his tire, Cushcore and carbon rim; forcing him to throw a spare 27.5 rim and tire on his 29er, running a mullet setup all the way to 4th place in Masters 4, even with the mechanical. Overall a great course as usual and a well ran event by Garapine and White Lightning Events.
The business end of the day saw Ryan Gilchrist take the race win in Elite Men’s category, but Ryan Leutton took the State Champion title due to Gilchrist living interstate. The Elite Women’s title was snatched by Annelie Marquardt by just ten seconds over Catherine O’Neill, keeping the race tight in the top Women’s category. Expert Men was won by Lachie Stevens by a twenty second margin to Adam Giles, Masters 1 Men’s was again dominated by Bobby Blinco after another stellar day between the tape to round out a great season on the bike.
Masters 2 saw Jayme Dawson take the title in the men’s category, whilst Michael Ronning and Michelle Gane took the titles in the Masters 4 Men’s and Women’s categories. All other Senior riders results can be found by clicking the link below.
The Junior field was again out on show with over half the riders that strapped on a race plate being under 19 years of age. Over 70 young riders hit the trails with speed, guts and determination. The Junior woman also put on a great show with no shortage of style, grit and skill on the bike both on the trail and in the air. It has been an awesome season for the junior field and it’s always great to see no shortage of young shredders getting their stoke on and hitting the trails instead of the play station. Junior Results can be found below….
As the official race season winds to end it’s been a great season for Enduro in Queensland. With 7 races in the Queensland Enduro Series, a number of stand alone races, 2 races in the Scenic Rim Series and an EWS qualifier to come at Tamrookum; it’s safe to say the sport is alive and well. White Lightning did an amazing job bringing us an even better series than last year and with next years fixtures already sorted, it looks to be another great racing year. We’ll bring you an article later this week with the details of next years series and we look forward to seeing you out on the trails…..
Full Race Results Here
Full Element Photo Gallery Here
Awesome work. Stoked to be involved in this series.
Awesome photos as usual!