Fairclough to ride for Honda

They signed the Cabbage Patch

PRESS RELEASE

Team G Cross Honda will once again be returning to the international mountain bike race season in 2007 with riders Greg Minnaar (RSA), Matti Lehikoinen (FIN) and new addition Brendan Fairclough (GBR). The new line up of three riders will be contesting the UCI World Cup Downhill as well as selected Maxxis Cup events, British National Point Series events, and sending selected riders to other high profile events such as Crankworx and the Lisbon Downtown.

Greg Minnaar, 25 years old from Pietermaritzburg, who has been with Team G Cross Honda since 2004, will begin his 4th season on the Honda RN01 chasing the World Title, as well as looking to take back the World Cup title he won in 2005. It's clear his main rivals in 2007 will continue to be Steve Peat (GBR) and Sam Hill (AUS), but as always his title pursuits will be supported by the best equipment sponsors on the circuit; Showa suspension, Formula brakes, Alpinestars clothing & protection, Maxxis tyres, Mavic rims and SDG I-Beam seats and posts.

Matti Lehikoinen, 22 years old from Helsinki, had a great season in 2006 winning the World Cup of Brazil, the Red Bull Empire Rider in Peru and finishing 6th overall in the World Cup. Team G Cross Honda is very happy to have retained his services for a 3rd season and look forward to helping Matti reach his goal of Top 5 overall in the World Cup, and of course, more World Cup podium results.

Brendan Fairclough, 18 years old from Hampshire, won the inaugural Junior World Cup Downhill overall in 2006, and has been impressing people since arriving on the international scene in 2005. Apart from his two World Cup podiums as a junior-aged athlete, Brendan has impressed the team with his all round approach to racing and will make a welcome addition to the team as it seeks to retain its 2006 title of Men's Downhill Team of The Year.

Martin Whiteley, Team Director. "We are very excited about the 2007 season. Firstly we have been very fortunate to be able to retain the services of both Greg and Matti who make excellent team mates and have both had great success on the Honda RN01 in recent years. We can now also announce that we have secured one of the most exciting young riders on the world scene in Brendan. He and the other two riders know each other very well and they are all good friends which is important in building team spirit as we hunt our goals for 2007. It should be a very exciting year ahead".

Matti and Brendan will make their first racing appearance for Team G Cross Honda at the Maxxis Cup in Gouveia in Portugal on March 18. Greg will start his downhill season a little later, in April, at the opening round of the British National Points Series.

Other product suppliers confirmed at the time of the release include Sapim spokes, SRAM, Truvativ, PowerBar and ODI.