Mount 7 Psychosis was today

We may be in Whistler but we have not totally forgotten about you guys. The Mount Seven Psychosis race took place today in Golden, British Columbia. This is the tenth year and the final year for the epic insanity. In a surprising win Aussie pinner Chris Kovarik pulled a new course record with a time of 12:35.14 beating top riders such as Tyler Morland, Andrew Mitchell and last years winner Sam Hill. If you have not heard or seen this race before check out this vid from the latest video from the Collective entitled "Seasons."

Good shit Kovarik!!!


1st Chris Kovarik 12:35.14
2nd Nick Quinn
3rd Tyler Morland
4th Sam Hill
5th Andrew Mitchell

Fontana NMBS "Down Under Domination"

Oh yeah, that's right we have a National Series. Kinda, sorta.
The Fontana NMBS kicked off this weekend and was the first stop for the NMBS series.
As you can imagine Kovarik won. He has been dialing in the Fontana terrain for a few months now and after wrapping up the overall win in the Fontana Series earlier this month he was a favorite for the NMBS win. Media was pretty sparse at the event with John Gibson shooting pics, MBA writing words and Dylan Dean covering both aspects for the rest of the world that still may show an interest.
Chris Kovarik taking the win on the new rig with a 2:19.6
Nathan Rennie placed 2nd with a 2:22.2, establishing two Aussies on the podium.

Justin Leov got third with a 2:24.6 Sam Blenkinsop (pictured above) pulled a fourth place with a 2:25.1 and Cam Cole secured fifth with a 2:25.3 That's three Kiwi's all in a row.

Duncan Riffle made his debut aboard his new C-Dale and UFO kit....paging David Smith...

Thanks to Kathy Sessler for her detailed and picture filled update, she is a god send.

Word on the street is that this will be the last year we see the NMBS in the current form. It may evolve into a race "series" that may be located at better venues, with better courses, better prizes and payouts and of course more altitude. Would'nt that be nice. Stop your griping change is on the way.

Cedric takes 2nd in Spain

The Marzocchi Open in Spain was held this past weekend in the city of Barca. Commencal SuperTeam rider Cedric Gracia was able to secure a 2nd place finish. His first race since he broke his wrist at Worlds last season he was getting back into the groove. As pictured above he will be sporting the Leatt Neck Brace for the 2008 season. This is a product that CG believes in and wants to spread the word on the benefits of the device.

Lopes on Ibis for 2008

It has just been announced that Brian Lopes will be riding for Ibis this upcoming season. Yes, thats right Ibis. Insiders at Ibis say they have been working with him to help develop the brand in the race market. They look forward to working with him and having his years of experience on hand. Will they make a BL signature bike? They have been utilizing the DW-Link on their frames and it will certainly be interesting to see Brian riding a new bike, specially one that has connotations of being a light weight, high end, boutique brand. 

In the intelligent words of DS  "Ohhhh man."

Kovarik wins again, Memmelaar scoops up 2nd!!!!

Got this press release from Nigel Page concerning Kovariks crazy winning streak in Cali.

The most impressive thing about it, Beast of the East Jay Memmelaar getting second taking out Warren and Dave K. We have been keeping a keen eye on Jay and we here at Tractionmag are super pumped on the 2nd place finish. Keep pinning it Jay!

Fontana Winter Series #4 DH
Chris Kovarik keeps his win streak alive by crushing the competition by over 8 seconds! This was the first time Chris was on his new Chain Reaction Blue Intense M6 with all the teams sponsors parts. The new bike seems to be even faster! Nice one Chris.

1. Chris Kovarik - 00:02:33.93

2. Jason Memmelaar!!!!!!- 00:02:42.07

3. Cody Warren - 00:02:43.54

4. David Klaassenvanoorschot - 00:02:44.80

5. Waylon Smith - 00:02:45.03


Nigel Page
Team Manager - ChainReactionCycles/Intense

Sponsors:
Chain Reaction Cycles • Intense Cycles • Black Market Bikes
Mantou • Hayes • Maxxis • Sun-Ringlé • CaneCreek
Royal Racing • SixSixOne • THE • RaceFace • SDG • e13
Winter&Summer • Pedros • Burgtec • High Five

CarrotTop to ride for Cannondale? You be the judge.

You put enough bird seed out and little birdies will come visit you and sing you sweet, sweet songs. A little hessian bluebird landed on my window sill and sang a tune of USA fast guy Duncan Riffle in the works of inking a deal with Cannondale. If this is true he will not be the replacement for former Cut rider Mick Hannah who decided to take a sabbatical from the race season and sow his Aussie oats. He will be part of a 3 man Euro squad set out to conquer the World Cup venues. I wonder what other sponsors they will pick up? With Cannondales fresh release of that new Moto, a new all mountain rig they will be getting a lot of much needed press. Not to mention of course a previous post of the "Special-Ed" hiring campaign. (Sidenote: Mike Sinyard-Specialized CEO-has been released from the hospital and is expected to make a full recovery from shooting himself in the foot.) Kudos Cannondale keep kickin out the new stuff and signing red heads!

 

Fairclough Transcends...

Frasier Britton has a great eye. He is the mastermind behind Transcend Magazine and is known for supplying us layman with great pictures from most of the World Cup Circuit.
He was on hand recently in Chile snappin away at Valparaiso Cerro Abajo 2008 Street race. He grabbed some nice pics of Brendan Fairclough aboard his new IronHorse Sunday and in the new TLD race kit. Take a gander and Transcend and see what Frasier has been up to.


Friends across the pond and fine makers of pedals, hubs and bars know as Burgtec have launched a new site. Some spy shots of a new carbon post are floating around on the site and currently details are scarce as far as a release date. The pedals are the cats meow and the new stems and bars will sure to have you drooling. With a stacked line up of riders you are sure to be seeing more of this brand in the future!