REPLAY: Crankworx Rotorua Clif Speed & Style presented by Mons Royale

me [Music] oh one [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] hello and welcome to aotearoa new zealand we are in rotorua for the third and final stop of the crank works world tour we have a packed schedule of racing this week six events rammed into just three days now we've got pump track speed and style downhill we've got the jules slalom which will go on on sunday and of course we have slope style so i think it's customary we're in the heart of new zealand and we want to open with a greeting that acknowledges and gives a nod first to those who come before us and those who've departed and that includes but is definitely not limited to kelly mcgarry and of course chainsaw and then we want to say a huge thank you and acknowledge the mana fenua the people of this land who've worked so hard to make this event possible and then of course it's a massive welcome to the people who've come from far and wide to compete and take part in this event it promises to be a massive weekend of racing and riding and the man stood next to me if well fortune favors the brave he'd probably be richer than bill gates it is nikolai regatkin i am so stoked to have you next to me nikolai how are you doing i'm great i'm so stoked to be here in the booth with you speed style is an absolutely electric event got some of my fellow competitors for slope style riding in there so i'm stoked to see all the racing and all the tricks and i think it's going to be a good event that we're going to get to talk about here and you've been at every single router of crank works haven't you yes since the first one in 2015 i've come back every year i have a special connection with the fans down here there's no doubt unfortunately they're not on site but we know they're watching from somewhere so we're going to be doing it out here for you guys and uh yeah making the most of this crankshaft a row and enjoying this epic location okay we're kicking off with speed and style so let's take a look at the former and how it works this is where two worlds collide we've got downhill and slope staff those two extremes and they come together we're joining it at the round of eight so we've got three judges who look at the different tricks on the jumps we've got two courses so the riders race through both courses at the same time but nikolai talk us through how it works when you've got a timed run but you're also putting tricks in there yeah so in speed and style the winner is calculated based on speed with time deductions given for tricks whichever rider finishes with the faster time after the judges reward them for their tricks moves on okay well there we have it that lowest combined score over the two runs it's the lowest combined time each trick is scored out of a maximum of 150 points and those 150 points turn into every 10 points turns into a tenth of a second so over one run you've got a maximum of 1.5 seconds up for grabs jordan scott not here but never been beaten so we are going to have a new winner on the women's side of the draw thomas lemoyne is here though not in the hunt for the king of cranberry's title but he is undefeated i think we worked out in the last three or four races so it's going to be a lot of pressure on him to defend that title but it's not just about the jumps is it it takes a lot of racing skill to navigate the berms and the rollers through here oh most definitely there's just so much strategy involved in speed and style it's one of the most technical disciplines out there like you said ed you have to be so fast through the chorus and maximizing your speed but you also have to be so strategic with not only the tricks you choose to do but the way you execute those tricks you have to be perfect and you have to make sure you don't lose too much speed doing those tricks so a very very very technical discipline and we're gonna get to see exactly what we're talking about in these next few races great shot there of those two final kickers and you can see the scale of them with the people stood behind them they're literally ant uh now we've decided that for any of the riders and for any of you at home out there who need a little motivation today we would we're gonna give you a quote of the day and today's one comes from a legend not the man stood next to me but his dad i'm gonna make you read this one and i'm gonna make you do it in a russian accent okay yeah the quote of the day comes from my father vladimir gotkin i'm going to put my best russian accent on for this quote because it delivers it better there is no good try here there is a win or there is a loss so that's the quote that i want the writers to live by today the mentality that i want them to be in you know you're racing head-to-head here so you know the only thing that matters is beating the guy in the race lane next to you so there's a win or there's a loss you got to put it all on the line and you got to make it happen you got to want it we see guys like thomas lemoyne and the other competitors so hungry doing whatever they can do to win these head-to-head battles so yeah it's competitive out there and it's going to be fun to watch vladrak atkin he is officially a russian yoda now we're getting into the women's draw first and it's been a very difficult qualifying i mean we've seen caroline buchanan uh and robin gomez out there really really throwing down early on yeah it was a tough qualification the ladies were really giving it everything they had in practice because conditions out here are very tough and unfortunately two of the strongest competitors caroline buchanan and robin goombs went down robin seemed to suffer a bit of an injury on her shoulder we're not too sure how bad it is yet i think caroline was able to get up and dust herself off and i think she's gonna be racing but the girls are out here flipping you know the the tricks that they have in their lineup when they do the flips that's just a massive time difference and not to mention just a flip robin was going for a flip knack so let's look at the trick list here this is what exactly what we're thinking the judges are going to see out there so right down at the bottom of the scale you've got these really basic one footers eps one-handers no footers we've seen a couple of seat grabs even from some of the bmx racers who just aren't used to seeing tricks but then it starts to step up you get into the middle point range those one-handed x ups knack knacks 60 65 points right up to the superseater 120 points it's looking really good and then you step up to the big guns you've got the flip knack you just talked about it robin goombs went down on that 140 points or as we said earlier 1.4 seconds reduced off your time that that's a huge differential oh absolutely and i actually talked to robin yesterday and she knows how fast these girls are out here and she knows that she is the type of writer that excels in those tricks so she wanted that flip knack to get a good qualification spot to get a good up in the first round and unfortunately she went down but she's maxing out the the trick list right there so just putting it all in the line and giving everything she's got all these girls are a couple of big scouts taken in qualifying as we just said let's take a look at how that's affected the bracket via the beak reigning queen of crank works currently 169 points ahead of anyone else in that race she desperately needs a performance here she's got to buy from her first run then we've got caroline buchanan going up against ellie two the local bmx nitro circus regular ronya hill wright has got to buy as has the new red bull alumni harriet burbidge smith but the name to keep an eye on this week that we've both identified caroline buchanan we've coined her as the disrupter she's got no skin in the in the game for the queen of the crank works title but she is such a strong rider she could really mess things up oh caroline is without a doubt the disruptor she is so confident in every element of biking obviously with the crazy good bmx racing background and absolutely going off with the tricks as well i was at audi nines where i saw her land a perfect front flip the first ever women's mountain bike front flip on dirt and she's just pushing it she's pushing with the trick she's motivated to keep it going and excel her riding more and more so looking forward to see what she's got on course for us today it's gonna be rowdy so five time world champ from four cross and bmx and she's also got the freestyle skills to go with it uh louie we sat down earlier on in the week just to hear from her about her strategy on her return to crank works this is what she said i think this strategy is coming in with that confidence um from the ground work that i've done i've come off a world's first front flip at the rd9s event over in germany uh that level is not even on the scoreboard right now of speed and style so that is a max differential point i don't think i'm going to have to pull it out here this week but um for me it's yeah doing what i know doing what i've progressed on and most of all just getting back on the tour and enjoying the moment so a little glimpse here of what went down in qualifying this was caroline ejecting mid backflip it felt like she had that but she did it in practice yesterday didn't she same thing yeah caroline when she did her first backflip in practice yesterday she had a very similar type of bail where it seemed like the flip was going to come around but she just got a little feeling in the air that it wasn't and the awareness that it requires to bail out of a backflip when you feel like you're under rotating and make it out of that crash clean is a skill in and of itself and as you can see she's just dusting herself off putting the thumbs up more angry than her after that backflip crash so she said she's a disrupter she she wants to to beat these girls out here and she's willing to do whatever it takes she's mischief on wheels this week and that was a strut out of that slab she was defying that landing uh we can take a look now though robin goombs not quite so lucky because she there was no bail she fully committed to the first kicker yeah on robin's crash it was a bit of a different story she really tried to hang on to that case and let's take a look at the slow-mo replay here nice overhead shot here [Applause] full extension on the neck but the front wheel just clips the lip yeah look the flip knack neck it's massive she barely doesn't get the foot on and then the hand comes off too and she goes down hard on the shoulder definitely she was upset about the crash in a lot of pain but she's a very very tough rider and it's just incredible to see her willing to do a trick like that in qualification a flip with a variation so sometimes with mountain biking unfortunately it hits back and you have to have those crashes and i'm sure robin whenever she comes back she's going to come back stronger than ever because of that mindset that she has she's just willing to do what it takes and she wants to push the sport of women's fear at mountain biking yeah and after the years she had this represented her homecoming so that if she is out for the rest of the weekend that is a tragic loss uh not just for robin but for all of us watching that was going to be a spectacular show she would have put on but we did catch up with her earlier in the week to talk about the year that she's had so far all of those huge steps forward that she's made it's a fascinating story [Music] really cool what mons did with future ground they kind of put their money where their mouth was and just made an event happen got the girls there got the location everything was in place and it just it worked and it worked well and there was a whole lot of progression that went down that week [Music] kind of the reason i got the exposure i needed to go as far as i've now been the energy of the other woman was like absolutely rad like everyone's kinda i guess quite new to freeride because it hasn't been around long enough everyone's willing to throw down push real hard and get on that level and help each other get to that next level i don't know if it sounds selfish but it's still about like personal progression i have a whole lot of stuff that i want to take off and do so i think the further i can take myself will push the boundaries of sport [Music] just to like inspire that next-gen who are gonna start younger and push way harder red bull rampage is the dream but don't use it i mean yeah maybe replace that place that in the universe put it out there to the world i'm manifesting this for the for the woman [Music] i love the fact that she's put that out there rampage for women it's it's where we're headed undoubtedly that's the direction that at the moment women are pushing the sport in yeah it's amazing to see robin dreaming big obviously she's done a lot of things that girls thought was not possible in terms of the tricks the flips so it's good to see her dreaming big and yeah like you said it's leading towards that direction of getting girls in those big events potentially the slope events things like rampage oh yeah we just want to see them keep pushing it because they are tough they're motivated and they yeah they they are doing big moves we talked about it we've got that uh the dark horse competition you've got formation you've got mons royale future grounds down in queenstown these events are becoming more and more prevalent you're seeing them pop up all over the world and for me right now i feel like women's the women's freeride movement is one of the most exciting areas in mountain biking oh it's extremely exciting because they're just pushing it so unexpectedly and like you said there's so many different events i was able to see it firsthand at events like audi nines proving grounds in oregon massive jumps and just features which you can't mess up on and get out of clean and these girls ride these features they're not scared to hit them they go down they have these crashes they get up they're tough it's amazing to see and i really hope they keep pushing it and girls like robin who are motivated and dreaming huge are the ones that are going to be on the forefront of that women's red mountain bike movement okay i don't know if you can see it from where you're sat but we have got a little bit of liquid sunshine dampening down the course it's a light bit of rain to run a course hold for the moment it's definitely not catastrophic rain at this stage it's i can see out of the back of the studio a nice bright sky behind us so this is passing over so we've got a little bit of a weather hold but they are definitely showers as we've put on the graphic there so hoping four or five minutes and we'll be able to get the course dried out you said the dirt here in rotorua is really unique oh the dirt here in rotorua is unique it's magical and like you're saying we the dirt can get rained down on and especially if the sun comes out or if we get a little breeze these jumps start steaming with how fast they dry so let's hope for a bit of sunshine and a bit of wind to come through and for this rain to pass over because these riders are really going above and beyond today in practice despite the the conditions that they've had to make this this racing happen so it would be amazing to see them out there doing their thing okay cliff speed and style is all about bringing together those worlds of downhill and slope style the kind of free rider element and one of the women who's personified that over the last decade is undoubtedly casey brown cliff have been supporting her as she's pushed women's freeriding attempting essentially to move the world change that paradigm and shift people's attention into women's free riding we sat down with her at the start of the week to talk a little bit more about what she's trying to do and what she's achieved so far and there you have it yeah for the ladies oh you [Music] i've just seen so many women killing it this year they're absolutely shredding and it's amazing to watch like i don't know i'm so inspired by everyone around me here and there's just like everyone has their own unique style and it's so cool to just yeah be part of it there's been so many girls that have just popped out of the woodwork this year and last year robin goombs is another one of my favorites casey brown because the name casey crank works can do so many things and do them so well and have fun with it the women's freeride progression has definitely had a fire lit under it recently i would love to see the women within the next five years be able to ride the men's slope course i would love to be the first girl to be able to get down that course but i'd love for the progression to get to that level that we have a handful of girls eligible to compete at that level well as everyone knows if you want to compete at your optimal level you need decent nutrition in your body and a cliff bar has the perfect blend of protein carbs and fat to give you a slow release energy all day certainly it's worked out for casey brown uh now nikolai we've talked about the women there there is an exciting bracket but we've also got the men's side of the draw going down the women will be in first but you can see the men here thomas des moines absolutely thrashing that spin bike he and the gentle giant look at tim bringer there this is who's gone through from qualifying and there's some fascinating matchups nikolai oh these matchups are getting me so stoked right now if i'm honest thomas lemoyne versus max frederickson a pure slope style battle des moines such a decorated guy in the sport of speed and style so frederickson is gonna have to give it everything he's got he's a fast guy he's done very well in pump track as well moving on matt begg versus tim bringer this is this is a full david versus goliath like matt begg is so he's a wee little thing and then tim bringer the gentle giant absolute monster that's going to be fascinating to watch both of those riders very unique personalities very unique riding styles always attacking the chorus and just going crazy with not only the riding but the tricks as well so we're moving on bass van steenberg one of the fastest guys on course and then tom meister the guy we saw absolutely doing some crazy maneuvers out there in qualification well we've got that cork 720 that we can take a look at that he threw down you that as you said we've got one of the fastest riders in baz van steinberger and then you've got one of the most technical slope riders in tom iceland this is alfie stevens fishtailing out of that double tail whip and there was a bit of wind on coursing qualification wasn't they to throw that down took some serious stump risky maneuver right there with the tail whip in the wind the double whip barely not getting that back foot on now we're going to get to see the cork 720 from tom eisted look at this landing pure money right there unbelievable execution by tom eisted he messed up on that trick in innsbruck at speed and style and it basically ruined his whole day so it's amazing to see him landing it so perfect knowing what he has to do to beat bass in that first round okay so different trick differentials on the men's side of the draw this is what you're looking at so bar spins 14 points up to triple bar uh with a flip is 140 points so that's in the back but 360 combos you've got dump three at 70 right up to the double bar spin 333. that cork seven that we just saw from thomas said 140 points which count like translates to 1.4 seconds so you do that and what did we see at the bottom from him i think it was uh it was just a quick flip down at the bottom keeping it a bit safer because the riders have not gotten as much practice on that bottom jump but tom knows he's got double flips in his bag he's got flip whips in his bag all those tricks that are so dialed he's just going to have to strategically decide what he's got to bring out to beat these fast guys on course but looking at that they were perfectly done 1.96 seconds per run tom eisted is getting deducted if he's doing those tricks perfectly that is a huge huge differential losing the race by two or three seconds is an incredibly significant margin so if you can make that up with the tricks and also have a decent run speed wise you're looking you're looking pretty good for these races well i think baz van steenbergen is going to be nervous not least because he's up against thomas des moines i mean thomas's record in speed and style speaks for itself yeah the his result in speed and style is unbelievable the motivation that he has you see every time he's racing he's just giving it everything that he's got he's got so much experience with the racing and his tricks are so dialed and he's got that strategy down too and it's awesome to see the camaraderie between the riders frederickson and lemoyne a first round matchup against each other and they're just chilling in the athlete zone joking around i'm sure so it's a good vibe between these riders but it's also very competitive okay let's take a little look at thomas lemoine's strategy for speed and style i feel like the perfect balance in spirit style is for sure to have speed skills so make sure you go as fast as you can and for that you're gonna have to do some tricks that don't make you lose too much time so let's say like a front flip some guys do it pretty low and like can even win some speed but sometimes if you go very high then you can lose some time so you have to find some tricks you are comfortable to do because you have to do them maybe 10 times during the day and you can't really miss one so you have to be comfortable on that and make sure it doesn't make you lose too much time so find the good tricks keep your speed staying focused is very important because it it's like a little mistake can cost a lot too so every part is pretty important from the top to the bottom in spanish style let's say it brings up some fascinating points there that idea that you've like your trick selection is gonna impact your speed through the course yeah you can tell by that interview right there that it's not thomas's first speed and style event he knows exactly what needs to be done strategy wise to win these races he knows that you might have to do certain tricks so many times over the course of the day if you're getting to that final round so he talks about the fact that you don't only have to choose the right tricks but you have to do them in the right way to keep that speed up keep yourself dialed and get those right deductions you know and he's got you can see in that interview he's got the fire in his eyes oh he looked like a lion hunting a gazelle didn't he was just kind of burning a hole in the cameraman but he's like to be that calculated about this race you've got to be that focused haven't you if you want to take this out all you have to have that pure focus and the focus combined with the motivation combined with the skill and the experience now that thomas has it's almost impossible to beat him unless he makes a significant mistake victory in innsbruck 2020 victory here in 2020 then victory in innsbruck 2021 and there was no speed and style in the bc series so yeah the last three speeding styles he has taken out since uh we were here in 2020 he's making his way up to the course now the rain has stopped so that course is drying out quickly thomas is making his way up to the top there yeah awesome to see the rain hold off hopefully it stays that way we've been very unlucky with the weather so far down here in rotorua but everyone involved the volunteers the riders all honestly everyone involved with the event is staying so optimistic and doing everything they can to make it happen because this event means the world to all of us you know okay let's take a look now this is always in the background at crank works is the battle for the king and queen it's the road to royalty as we like to call it and it's one of the most as we see there's one of the most difficult titles to win in mountain biking because you can't just be good at one thing you've got to be the ultimate all-terrain rider and it's not about being a jack-of-all-trades you've got to be the master of all of them as well oh the king and the queen of crank works is an unbelievably difficult thing to win like you said you not only have to play it all on the line and make it happen you got to be consistent you have to be consistently beating these other competitors who are also so consistent and willing to do whatever it takes to get these victories let's look at the point layout here this is the one for the men yeah 100 points from first 80 seconds so it's quite a tight stack of points there 26 points for 10. in the women's 10th has 15th you have fewer competitors so you have a bigger gap between the scores but we've got three events there plus you've got the whip off and you've got slope for the men so there's big chances to make amends there and we can take a look at the standings for the men and women at the moment in the women's this is so tight they ever beat currently 169 points ahead of kielani heinz and then just 40 points separating fourth to second robin goons we haven't had any confirmation of her injury status she was still just in touch with the race in fifth but it feels like it's a four-person race at the moment but viva beat she didn't qualify in pump track and that's blown this race wide open it feels like nick oh absolutely via is very far ahead as it seems but after not qualifying in pump track it leaves the door open for some of these other girls seems like kalani chose not to ride the speed in style maybe a smart decision because of the practice was just so tough for all these ladies seeing some of them go down in qualification casey is just out of miq not sure if she's going to be here and then harriet as well um also trying to get those points so via's up there but she knows that there's other girls close to her in the hunt so she's hungry for this event let's look to see how it all plays out yeah if you're not okay with new zealand kovic terms miq stands for managed isolation quality everyone who's come from overseas has done two weeks in a hotel room to make sure that they're covered safe for the event and casey's only finished yesterday so she had a tiny bit of time on the course i actually didn't see her up i don't know if she came in to do this event she might be focusing more on downhill getting the practice time up on that but you can see that tim bring up or i think you'd say in french you asked him about pronunciation yesterday yeah i asked him this morning actually how he wants us to pronounce his name and he literally in classic tim fashion said i don't care i heard everything in my racing days from bronzer bringer he basically just said he's heard everything through all his years of bmx racing classic funny tim response so we can proper go french mode and say timothee bronze but i think we're going to stick with bringer bringer but he doesn't care he's a happy guy he also does a lot of rapping with little moines so he actually prefers to be called that is his rap name so if he gets out on course maybe that's what we'll refer to him like that is that you can see him just looking super relaxed chatting with max frederickson there and the slow boys have got very this is one thing that you noticed you started i saw you taking videos really getting stuck into everyone while they were practicing there are some massive differences in the bikes here because as we said this is kind of the downhill world colliding with the freeride world and bike choice is a hugely different oh yeah i was up on course luckily getting to talk to a lot of the riders focusing on their different bike setups the biggest difference i found with the men was a guy like connor mcfarlane who's on a big free-ride bike setup two brakes two big two big forms of suspension you know beefy tires but he says you know what that's the bike that i'm most comfortable on i ride it the most so i'm gonna stick on that but a guy like jaden fleming a guy who comes from bmx he said he literally tried to find the shortest smallest bike as we can see in the shot right here the marin with one break with the slick tires a lot less control on course but like we're saying the riders are just trying to be as comfortable as they can on the bike on course because confidence is key like caroline talked about like thomas talked about you got to be confident you got to be focused and you're going to do that on the bike where you feel most comfortable on yeah it's it's like comparing a hummingbird with an eagle this thing is so agile and fast isn't it you you watch you you watch jaden fleming ride this and he's just chucking the bike around it's so responsive but then there's a real rolling speed to conor mcfarlane's bike on that 27.5 that said i did have a little press on the saddle yesterday i reckon he's got 150 psi in that rear shot it just didn't move so yeah a very short wheelbase it's really quick through the berms isn't it oh yeah and we saw jaden fleming throwing some crazy maneuvers in practice we won't give too many details but that little bike allows for some absolutely chucking around and he's moving down this course mcfarlane is too but like we said whatever bike you feel most comfortable on you're gonna have the most success because this sport is not just about the speed not just about the tricks it's about having the perfect strategy to win oh let's talk about bias back now onto the female bikes look at this one the rocky mountain just chucked in the pines there she's left it unattended walking off into the woods yeah vaya told me this is the same bike that she uses for slalom she pumps up the suspension she pumps up the tires a bit but it is the same bike it's a little it allows for a little more uh i guess uh mistake action you know because you got two breaks you got suspension and you can you know be a little more it's a little perfect on the jumps yes exactly a little more forgiving that's exactly what i'm trying to say well we can see the psi there that's relatively high i mean for downhill you'd be running low to mid 20s and then crank that up for speed and style into the early 30s why more on the rear than the front just so you don't get bucked off these jumps these jumps are approaching them at very high speed like we're talking about not ideal speed race speed so if you have that suspension soft in the back it's nice and plush but you might get right over on these jumps which is absolutely the last thing you want so via she seems to have her set up dialed she knows what bike she needs and she competes in a lot of different disciplines it's tough to focus on so many different different disciplines on different bike setups so just hope to see her out here okay we can take a look now at thomas des moines suspension as well yeah guys like thomas lemoine tim bringer max frederiksen tom meisted these guys are running full slope style setups 215 psi in the fork the rebound half half also trick design honestly not ideal gear ratios as ice did talked about so not that great in that sense and not as forgiving with the hydraulic brakes as well but just to mention again this is the bikes that these guys feel most comfortable on they're gonna be chucking some crazy maneuvers on the slope style course in the next few days so they're just trying to get comfortable out here on speed and style and stay with that same vibe you can see tom i said just talking to tom hay there two two tom's meeting of the mines tom built this course one well he built all crank works courses moved from york in 2003 in the north of england ended up in whistler and before long he found himself building the joyride course and from there he settled down in new zealand and he's gone about he's actually made it his mission to start linking all of that incredible trail network around queenstown together and what he's building down there is something to behold like new zealand has given the world pineapple lumps volcanoes and incredible mountain bike trails and i suppose the best measure of a country's terrain is the as it produces and we'll see it here there's so many new zealanders who've come out to ride here and apply their trade against the best in the world via the beak who we saw there being one of them i think she's fire's got a buy going through but let's see eddie chu yeah you see vaya in there she's got that queen of crane works mentality it's raining but she's there on her bike doing the pedaling keeping her legs warm you know she's hungry for this she wants that she wants to defend that queen of crank works title so stoked to see that motivation and uh she does have a buy like you said through the first round but i'm sure there's going to be some tough racing in store for her in those later rounds oh yeah semis are going to be really really tight good to see you with the smile on her face actually i did feel very very nervous for it she didn't look comfortable in practice this morning she hadn't hit that last jump with confidence well i had a little conversation with her yesterday and she said that she's just focusing so much on all the events that she has to do that with a speed and style chorus in tough conditions it's hard to prepare especially on jumps she's obviously has mostly a race background so not as comfortable on the jumps as say someone like caroline buchanan but she's still stepping out of her comfort zone doing tricks like tuck no handers and stuff so honestly she's going out of her comfort zone and it's hard to focus on all these different events at once but she's doing the best she can and building that confidence also tough with the weather to build confidence because you don't get that much time on the course but these racers doing everything they can to feel ready when they get into that start gate i love the look on harriet burbidge smith's face she looks like she could cut through concrete with that stare she's just she's like i've got you i'm going to take you you see a little bit of wind still there but the rain has dried up you can see they've got the blowers out on the takeoff and via the beak is going to be the first racer in she's got a buy in the first race in the round of eight so she's just got to come down through the course you've got to do at least one of the races so uh each rider will come through just so you get a time on the board even if you're not going up against someone you've got to put a time on the board so we'll see via the beak in for the first race and then we've got a uh full match up which i think is going to be really interesting caroline buchanan going up against ellie chu and then we've got the two buyers for ronya hill wright and harriet burbage smith but let's take a look at where that can go potentially in the second round i think with no disrespect to ellie chu buchanan the favorite in that matchup so that gives us a big that is a big big battle in terms of the queen of crank works title if we see buchanan versus oh absolutely that would be a crazy battle but as we saw in qualifications buchanan and ellie are matched up because they actually both went down in their qualification runs they were able to still make it to the end but they both went down so they have to make it through that first round match-up but you never know it's easy to make mistakes out here which is why speed and style ends up being such an unpredictable sport which is even more a testament to how crazy the consistency of a guy like thomas lemoine is he's able to in such an unpredictable discipline be able to come on top out on top almost every time so we'll see what happens yeah it's that calculation factor ellie chu though going up against caroline buchanan one of the most successful women in any kind of bike sport over the last decade but ellie's got her own story and it is a fascinating one she started out as a freestyle bmxer and then started moving into looking for qualification uh for the tokyo olympics but kind of got through that process decided maybe it wasn't for her and instead went on the nitro circus and i mean the rest is history nikolai look at this look at the perfection on the landing of a double backflip that is a massive jump on a small bmx bike and she just lays down the double flip absolutely money i am beyond impressed when i saw this clip i was like no way and she throws tricks like front flips as well so you know she's got that confidence in the air we'll see how she has that confidence on the ground she took a big slam in her qualification run but was unfazed getting right back on the bike and finishing the course so she's got an awesome vibe about her and uh let's see what she has to bring against these other racers against buchanan in the first matchup it's a big big one to kick off but right now we are in the start gate the rain has abated liquid sunshine be gone it is time for via the beak to open up crank works rotorua 2021 a little bit of calisthenics there just to keep the blood flowing we've already seen her spinning the pedals so she's just got to put one run through and this one i tell you what she's going to be thankful for this nikolai reigning queen of queen of crank works she hasn't looked settled on this course yet it just started to blow on the bottom jump there you go you can see her talking a little bit about that bottom jump it's very very concerning because that jump is very exposed and the wind is pure sidewind so you can jump it perfect but sometimes it'll just take the wheels out from under you as we saw happen to some of the girls and guys in practice manageable so i can hear via in the start manageable yep um is it gonna be a good practice run for her after a little bit of rain to get warmed up again and go she hasn't looked comfortable i think this is a really valuable run for her because she hasn't looked comfortable on that last job elvis leg wow it's good ryan all right let's do it okay oh here we go we hereby about to drop in here we go the cliffs feeding stuff presented by mons royale we're underway first rider via verbeek reigning queen of crank works in the hunt for that title this week out of the gates tucked into the first one a nice took their hand into the first one that is great to see moving through using this run like we're talking about as a practice to gain confidence on this course even though she does not have to do that already though this looks like she's got a raised face on compared to practice getting a little blown by the wind there but luckily having perfect distance crossing the finish line there good to see her make it top to bottom and gain some confidence back getting 80 points for that tuck no hander on the first one that's great to see and you know what she did there she used a different lane to the one that she'd used in her qualifying run as well because i think there's just a little more exposure on that second jump to the wind so getting that one out of the way as well would definitely help her as you can see on the second one it seems to take these riders wheels and just tripped him a little bit to the right so finishing with a time of 31. or 30.896 at the end after the trick deductions so should only be one run for overbeat she may want another practice run but now back up to the top we've just seen our ellie chu out of waikanae on the kapiti coast in new zealand going up against that five-time world champion first woman to front flip a mountain bike uh audi nines earlier this year one of the most successful women across bmx and mountain biking caroline buchanan an absolute electric matchup right here riders very comfortable doing tricks let's see what they got for us racing both away cleanly but look at buchanan she's got the pace and the experience both girls can backflip that jump but choosing the safe option in this first run a smart option by the girls you clean them way out front big bmx racing background paying off right here but ellie taking it through close behind let's see if she can clean the second jump by the way again this girl is unfazed by crashes she's been going down several times today and just perfectly crashing every time that nitro circus training paying off with the air awareness unfortunate to see but glad to see her straight straight away back on the bike again just like in qualification she absolutely boosted in qualification at the top of that she's going so high buchanan scrubbed that perfectly stayed low but you have a maximum differential of two seconds so it's still not out of ellie choo's reach at this stage she's ellie chu on the right hand lane there is very tentative through that perm she had two nasty slams in practice this morning and we saw both caroline and ellie in practice throwing down clean backflips but today on a strange day of competition where mistakes are happening they choose the safe option and ellie a smart choice bailing there as her wheels were just getting taken out directly under her on that hard tail which is getting blown around very easily in the wind opposed to a bigger beefier bike but both girls in good spirits down at the finish it's great to see so there you go that differential when adjusted four tricks 3.2 seconds that is a big ask for ellie too caroline buchanan all but rubber stamped her place in the semi-finals so now we've got another two pies and our next racer is ronya hill right the australian who came down to crank works in 2015. rotorua local says she loves it here been living here since crankworx in 2015 like ed said said that jump scene and the mountain bike scene in general is just growing massively here down in rotorua which is awesome to hear and awesome to see her racing on her home track and that's it for everything check out the 30 to 39 bracket of the gravity [Music] oh no i'm going down hard we hope rania is okay and she's already up wow these women are so tough that was a massive crash breaking the visor and everything you don't need the visor anyway yeah she needs to put this one through the berms otherwise she's back in for another run yes she is because she's not going to race anyone but there we see again the lookers left-hand course that we saw via testing out in her first run he's copying a lot of wind that is a hard side of the course it's honestly very tough because ronya did almost nothing wrong there she goes off the jump perfectly and in the second half of that air look it just starts taking her and she tries to save it hanging on for dear life almost saving it but look at the level this land just taking it to the head and the face into the fence and just hopping right back up wow the toughness is just blowing me away obviously horrible to see a crash like that but amazing to see ronya tough stand up get back on her bike and finish that run wow what a beast now we have harriet the slo-mo on that makes it look like a tyson fury left hook that was a proper hit huge huge hit there okay i guarantee you harriet smith had a big bowl of concrete for breakfast this morning this woman is as tough as they come look how committed she is this is the buy race in the round of eight already she's getting stuck in just chilling over that first jump looking clean on course look of determination right there just trying to use this as a nice practice lap and move on to the next one let's see if she can clean this next jump really cool right hand lane very very clean they're not getting taken by the wind great to see you talking to a lot of the women earlier about technique on that weren't you yeah because it seemed like every time they would hit it crash or land they would all get taken a little bit to the right the wind was just taking their wheels so i was kind of trying to give them advice to push through that kicker and maybe even kick out the bike a little bit to counteract that wind balance because a lot of these girls they can flip they can spin but not as easily as the guys because for the guys it's easy to say oh just spin it it's better in the wind but for these girls they have to figure out the speed for the jump the air time in the jump so just trying to give them some advice because you never want to see the ladies go down like that especially when they're pushing the sport as hard as they are okay that wraps up the women's bracket we can take a quick look now at tegan cruz one of the up and con coming canadian riders who really made a splash at the bc series [Music] we're out here to have fun and just do some good racing definitely a pretty cool opportunity to be here with all these amazing riders to watch and learn from and now i'm racing with them so it's exciting for sure i started racing bmx when i was really young and then slowly my family transitioned into the moore mountain side of thing yeah i started racing pump track dual slalom and downhill and everything and it's just it's cool to be able to do it all trying to focus on being more in knowledge of my bike and just knowing how the bike feels and every time i ride riding down trails pump track dirt jumps bmx track in the back of my head just thinking about little things that i notice on my bike while i'm riding but yeah it's definitely a tricky one to think of when you're having fun going down track but yeah really working on it paired up against mchanna from the start just after watching him race for so long at the world cup it's a cool thing to see people were joking and saying that he could be my dad and now i'm in the gate beside him yeah i was hoping to shake things up a little bit got really tired throughout the day and just didn't have the endurance compared to those other guys it's pretty wild for sure had a bunch of time to make up on a sick mech there and just an honor to be racing with them for sure and all these top riders in the sport we raced psychosis which was an 1100 meter descent half hour 40 minute shuttle up so like not sure how to warm up and get ready for that style and not overthink it all some of us were like napping before our race run which is a little funny but it's pretty cool because you wake up you get out you get out of the truck and then you drop into one of the steepest trails out there [Music] [Applause] [Music] i aired down five psi on my fourth just to help the hands as much as i could did put on the new sram rotors definitely notice the difference with those i did notice it just a little more touchy faster reacting which was kind of nice on off yeah i think it's just more breaking power helped me as much as i could a riding dead dog anyway after how steep it is definitely got a bit of a dry throat now after psychosis haven't really figured out how their formula is but it seems like everyone's just not burning out they're all always got a full tank always got some energy tegan cruz i i knew the name before i came and it's the first time i've actually seen him riding and he blows my mind for what 16 years old yesterday the way he rides the age of 16 is just incredible so he'll be an exciting prospect for the future for canada [Music] i just took a little spill in the second run there oh yeah it's getting pretty slippery and i just came into one turn a little hot and like boosted out of it into the other one and i think i learned what i need to know for next time it's pretty pretty honored to be able to ride and race that just thank you for having us here and racing lots of fun for sure we'll definitely be coming back [Music] a little recap of crank works bc they're through the eyes of the young up and comer tegan crews 16 years old definitely going to see more of him uh if you're just joining us this is crank work rotorua we are at the cliff speeding style presented by mons royale sat next to me in a boot in the booth is a man who's confounded modern medicine because he cannot distinguish the difference between fear and fun it's nicolaira gatkin nikolai what do you make of this bracket this is the men's lineups oh i am so stoked for this bracket so excited for this first match up to my best friend thomas lemoyne vs max frederickson then we move into the new zealand rider electric rider mat bag versus the hulk tim bringer and then we got one of the fastest guys on course bassman stephen bergen versus a guy with some crazy tricks in his bag tom iced it and then two guys that have done some real damage on this course in the past billy meeklem and joe simpson here we are with the boys in the gate yes boys let's get this clash of the slope style titans max frederickson up against thomas lemoyne frederickson with all the work to do here if you look at the form guide on paper but a little bit slick they're under stars orders anything can happen out there [Music] and they're away nice and clean and frederickson with a half decent start neck and neck out of the gate let's see what they've got all the double truck drivers in both directions that looks amazing i think tom is throwing an extra x up in the end max falling behind but he's good in the rollers let's see if he can make some distance he's got the outside on those first two turns but he should be able to get the inside now excited to see what they have for the second jump a backflip with the maybe actually a big battery from frederickson both riders looking for a variation but not getting it charging to the finish line lemoine and not far behind is frederickson let's see what the tricks give them but that was an awesome matchup already for our first round the trick differential shouldn't change that too much because very similar tricks on both if anything the judges may give it a little bit to frederickson because you see if you look at the height between the two of them frederickson still got the old slope pop but check this extra x up that lemoine adds in no intensity what he has to do to beat his fellow competitor max frederickson it just looks amazing with the rider spinning in opposite directions like that so the judges are using these replays just as much as we are to make sure they haven't missed anything lemoyne is a scientist on this course isn't he his strategy his knowledge of his fellow competitors is just second to none going for the tucker handler there but still getting the x up at the end of that backflip just making adjustments on the fly and the apex here fredrickson is almost an entire bike's height above uh lemoyne there lemoine keeping that somehow keeping that flip low and long with the differential comes down to just over a second there so thomas des moines looking comfortable at the moment so yeah just over a second which is a lot when you're against lemoyne so max is gonna have to step it up heavy with the tricks in the second round if he wants to beat him which is tough because tom can step it up with this tricks as well next matchup this one's going to be good david versus goliath matt beg out of queenstown the bike valet from skyline going up against the giant of slosal timothy no i do not think i saw mat bag make even one mistake [Applause] he's gonna be kicking himself i am almost speechless right now after seeing matt go down as the last thing i expect to see is timothy going down as well and matt only two seconds behind at the end wow i've never seen a speeding style race like that i don't think more drama in this race than the season finale of shortland street that's the new zealand version of days of our lives if you're interested that was unbelievable matt begg and tim bring are both going down in the bumps bringer taking a breath now look at the camaraderie between the riders tim looking like he's in a bit of pain there from that crash unusual to see from the hulk he's such a beast usually the ground isn't more in pain than he is when he goes down just barely having to oh what a slam the bike didn't take any of that matt bag literally took that with his whole body amazing to see him get up from that after nice overhead shot here and he was going for the can three didn't quite get the extension oh it's a body blow isn't it it's like you walked into a door let's see if bringer does a similar thing here the same exact thing just front wheel barely over the berm these tight berms are very technical i just love how tim rips off the visor there throws it to the side and keeps it going bleeding from the nose what a warrior look at that as well probably best known for that boost a couple of months back at lismore park in monica it was inhuman he was stratospheric on those dirt jumps crazy completely crazy only so only 1.3 difference between those two guys the second round let's see how they're feeling for that second matchup this matchup right here is a very big difference between the skill set of these two riders it's going to be interesting to see what happens so the not quite yet anointed king of crank works fast fan steamboat going up against tom island [Applause] oh my goodness maybe he's got the corki now for the second jump knowing what he has to do only basically not doing any trick but fast charging down the line tom two seconds behind but that cash roll and that cork flip at the end it's gonna be interesting to see i think i think there's two i think there's two seconds of differential in the tricks there now we're gonna probably see 1.35 seconds 135 points 1.35 seconds for this cash roll and then he's got to be in the 50 to 55 range for the yeah this is gonna be really close but i did not expect that cash flow from tom i said i know he's very good at the casuals but i only see him doing that cork 720 maybe he thought it was going to be faster to the casual because you roll forwards off the lip opposed to yanking you know no trick from badass there tom seeing that and then just doing this nice cork flip which he's got so unbelievably dialed let's see what the judge is giving for points and what the difference is going into the second round what a matchup it's not an overstatement to say that tom eisted had a catastrophic start there if he can improve that start this race is on so it's gonna change with the tricks minus two point one oh my still misleading that is amazing to see baz charging down the course absolutely moving carson the line way ahead of tom but tom with the castro and the cork flip ends up almost a second up on bass and baz is gonna really have to give it everything he's got and maybe go out of his comfort zone with the tricks i don't know let's see a perfect example of how speed works against style thomas said using all of his slopestyle pedigree to devastating effect against baz van steen bergen's pace now we've got this is an absolute banger the fins are up for joseph absolute bmx mastery was the fairytale story here in 2018. they're understanding previous winner of this event let's see if he's got that strategy down for today joe simpson so dialed with that decade unbelievable every time just perfect the pedals billy moving ahead with speed billy is so dialed when it comes to each roller section he's got his lines down but joe not too far behind but two of these letters happen to these seconds up philly with a nice tabletop court club and a 360 table from joe these riders displaying some nice style in these maneuvers and joe 1.4 seconds behind but let's see that decade on that first jump is going to be huge 126 points amazing big big so great joe simpson foregoing the style on this first jump it's foregoing the speed and putting all of his money on style he's definitely got half a second there so but then that one billy with the truck driver it's also good especially if billy i've seen him do the 360 bar x in practice the double combo 360 is gonna match up pretty good against that decade yeah we've got i've been looking back tom i said and baz van steen bergen and the same here we've got two very close matchups which means everyone's gonna have to throw their biggest tricks in these second runs i think and i love the style displayed from both joe and billy on this second jump billy with the dip 360 table and then joe with the 360 table let's see what the difference is after the tricks come in about half a second difference so it's 0.9 behind for joe simpson so joe makes up a little bit of time but billy wasn't lacking with the tricks there the decade is nice but billy had it good speed and some decent tricks there let's look at the bracket after these first match-ups yeah so lemoyne no surprise he's there he's got the better of frederickson but matt begg has got a bit of work to do behind tim bringer but that one was so so dramatic and then i stead very very sharp on the tricks has put bass van steve bergen firmly in his place point eight seconds behind billy mcclem got the better of joe simpson in that final bracket now we're going back up for the second run of women's in the round of eight and because we only have to run one run for the women who've got to buy we're only going to see ellie chu going up against caroline buchanan and this one very unweighted full two seconds behind for ellie choo and once the trick differential was in place it was 3.2 seconds behind her a lot of work to do for any chill i'm hoping to see some side side-by-side flips here on this first jump but i know these girls are playing it smart in today's action let's see what they've got a lot faster out of the game for any two but buchanan on the inside line there ellie going for the flip and cleaning it awesome to see let's see if she can keep up with caroline at least a little bit there's a lot of pressure on you now though i think ellie's just got to flip this second jump let's see if she's on the same mentality [Applause] that's gonna be massive no going down in the gates after two perfect backflips but wow she's such a trooper getting right back on the bike oh my goodness i was hoping to see that from ellie but i honestly did not think she was gonna bring it out that was rad perfect flips right there wow she could quite easily have said conditions are hard there's a bit of wind on this course i've come off my bike four times this morning already i don't need to do this i've got nothing to prove she comes out and lays it all on the line that was incredible that was such a smart and sendy decision with the big flip on the second jump case in a little bit but perfect and unfortunately going down in the gates but just getting right back on it amazing attitude from ellie chu honestly a perfect run there from caroline with a little knack knack on the second jump she is fast she is hungry and we knew that ellie going down it seems like when she crashes it's nothing like she's unfazed by these slams it's amazing to see hopefully we see more of ellie chu in future sweden style because i think with a little work on the speed she can be a real threat 100 good vibe with these girls big smiles in the finished crowd always great to see even after these after the crash that caroline had in quality after the crashes that ellie's had these girls are still smiling they love being on their bike it's so good to see we had a lot of chat in the weather hold earlier on about tire choices do you think that she was just too committed to the tournament do you think a different tyre could have made the difference there ah those flat corners are just so difficult especially for someone like ellie who probably hasn't done too many races like that in her life seeing her ride those big nitro jumps comfortable in the flips well let's see how it comes in 11 seconds behind for ellie so almost impossible to win ending up nine seconds behind yeah pulled down 1.4 seconds so it was a big difference there but caroline buchanan first rider well and technically she's the fourth rider to book her place up there ellie's mom always the support crew giving her a round of applause absolutely she actually sold up a limoncello business and uh decided to uh make a big big commitment to following ellie around the world in her bid for qualification for the tokyo olympics but that is confirmation of our bracket for beat buchanan big match up there and then ronnie hill wright going up against harriet burbidge smith i think yeah we can we can see queen of crank works coming to head already in that first matchup as we said carolyn mckinnon's disrupter can disrupt via's way to the queen of crank works title so it's going to be a really really exciting matchup to watch yeah if but if caroline is able to do that then harriet burbidge smith knows that up against ronya hill right she has got a shot at taking a hundred points straight off by over beat that is gonna be a big big challenge oh yeah and like we talked about earlier there's never been a woman speed and style champion besides jordy scott so we're gonna have a new champion crown today so that's uh it's a big title to win okay we've got a uh a new little segment coming up now that we've been running out and if you follow crankworx on any social channels then you can join in with this throughout the week this is our crank works hotline yeah just go to the crank works website and you can find your way through there's so much detail on this site you've obviously got all of the results you've got all of the schedule in there you can head over to the shop if you fancy getting your hands on some merch you can buy all of this stuff very very nice you can get it muddy really really quickly out on the trails well if you if you in the northern hemisphere you can you can get it really dusty if you're in the southern hemisphere now though it's time for the crank works hotline i love this one it's a little bit like the bat phone check this out [Laughter] hey guys um so my question is for nikolai i was wondering why you're not competing in the speed and style today oh so anyone can pose a question to anyone uh and we'll do our best to answer it this one's coming for you nikolai what's the reason for this straight to the heart of the matter oh i know i know um honestly like i've tried to talk about so far speed and style is very very technical in the tricks you know you have to have the wrong speed coming into the jump and do the tricks in a certain way where you have to kind of stay low and you know keep that speed and that's very very technically difficult i come from a bmx background bmx skatepark and always tricks and the goal of doing tricks is literally to have the perfect speed like as long as you have the speed calculated correctly that's what matters most in things like slope style so with speed and style you have to be at race speed going way too fast into a trick jump or like going way too fast and then slowing down right before so it's very very difficult i've tried to compete in spin style in the past and i think i'm oh and five in my matchups like every time in the first round i just get taken out i'm doing doing cash rolls like ice did and and double tail ups and stuff but it's just not enough to make up that difference because i come into the jump with the speed i want not the speed that i should be racing at so i mean maybe i should try to get back into it but that's that's the main reason right there great question great answer uh we're gonna get straight back into the men's side of the draw now and we've got the men's bracket to check out uh we've had lemoine dominating frederickson tim bringer and matt beg i feel like that one there's 1.3 seconds there but i still feel like that one could go either way i'm not gonna call that one i don't even know what to expect for that second matchup that first matchup blew us away so let's see what those boys got bringer looked to be a bit hurt after that one so let's hope he's tough enough to get in the gate i know he's the hulk okay we're getting it into the matchup straight away okay we called it the clash of the slope style titans max frederickson the swede so so stylish so experienced but he's going up against the french renaissance man thomas des moines put him on a bike in any competition and he will dominate out in front a little bit right here oh thomas getting it back oh max throwing in a third bar spin there triple truck driver trying to get a little upper hand on lemoyne neck and neck through these [Applause] across and frederickson crossed the line knowing that today he has lost against lemoyne an incredibly difficult first round max frederickson was so deep on that second jump landing right at the end of the landing and i think he knew it look at the slow-mo on this first one thomas lemoyne 360 bar spin max frederickson 360 bar spin a second barspin from both riders and max throwing in the third bar spin like it's nothing getting that upper hand with the triple quadruple combo actually um and then neck and neck through these rollers but just lemoine just had a little more firepower in that match-up lemoine's bike handling through these more technical sections is just immaculate he can generate so much speed here he came into that straight that we're looking back down now at least two bike lengths behind and he's come out a bike length in front both riders flipping that second jump max knew he needed some sort of combo so after landing that jump especially deep he knew it was basically day over for him but thomas des moines and max frederickson are going to be out on the slopestyle course competing against each other once again this weekend so another chance he saw max fredrickson taking that beat so let's see we've seen it visually but this is the judge's confirmation 2.194 seconds ahead for thomas lemoine absolutely decimated frederickson in the first round and his journey to the finals begins back up at the top and we've got one of the most dramatic matchups that we saw in that first round of racing it's the french slope styler timothy punja and he's going up against matt begg area where we've got the headphones and the mic on thomas lemoyne so thomas a dominant display in that first round you're feeling comfortable out there i feel okay i'm just back from uh knee surgery so i'm still struggling a little bit with it with the power in my leg but i feel good on track uh it's a bit gusty on second jump so i'm gonna try to go fast stay focused until the end uh yeah thomas you are looking epic out there absolutely cooking down this cars awesome to see you take out the swede max in that first round but you're potentially gonna be matched up against one of your closest boys tim in this next round how are you feeling for the next match-up and for the rest of the day uh i hope he's gonna make it this round and uh if we race together we both gonna send it like we never been friend before and just be friend after the finish line that's what i love to hear man hell yeah i'm hoping for the same thing thank you uh thomas we'll see you in the next round thank you guys so absolutely consummate display there from thomas lemoine looking so so comfortable advances through to the semi-finals first rider confirmed in there but a really solid performance from max fredrickson he can be really proud of that oh definitely max is definitely a very fast guy and a solid performance just a very tough matchup against levoy in there and i think we're on to the next competitors here okay so on the right hand side of your screen it is matt begg the uh southern lakes legend and he's going up against timothy brujar the frenchman slope style specialist but both men going down in that first round will we get as much drama this time around their way bridger with a very quick start no peek on his helmet after that slam his first jump double truck driver for tim a nice dip 360 for matt amazing to see tim up after going down hard both guys going down hard honestly tim out in front with the speed right now matt close behind oh tim pulling away heavy now let's see if we can get visuals of this second jump tim's gone down in that in that penultimate berm what tim bridges gone down to matt beck just go see through to the finish here with the manual tim perinia again going down in that turn and he's funny hopping his way through the gates at the finish i thought that tim was so far out in front that we couldn't even see him but tim is unfortunately gone down both times and we are not going to get to see that electric matchup of lemoyne versus bringer let's see what happened so he dives in he's got the leaders they come into this first little technical straight lovely couple of tap down manuals there and again it's a carbon copy of the first slam he goes in low and ends up high on the apex of the turn i can not imagine the frustration going through right now just the same mistake in both runs but he's the type of guy that always keeps it positive always laughs it off drew bish taking a big mouthful of road to ruin dirt they literally front loading the full face helmet there honestly i just hope those are the crashes that he gets out of the way before slope style you know eat the dirt a couple of times and hopefully he cleans it up for slope day but i was really looking forward to that lemoine ranger match up but matt bag stoked to see him move on on that green p3 as well oh he rides so beautifully the problem he's got is that he pops so much he can't keep that forward momentum that's gonna be tough against lemoyne who strategizes this trick so much yeah 100 so matpeg out on his own there taking this one off the mistake from tim fringer but the young kiwi going up against the legend lemoyne in the semi-finals he'll be pumped on that one it's too fun a little bit bark missing on the nose of tim bringer there as well [Music] loving that tim all smiles even after going down you can see the difference in height there as well two more physically different men in the uh crank quotes match-ups you'd struggle to find that bag confirmed goes through the semis there and he will face thomas des moines [Music] back up to the top and this one is so so tight you called it earlier nikolai it's the speed of baz versus the style of ice dead and in the first round it was ice dead out on top just heard through my headphones that has got the fastest time of the day 27.49 and it wasn't enough he's gonna have to go even pace it or he's gotta find some tricks nikolai yeah that's crazy to see that bass has the fastest time of the day but he's still almost a second behind tom just shows how much those big risky tricks can pay off for these racers out here today okay i said it feels like you had a little more protection on the big tricks in the other lane let's see if you can make it work riders right hand lane oh again slow off to stop van steve and he's just lightning let's see what tom has got into this first jump what the trigger is going to go for another castle that's going down no and there you have it no that just shows how the risk reward is here and speed and style iced it knowing he has to do a 720 rotation to beat bass but it's so so risky that just a little bit off in the rotation and he goes down ice did a guy who was so dialed with cash rolls can do twisters but going down on that right hand side jump and a real bummer to see but great showing he had bass but the fast guy is going to move on this time really interesting though we've seen court sevens all morning from tomorrow and he changed in the race he just he made the decision he was going to go for cash rolls instead of called sevens in the race but van steenberg's pace off the start is just phenomenal did you see where he caught him on the second three i'm not sure what with ice did with the cash roll you just see that he doesn't launch himself quite forward enough with the casuals you really have to throw that shoulder that you're rotating with forward at full speed otherwise the rotation comes out weird so fast getting a nice neck neck there but it's just those rotations especially at race speed when you don't have the right speed you're not that comfortable on the jump the rotations can just so easily go wrong but good to see iced it all good up from the crash obviously bummed that he crashed that because of his dial and consistency with cash rolls but yeah he'll have another day a 101 class in risk versus reward therefore tom i said van steenbergen advances through to the next round who will he face that is the big question i mean basma must have been a little nervous there against ice did because he's going for that king of crankworks title and if he gets taken out in that first round it's not so good for him i mean there's no one here though in the top five he's you've got to say at the moment he's feeling pretty safe it's all done by the shouting as far as paz is concerned for these two it's far from over though all to play for just nine point nine seven seconds for joe simpson to make up billy meekley he's got the trick and the speed though [Applause] how dialed billy is through this roller section perfect on his lines it's the danger of throwing a rotation that drift across the landing nice stylish nice stylish tabletop maneuvers from both riders there amazing to see joe quite far behind here and taking the loss there in good spirits and it looks like billy is going to be moving on a former champion of this event watching this one very carefully so great speed and great style from billy mikkel it feels like he's the whole the whole package there maybe a little bit too much popping as he said he's just drifting around a bit joe simpson yeah that that decade is just such a risky move up the start as it's so dialed but it just had him a little offset in the berm look at this the dip 360 table versus the normal 360 table just an absolute beautiful display of style from both of these new zealand riders you could have had a spirit level on joe simpson's table okay so 3.5 seconds joe simpson giving it up for billy [Music] 2.5 seconds back in the end great showing from both ryder and riders and billy is going to move on and uh further his quest to be a champion again on this course so des moines versus matt begg up top that one looks a little uneven but we've seen riders going down on this loose dirt it's got a little bit wet a little bit slippery and it's far from given at this stage but very very even i think the one to watch here heat two baz van steenbergen versus billy maker that one is gonna be tight nicola oh yeah we've got some great racing coming up we have two new zealand guys in each matchup so we are potentially in for a new zealand final it's going to be tough for begg to beat lemoyne but it's an unpredictable sport sweden style so i'm stoked to see what these matchups have to bring for us okay well we've already talked about the fact that grip is a premium in these first couple of rounds so we're going to take a look at the max's tire choices of baz van steenbergen and caroline buchanan hey i'm carolyn buchanan hey i'm bass fans team briggin hey guys this is vaya and this is my max's tire check for the clip speed and style presented by mounts royale it's my usual combo max's dhf in the front dhr2 in the back on the front i run a 2.2 icon and in the rear i run a 2.1 pace the fast rolling of both tyres is perfect for the speed elements the reason i run a bit of a beefier tyre in the front is purely for that security in the turns and making sure i can rip through them so in the front we got a 27.5 tire we're running the minion dhf at 2.5 and i run about 33 to 35 psi in that and then in the back we got a 26 inch wheel with the dhr2 it's 2.4 just so that it rolls a little bit faster the dead on the spain style track looks insane the perfect combination of sandiness the clay uh yeah the dirt here in rotorua is pretty amazing um but it can actually be quite slippery when it's wet so that's when you kind of lower the tire pressures a little bit but when it's just dry and it's super grippy so you can get away with some higher tire pressures here this is my ride and this is my max's thai check fascinating buchanan van steinberg and amber b all know exactly what they need to do here and i think baz hit the nail on the head you lower those pressures because it can get slick the beak and bug cannon going head to head in the first of our semi-finals and then we've got ronya hill wright going up against harriet burbidge smith three out of four australians in this top four for the women's so amazing to see the australians coming out with firepower making it into this final four 101. this matchup is one that's going to be exciting via wants this one and caroline does two so both of the girls are going to be bringing the heat yeah i think we're going to see certainly we've got more confidence at buchanan at this stage but that has tripped people up too much confidence and you can go down out of the game very evenly giving a good account of herself caroline pulling forward one footer and a nice extended tuck no hander from vaya one of her best ones i've seen all weekend girls neck and neck through the rollers buchanan pulling it forward again so much race skill on that small hard tail it's gonna take a big trick here to catch this up oh a knack knack and just cruising over that jump by fire this is going to be a very close matchup essentially crossing this wow look at the time difference barely anything 9 000th of a second for big did a phenomenal job on the back straight into the last jump there and critically i think we saw i actually felt a gust of wind as they came over the second kicker and i think the beak in the most exposed lane there has done very very well now look at this one footer from buchanan and a nice tuck no handler from via definitely she's preferring that rider's right jump for those no-handers clearly i think fire is like that was that was a lot more extension the judges are gonna pull a bit way bigger score there for via and then a nicer knack oh and vaya got a little et there which i actually did not see when the race was happening um but both the girls tricking both jumps so nice work you saw with fire's hand signals there as well she just said i was moving in the air definitely got shifted so at the moment caroline behind but let's see that trick differential go to work puts her a little further behind but look how close that is 0.189 it's gonna come down to whatever happens in run two and caroline might have to step it up a little bit and go go upside down because we know she can do it okay we can have a little chat after these replays with fire and find out how she went there but this is what you were looking at that big tuck no hander in qualification it was half extension if that but she's really committed to that oh most definitely getting the arms up and actually a smart move from caroline she's taking the trick slow but if she does two knack knacks she's gonna get docked so she kind of does like a one footer and then the knack knack so smart it's a master class in timing and control through the turns as well for caroline oh without a doubt a little bit of a case there for fire as well i hadn't spotted that that makes that last section even more impressive so via the big congratulations a phenomenal work of catch up there on the last straight thank you yeah flat corners are definitely where i can some somehow get it back on the little hardtail bikes for sure and via i just want to ask you which line if one of them do you prefer because you look more comfortable especially on that first one with your tug no handlers on that rider's right line talk to me a little bit about both lines and the difference between the two yeah i think it's kind of half and half like i think the right rider's right line on the top jump is actually friendlier in terms of like building speed before it but then the bottom jump i've only ridden a couple times on the right side because qualifying was on the left and so um now i'm going to be on the left side i don't know i'll just take it as it comes really but it is tricky top and bottom okay thank you so much bye we're looking forward to seeing that second matchup thanks guys good luck okay back up to the top for the second match up and it's uh ronya hill right going toe to toe with harriet burbidge smith all australian affair here and i've got to say on the strength of what i saw in terms of qualification and those first buys this is going the way of harriet bourbon smith but ronnie hill wright looks really steady on the bike i'd say she's way safer [Music] it has pulling forward a little bit in this first street getting a tire grab there nice adding a trick ronya with nothing but looking clean harriet smith just work in that technical section pumping all of the speed and now on that inside line getting a couple of bikes length is gonna get the second jump clean yes great to see them both landing clean no tricks but no crashes either rodney hill rides still very much in this very very close racing only point two back harriet is gonna get a bonus forging the tire grab on the first jump not much but pretty significant when ronnie is not tricking it off but honestly good speed from both girls and neck and neck racing there really well we heard via say before that this left-hand jump is nicer but overall i think you've got you've got way less risk on that inside line less wind coming over that last quicker so harry and bobby smith potentially she's got a quarter of a second without the trick scores being accounted for but it's far from comfortable going into the second round this one is just like that matchup between buchanan and vivek gonna come down to the wire harriet with that look of determination in that red bull helmet she's definitely riding better than ever and it's sick to see and uh it would be cool to see her in the final but ranya is close behind ronya did so so well cassie mine back to that first buy she put her head through the fence on that one and she's just shrugged that off so here we go plus three seconds for ronya so it's point eight back that's actually a considerable distance i think ronya's gonna need something trick-wise she's gonna have to push if she wants to harriet burbank smith under pressure it's honestly she might need it but it's very tough honestly after i like you said going down in that first round but let's take a look back at these men's matchups okay so thomas des moines the thoroughbred of cliff speed and style presented by mons royale going up against matt begg the untested southern lakes rider he's got all the pog can he find the speed and then it's van steen bergen going up against billy mcclellan but first up lemoyne at beg this is big big news for matt begg oh yeah in the top four against pretty much the hardest match that he could get let's see what he's done lemoyne with the great gate start there just charging out of the gate wow i'm not doing a big triple there over the rollers 360 double bar in a nice stylish 360 table from bag thomas lemoine pulling [Applause] blowing up but keeping it together crossing the line 1.6 behind lemoine absolutely rowdy run especially that last section there for matt back he is that type of rider though giving it everything every lap practice qualification race whatever cheeky chuckle to finish from matt begg look at the start from thomas lemoine though lovely gap from matt begg but two bite lengths already in that first jump oh yeah thomas has mastered the gate start and he is on it with the lions look at this 360 double bar spin and matt with the 360 toboggan to table i didn't even see that toboggan in the first part of the racing so a double combo there very stylish there from that bag and a big flip and look at this holding on whoa just going huge they trusted in that back tire not to give away then didn't they oh yeah he's out of the camera shot he goes so huge the camera doesn't even catch him oh holding on for it electric rider mat bag chucking buckets of dirt out on that landing yeah it's gonna be a big game of catch up for matt begg but it's not over until you cross the finish line so once the differential is taken into account he's knocked it down a little bit 1.5 seconds back so still in contact but it's a big ass five is it that dip 360 with the ken ken ken actually got mat bag some time back against thomas lemoyne's straight back flip so good to see that okay back up to the top and it's billy maclem in the red vest going up against baz van steinbergen fastest man down the track so far but baz does not have the tricks that billy meeklem does so this one is going to be very very even once the differentials taken into account yeah honestly guys watch how dialed both of these riders are oh let's take a look at billy meeklem here first place montreal speed in style against martin's trump when basically nobody knew who he was he came out here and got an emphatic victory so he feels right at home on this course he's won here before and he's looking to do the same today but i was just trying to say look at how these riders ride the corners ride the rollers they're so on it they're so dialed and they're so fast this is gonna be amazing to watch and i think billy is fast but i think he's gonna have to bring some 360s with combos in them to make sure that he gets above bass but let's see what happens riders are in the gate yeah billy will have watched what tom is he knows that this one's there for the taking if he can consistently trick under stars orders long random weight there under the start gate and already bez has got a lead 360 first spin to x up there great to see from billy but baz is on it he's out front but look at billy through these rolls look at both of these guys through these rollers just lovely world there by billy make him to stay in touch with pat's van steenberger nice knack knack flip table they're very stylish from billy these riders are pretty close billy across the line almost a second behind bass but let's see where the tricks put the amazing racing there mistake three racing in on my on my rough scorecard i've penciled in just under a second and a half there so i think i think billy's got this one i think he's gonna be around three tenths of a second toboggan versus the 360 bar spins x up that's going to be huge for billy myklin good to see him get that x up after the bar spin now after he struggled to get it in previous rounds and then again the knack knack here from bass very stylish but nothing compared to billy's dip 360 tabletop a nice slow-mo from the back oh look at the scrub there by passion and then oh my goodness billy taking off from absolutely the edge of the kicker putting savage carve into this rotation so stylish and then somehow just landing perfectly straight coming out of that there you go look how low bazz buzzes then almost double his height billy myklin just to make sure he had room for that trick so was i right i said three tenths of a second oh just under yeah he's absolutely killed it he's put bass van steenberger in his place nearly a second back for pass billy meekley looking very very comfortable baz van zeebergen's got to find something as long as billy's if billy can stay consistent it is crazy how baz is putting in the best times of the day and billy has over almost a second on him after that first matchup yeah you can't just be fast uh via the beat going up against caroline buchanan ronya hill right against harriet burbidge smith for the last time and it's all to play for between verbeek and buchanan feels like there's a little more distance between ronya hill right and harriet burbidge smith but one trick from ronnie hill ryan it could even things up right now though this one is going to come down to the wire cannon and this one could it's early days but it could very well have a big hand to play in the queen and tranquil style as they racing first quarter here come both girls let's see if they've got it yes caroline sounds like she's very badly knocked getting the flip over compensating absolutely cute the medics are there straight away caroline is getting the best medical attention right now as soon as we have any information on that we will bring it to you but the bike flicking out she ejected the bike and it came across the lane as fire the big was entering that first turn and the front wheel clipped up luckily it didn't make full contact with fire yeah great sportsmanship there by via the bike did hit her but she still stopped and immediately is going over to check in caroline's okay caroline's so unfortunate to see under-rotating some of her flips this weekend and just making sure she gets to pull off the lip but just giving it too much of a yank and like we're talking about in speed and style you come into the jump doing tricks not exactly the way you want to do them not with the exact speed you want to do them and especially when you have mistakes in the previous rounds you try to make up for it so caroline with a smart move making sure she gets the pull for the flip so she doesn't under rotate again but unfortunately over rotating and landing hard on her back hopefully she's okay and it sounded like she had the wind knocked out of her but she is very very tough so ellie and ingrid chewa there you can see her just sitting up talking to the medics [Music] fire was smiling there as well which hopefully is a good sign [Music] there's so many checks we run through now as well alongside obviously all of the physical checks there's the concussion checks as well because these days you know that it doesn't necessarily take a full head knock a solid whiplash can do it that's awesome to see caroline up on her feet again definitely looking like she's in a bit of pain right there i'm sure she's also pretty angry because those flips are so dialed for her so to make two mistakes is such a bummer just knowing what she has to do knowing that she had to go upside down to win that race and being willing to do so even after the crashes and the mistakes it's unfortunate to see that over rotation but we know that we're going to see caroline back and pushing harder than ever one of my favorite things about watching the women this week has been the confidence with which caroline's attacked all of the courses we saw it on pump track in qualification and we've seen it here in speed and style she's been mischief on wheels just smiling enjoying herself i'm absolutely bringing brimming with confidence to see her cut down like that is is so cruel we can take a look at the replay now that we see her up on her feet talk us through this nikolai what do you think happened so caroline was definitely worried about under rotating this flip so she pulls she gets a great pull via with a nice extension on the no handler there but right here she sees that she's way over rotating and unfortunately the bike doesn't even take any of it and she just takes everything and wow the bike absolutely smokes maya she's able to stay on but that is unbelievable to see and wow that that looked extremely painful for caroline but we know she's tough but she's back up and ready to go incredible to see her squatting like that because it looked like maybe it was all the pressure through her back like back and knees it must have been it must have been oh disappointment for caroline buchanan there or i mean she's got two-time olympian five-time world champion by the beat carries on down there that is sportsmanship this is literally a formality just across the line to make sure that she finishes that lap so that she has a final score she'll progress through to the finals it's really crazy to see for vaya i'm sure seeing so many of her fellow competitors go down and she's just trucking through these rounds just shows the consistency of a former queen of crank works as well a reigning queen of crankbaits that that is a huge huge victory there it's not the finals but putting caroline buchanan out there obviously she's not happy about the way that it happened you never want to see a fellow competitor go down like that but it does mean that she's made a final and that puts potential i think it's going to be a minimum of 80 points in via vape's queen of crank works account at the first event here at crank works rotorua so maya's definitely very hyped on that caroline we'll see if she's okay to go for that bronze medal match up let's see yeah caroline less hyped i think it would be fair to say yes but second semi-final now back up to the top harriet burbidge smith is leading right now 0.8 seconds ahead of ronya hill right but if ronnie can add just a couple small tricks into a run here then it could be a different story at the end let's see what harriet's got his first jump a tire grab again not doing any trick but keeping it clean has seems to be far out here and destined for the final but you just can't make any mistakes before the end harry potter smith growing in confidence on this course with every run [Music] both ladies cleaning the second and ranya actually pulling ahead here a little bit wow making up the time both ladies crashing wow wow look at the difference again in the time very very close racing and that one tire grab right there actually helps out harriet so much in the end yet it's incredible that ronya hasn't been able just a small one-hander maybe an et just something that gives a couple of points three like the lowest scores you're getting there are kind of you can get a 10 20th of a second off honestly i mean it seems like it's so easy to just take a handoff for a foot off but after a type of crash that ronya had absolutely smashing down it's amazing to even see her up and riding how not to mention but uh but yeah it seems easy but the mental game also the conditions out here clearly with the flags in the back you can see that it's windy but these riders are pushing through and doing the best they can to uh to win these races okay so harriet povich smith there just waving to via the beak i think she knows that she might be meeting her in the final [Music] see this we'll wait for judges confirmation i barely made that last one yeah you can hear the girls talk a little bit about the windy conditions there so confirmation from the judges once they've worked out the trick differentials 1.245 seconds the difference between ronya hill right smith will face off against the reigning queen of cronkite's fire for beak in the final now we go back up to the top of the men's draw men's at semifinal map out of queenstown going up against thomas des moines grub grew up in ashburton central south island and his way down to queenstown where he's one of the bike valets on the queenstown skyline gondola park rat there's a little bit of racing hits up those downhill trails thomas lemoy the ultimate all-rounder the all-terrain vehicle world-class slope rider but he's got those contractual and speeding styles and he puts him to good use for rejection basically missing the whole landing there and bailing huge smash down and thomas lemoine sees that he has no opponent beside him so he's just gonna pierce to the finish but wow matt went massive on that first one and i'm not sure what happened in that 360 that made him have to bail i'm gonna i'm guess we're gonna have to see on these slow-mo replays i think good to see matt up and finishing the course he's such a savage rider still doing a very stylish cork flip tabletop manually through that finish gate 15 seconds back but in good spirits all smiles today for matt huge crash there [Music] on this first one i felt a gust of wind come through just as he did this thomas goes long and low and matt's so high if that caught him it sent him to the end of the landing so i know exactly what happened with matt here unfortunately matt was doing this 360 bar spin to one foot can in practice and as soon as he catches that bar he takes that leg off and tries to put it over the frame it seemed right there he already was taking the leg off before catching the bar and that completely destroyed the whole thing and he had no choice but to bail but still getting up getting that clip table in the end and crossing the finish line with a smile on his face i'm sure we're going to see a lot more of matbag in speed and style in crankworx and in the mountain bike world in general that was brilliant analysis you should be a commentator so thomas lemoine looking pretty relaxed to that one another day at the office for him he's cracked off at semi which means he books his place in the finals thomas lemoyne this is the only the beginning of his mission you know he's destined for the finals and he wants to win that final so two thumbs up from matt bank he knows he's had a good run there but it would have been uh a big big ass to take down the king of speed and style so we've got bazi's tire choice he's on those maxis he's got the minion df on the front then the dhr2 on the back so higher rolling speed on the front bit more well no a bit more grip on the front rolling speed on the back but still got a lot of tire pressure in there for what he admitted is a wet track says this dirt can be very wet if it's slick let's see what these writers have a crazy crazy matchup right here second off the pace behind billy meekley guys looking fast start beautiful emmanuel from billy clinton billy dialed getting that 360 barsman to x up again knowing what he needs to do against the fastest guy on track bassman steve burgin dial through the tabletop they're very strategic by billy myklin and ultimately crossing the finish line less than a second behind so i'm pretty sure billy is going to be moving on there because very very strategic hold the front page billy meeklem is exactly the same amount behind baz as baz was behind billy when they started 0.903 wow that is fortuitous that is crazy but baz is so low on these jumps and you see billy you you said it straight away billy boosted really high on that one but when they come into this final jump baz is scrubbing what you can see in the earlier rounds though billy was boosting that a lot more obviously you can get more stees out of it when you look at the times of the day basman steve bergen not allowing anyone else in the top five of that board but billy knowing what he has to do going a little bit lower on that cork flip tabletop to gain even more speed and barely cross the finish line behind bass van steenburgen so strategic racing here by billy meeklem and honestly unbelievable speed here from bass van steve bergen so big up to both of these riders well billy meekley proving that if you've got style and consistency yes 1.865 seconds back for baz van steenbergen oh yes we have got to battle the champions coming up billy versus thomas lemoyne an electric final awaits well it feels like potentially billy's got the tricks to go for tom may like he's got a lot of pop on that first jump but the second jump he definitely has got that one low just like thomas lemon oh definitely and honestly i gotta give a little insight from thomas thomas was talking in the hotel about how consistent and dialed billy is here in rotorua this whole time he was racing against him on pump track and he was saying billy this guy don't even make one mistake every single lap he do everything perfect just talking about how dialed billy is with the speed and with the roller sections and just how honest he is so billy's on it and thomas knows he's going to have to be on it for this final match up so stoked to see that billy fantastic racing there how hard was it to sit behind someone as fast as baz van steenbergen in each of those races and have the confidence that your tricks were going to pay off yeah he's definitely pretty stressful to come up against because he's straight out the gate and all of a sudden in front he's pretty much just on his tail the whole way um yeah you gotta try to link a couple tricks in and see if it pays off yeah billy you're matched up against thomas lemoyne both of you guys are previous winners of this event can you tell us a little bit about your strategy for this finals and how you're feeling going to this finals you must be stoked yeah i'm just having so much fun course is really fun and just enjoy doing enjoy doing jumps and the pumps work out pretty sweet as well sweet well good luck in the finals man and uh get it it's your home turf get after it thanks mate let's get it okay that was billy macleon there he's confirmed his spot in the finals going up against thomas lemoyne matt begg will go up against baz van steenbergen two more different riders i don't think you could find in this lineup matt begg boosting so high relying on his tricks baz van st bergen literally a drag racer from start to finish but you you said it that's gonna be so so tight and i feel like billy me club that caught three's got on the last jump there it's really long and low he's got the same kind of style as thomas on that jump definitely yeah and thomas has been doing more of a straight backflip on that jump he's gonna have to throw in a combo to make sure he has as an upper hand on billy okay we're going back up to the top now where ronya hill right unfortunately is gonna race on her own caroline buchanan opting not to go in this uh third place matchup so ronnie hill right will take one run down through the course but it will secure on a road to rue's finest her place on the podium so a victory lap of sorts for ronya hill yeah like you said ed it's quite a bummer to see caroline not in this bronze medal match-up inside a rough day a little bit today with the crashes glad to see that she's relatively okay unfortunately not in the bronze medal match-up but also like you said this must be an unreal moment for ronya moving to rotorua after the first crank works in rotorua her hometown and cruising down for a podium finish oh my goodness almost going down again but holding it together ronya really well yeah like i said she must be stoked i mean she's had a rough day with a huge crash but she's coming down in a bronze medal position and she's gonna get the standard to crank works podium a memorable moment for her without a doubt the bronze medalist she held on to that one i've got to say like that third place for her is a testament to the courage she showed today most most definitely going down like that and just getting up and just beasting her way through the next round and ending up on the podium it's all worth it in the end you can see caroline buchanan there just on the inside of that first verb looks like she's stretching out her back and her knees there luckily it seems like she's laughing a bit got a smile on her face in good spirits even after some big slams okay so the men's bracket we've got the bronze medal round here for matbeg and baz van steinbergen hopefully baz has managed to get up there in time quick turnaround for him he might still be out of breath but he's i mean this i love the fact that baz is out there racing he's got these phenomenally quick times but it's a testament to the fact that the speed and style format works that you can't come out and just be fast yeah i mean in one way yes but in another way fascinating brighton is in this bronze metal round despite the fact that he basically has not done any big sandy tricks so he's getting that speed to live on but yes the format does work that the tricks if you risk it it sometimes pays off huge but then again the first matchup tom meister had fast van steenbergen basically out and crashed because of those risky maneuvers so it's a crazy unpredictable strategic game out here in sweden style well we can take a look now baz is guaranteed at least a fourth place so it's a minimum of 50 points in his quest for the king of crank works title but you've got to say he could potentially get 60 but right now it's all done by the shouting in the men's battle for the crown because baz has laid such incredible foundations first at innsbruck and then in british columbia oh yeah i mean the king of crank works like we talked about earlier is one of the most difficult things to win you have to display unbelievable consistency and be able to beat these other competitors which are whole so hungry to take your spot so yeah yeah and he's going to be like swinging his leg over the big bike for the downhill in around two hours time so there's the standings your jackson through breeding mick hannah and bensing all like they're not even that close but none of them here like this is this is bazi's to take home that big there could have say can he make a crank works podium here at his first ever crank works cinderella's story at stake for that egg is deep and blast out of the gate with a ripping those burns peddling in every single moment that he can the classic knack next scrubbing everything you can here a big 360 can for map bag cleaning it up this time not rowdy at all manually over just having so much fun out there on course two seconds back but he's definitely most definitely gonna get a decent amount of time back for those maneuvers yeah i think on the trick differential we're going to see like somewhere between 1.5 1.8 seconds potentially knocked down he can get back in touch with baz van steenbergen here oh definitely look at the way he goes through those first rollers just maximizing the speed blasting the jump with the nice steez there let's go down another slow small t-bug from fast just maximizing that speed and look matt lands bit outside but he's able to get in and look at this second jump nice knack knack from baz also maximizing the speed again and then matt comes in blasting with the spin cam perfect that time we've seen him over rotating before but that was money it was the opposite of racing though wasn't it it was all air time there was nothing low and fast about that yeah matt just loves blasting these jumps too much he can't help it you can take the boy out in the trails become take the trails out of the boy if you haven't seen it yet go and watch matt begg's destruction of liz moore trails in wanaka the score is coming in the time is coming in just 2.9 seconds back look at that he's picked up 1.7 seconds with those tricks so the speed is paying off for baz in this round but matt is very close behind if he can do those same tricks but maybe boost them a little less and be a little more on it with the speed i think he can take bass with this bronze medal that would be a fairy tale story for matt peck now it is finals time the finals reigning queen of crank works fire the beak is going up against one of her major challengers harry and burbidge smith and this one is going to be so so tight both of these riders very very tidy on this course and look at that bourbon smith means business both of these girls mean business let's see if they step it up with the tricks and with the speed for this matchup out of the start gate cleanly fire for being a little bit faster coming into the first turn the burp keeps garbage smith that's something holds going for the truck no hinder i have not seen haze through the tucker handler yet today and she pulls it out to be perfectly matched up with fire by pulling out a bit in front but house is not far behind with a little more confidence down the bottom here on this last jump i think oh no fire going down i hope she's okay picks herself up walking it off as crossing the finish line but looking back concerned for her fellow competitor via this is obviously huge for these queen of cranks standings but the sportsmanship between these athletes they care so much about each other bae is up and good seeming more angry than hurt right now look at that look at determination she knows that there's still a chance for her to take it in this second run round of applause smile on her face that's amazing to see sucks to see her go down that's for sure let's look at this race again very very even through this first jump the tuck no handers almost taking the hands off before even tucking it in and via getting another great extended tuck no hander look at the angles that fire had there technically she was faster down the straight she's left harriet's bourbon smith almost for dust and i think she'll she can take solace from that that if she can hold she can keep this tires down for the second run then she's got a chance to pull this back oh most definitely hopefully we get a look at what went wrong here for via into this second jump which has been giving riders issues most of the day she goes for the et and then gets buck to the side wow just absolutely slamming with her face down on the dirt so tough to get out of that honestly both riders getting blown a little bit there they both have like the the tire comes out to the riders left hand side there and then they swing across to the right as they land you saw the same harriet burberry smith cup right across the landing if fire had landed they would have been very very close together good to see if i ever beat smiling a lot of work to do in the second run of this women's final a real real cliffhanger here not just in the final of the cliff speed and style but also in the battle for the queen of crank works harriet bourbon smith one of the riders who's still very much in touch with firefighters against carroll starting to think like okay two second the maximum differential that you can get if you slam let's see where the tricks playing to this leviai ends up three seconds behind it's pretty far back she's almost gonna have to not hope but harriet's gonna have to make a mistake for her to win it's gonna take a lot of work okay men's final up at the top billy minklam up against thomas lemoine miklem on the right-hand side of your screen thomas lemoyne unbeaten in the last three cliff speed and style races presented by monroy out this is gonna come down to the wire both of them very very clean riders out of the gate let's see what they have coming into this first jump oh my goodness pinning it through those rollers wow that looks amazing i think both of them doing the 360 doubles [Applause] wow one of the most consistent immaculate riders in speed and style has gone down in the first round and as i've been saying speed and style is just such an unpredictable sport stuff like that can happen even to the most consistent dialed experienced riders in this sport thomas simone obviously very pissed right now absolutely destroying that firm but he's still manually like it's nothing i'm sure billy is stoked to see that but also not stoked to see his fellow competitor go down and let's see if they both match up in this uh in this second matchup again never know we saw matt begg body jar in that exact same spot at the bottom and i know it had been patched up but you've got to wonder if there was some loose dirt there from that previous hack let's see what happened here [Music] okay 360 double bars from thomas des moines 360 bar spin to x out from billy just looks so amazing when both the riders are spinning the same direction and doing similar variations it's almost like synchronization it's art right here on the speeding style course look at that the frog oh just barely like his fellow frenchman tim bringer did earlier on the second berm on this course oh i'm just so bummed to see that and i know lemoyne is pissed doesn't like making mistakes and he's usually mistake free in speed and style looking back at that firm like are you serious right now okay we can go down now to speak to the winner of that first round billy macleon billy you actually could see that we've just seen on the replay as you were exiting that berm you could see thomas go down in front of you what were you thinking when you saw that yeah well i could taste it as well all the dirt came out straight into my mouth no it definitely sucks when your teammate goes down on the side it's not really a fair race but i mean from your perspective this was always going to be a very close match-up in the style and the way that you both ride yep for sure and these corners are very gnarly out here they're a little bit of rain we had before didn't do a lot but it's definitely pretty scary everyone's trying to go pretty hard for finals and the berms are very low yeah billy talk to me about how hard it is to stay mistake free in speed and style when you're just maxing it so hard with the tricks and with the speed talk to me how you've been able to just keep it so clean through all your rounds oh it's pretty near impossible to send mistake free the first few runs i missed a few tricks but it's just i don't know having fun with it and just trying to keep calm and do what you know you can do okay thank you very much billy thanks guys all right so billy mcclem gets the better of one of the true legends of speed and style thomas lemoine doesn't look doesn't look like he's hurt anything apart from his pride there though and you know he's going to be hungry but it's a big big ass because you said when you asked thomas about billy mcclellan he said he doesn't make any mistakes he just says he thomas was telling me that billy has just been so on it this whole week but now we're back in the bronze medal match-up bass versus matt this one very very interesting it's close between these two okay ready just under three tenths of a second behind matt beck if he can just speed this up a tiny bit and or potentially throw down a bigger trick and he's in touch with bad feinstein oh bass so fast out of the gate though it's insane how fast he is out of the game the bargain 360 person trying to go for that one can getting a little bit of steez not quite getting the foot over but stepping it up wow look how far bass is ahead matt is really going to have to do something wild on this second jump it's cost him a huge amount i think we're going for that maximum and the big three can again pulling it perfect he's got to be pinned through these black corners if he wants a chance across the finish line it's gonna be close okay 2.363 which means we've got 2.653 in total even with a huge trick differential i don't think there's enough there bad van steenberg and secures himself i would say it's not confirmed yet but another 60 points in that pursuit of the king of crank works title look at this the 360 bar spin getting that leg off into uc trying to get it over the frame but not quite getting it yeah it looked like it cost him just an extra ounce of speed as well didn't it just a little bit yeah let's see what they had coming into this second jump the classic scrub knack from bass maximizing the speed and the huge three cam with a little euro even at the end for matt they're really nice easy we've got to look at it on this angle because you can't actually see it on the other camera you boost it too high yeah phenomenal when you get you can see the difference there bowser is already on to his second gate while matt was at the apex of his last jump there so phenomenal speed from baz van gogh and just too much for the uh free ride smarts of matt matt loses by less than a second and the fastest man of the day moving down this course all day big up bass van steen bergen the bronze medalist for today and basically you can confirm it now for 2021 king of prank works yes we can congratulations baz now we can take a look back now at run one from the gold medal match in the women's final this one very very close all the way to the finish harriet burbidge smith on the right hand side of the pitcher going up against the current reigning queen of crankbaits fire for b this is really interesting to see the side by side tucked no handers both the girls going for it one more the second jumper has been taken out so many of the ladies today on that same way fire going down big big face play but she's tough she gets up straight away and uh crosses the finish line yeah so unfortunate there you saw that front wheel just getting pulled away from her by the wind underneath fire still though has guaranteed herself second place we've had confirmation from the officials that only harriet will be racing on this second run so it's a victory lap for the australian who's just picked up her red bull helmet harriet burbidge smith picking up the full 100 points but via the beak will be very pleased having made second place she hasn't lost too much she hasn't given away too much ground to harriet burbidge smith oh yeah i'm sure harriet is so so stoked right now like you said red bull helmet back in september third place at innsbruck for speed and style and now she's gonna be able to take a gold medal victory lap i'm sure it's not exactly the way she wanted it to happen with quiet going down but in the end of the day she's the trooper she's the one that made it through and lasted through without crashing without losing any races and yes don't forget yeah it's been a really really heavy toll on the women's field today robin goombs caroline buchanan buying for big all taking big big hands ellie chu taking [Applause] phenomenal performance by the australian look at that camaraderie via the first one to hug her at the finish line harriet a huge redemption she hit the jump that second jump that took out all those girl riders in the morning and she went down and after that she cleaned it up every run after getting a nice tire grab there solid looked so so stylish without the pressure to race she looked really really comfortable on the course very comfortable and of course very confident on the bike she says she's been doing a lot of events this year which hasn't given her so much time to work on her tricks but has made her feel incredibly comfortable on the bike and when she's riding gets up hurry up you started the uh cliff speeding style in fourth place overall in the queen of crank work standings i imagine you're gonna be a lot further up those standings now i mean we'll see what we see and uh i'm just here to make it through the day and whatever you that's exactly it isn't it making it through the day seemed to be the name of the game today yeah i was playing it pretty safe in a lot of the runs the morning was good with wind and then we had the rain and then the wind picked up again when it counted i did a trick on both and i was happy with that so more than that it was yeah there was a lot of girls going down that was sending it and i have so much respect for them like absolute yeah has congrats on today but talk to me a little bit about how challenging that was seeing so many of the girls go down and persevering and just being able to stay confident and stay positive to win those races that got you this gold medal yeah it was um it was definitely hard it was just on and off all yesterday as well and so where we were gonna do a full lap and then i had a small crash in practice today which threw me off a little bit as well um and more than anything was just being bumped for the girls that got injured and came down i know they deserve a lot out of these events and i'm really excited to see them come back awesome thank you so much harriet congratulations thank you guys [Music] so much champion with the tire grab on course tell saying that she needed to do the tricks certain tricks to beat these competitors very strategic and she just persevered through and made it happen amazing to see yeah when it's this difficult when conditions prove so challenging consistency was key there and that's what's paid off for harriet burbidge smith definitely okay we can take a look at round one now from our men's final thomas the miner versus billy lincoln very very even out of the first start very quick through into this first jump and then disaster strikes on the inside line for thomas lamar just trying to rip that burn look at how aggressive he takes that firm just barely with the front wheel over and billy like we said keeping it consistent all day a former champion of this event knowing what he has to do to be at the top today but you never know this is unpredictable this is the final race we're going to see today correct yep 2019 he will not give up looking good out the gate let's see what both riders have in his first jump oh 360 intake nice different trick from thomas des moines billy out in front so dialed through these rollers but thomas not far behind i'm sure thomas has something for us for the second jump the speed is looking good wow really playing it very safe with that backlit oh thomas just sneezing through that last one looks like he's not giving it everything he's got accepting that silver medal and his second gold medal here in road aurora what a performance what a day taking down the goliath of sweden style thomas lemoine thomas a trooper for going down hard and still going in that last matchup but wow billy must be over the moon new zealand doing it for new zealand nice work billy the cliff speed and star winning streak is over for thomas des moines and it's the man who won here in 2019 who takes it off him billy mikkel playing it safe with that backflip on the first jump nice and steady he makes sure he's got the right line into this inside bar oh look at the extension on that 360 inwards table from thomas lemoyne a trick that him and emil hansen excel in doing in slope style and then steezy for both riders on that second jump speed and style both of these guys embody exactly that phrase so billy meeklem look at him so relaxed in there time says 4.632 and that's before the trick differential he's an absolute [Applause] billy your champion his second gold medal here in rotorua amazing to see he's been on it all week like we're talking about barely any mistakes the strategy isn't there well what's amazing is exactly as you said that thomas des moines actually called it he said he's not making any mistakes amazing analysis from lemoyne obviously not his first step doing this event and a veteran at crankworx he knows he sees he watches practice he watches qualifications he knows who the big threats are well we've got billy on the headset now billy congratulations a phenomenal performance start to finish you won't have been able to hear us but nikolai was re-telling the story of talking to thomas lamont and saying that he thomas said he hadn't seen you make a mistake it feels like your secret weapon out on this course has been consistency thank you yeah try to keep it pretty consistent and don't get too stressed um in that second run going a little bit more safe do you think with the backflip on the first one was that the strategy yeah let's just keep it safe kind of just had to keep the wheels down we would have been all good yeah billy honestly huge congrats i just want to know how stoked you are winning this event in your home country of new zealand against basically the best speed and style rider in the history of crankworx thomas lemoyne i can't imagine how stoked you are tell me about how you're feeling bro dude i'm over the moon that was a pretty cool day and it's always sick when you get to go up against the best of the best lemoine's definitely a fun dude to ragworth fun fact for you billy he had a winning streak of three speed and style events so you've broken that for him and you've reclaimed the rotorua speed and style title from 2019. congratulations thank you so much guys amazing work bro amazing enjoy it thank you billy that was a phenomenal performance and a great spectacle today in the cliff speed and style presented by mons royale what a day of racing i mean there's been so much drama nicola i really wasn't expecting it to be on that level oh man some of those match-ups i knew they were going to be crazy but there was so much drama like you said everyone crashing just unexpected stuff the whole day like entertaining electric unpredictability like classic speed and style fashion but even crazier today honestly yeah we always knew with the lineup of riders that we had that it was going to be close but you add in the wind and the rain in there and then the drama really ratchets up another couple of gears right now though we can take a look we've got confirmation of the king of crank work standings overall so take a look at this graphic and it's pretty clear bazaar van stieberg and well we take a look at how they get points first i think so through speeding style dual slalom and pump track this is how the men win the points 100 first 82nd and so on down until we get to 26 points for 10th but when you actually look at that updated on the graphics for where they stand you can see jackson through joe breeder mick hannah thomas des moines the only rider here steps up into fifth position but he's 430 points behind baz van steinberg and is that right yeah it is baz van steenberger those performances in innsbruck and then in british columbia have played incredible dividends and then a third place here at speed and style he is coasting out in front but it's the women's where it starts to get really tight so this is how they win points you've still got 180 60 50 40 but then because you've got fewer women in the field the points drop away a little bit quicker through those back five spaces so how does that affect overall what we see today they ever be still out in front but harriet uh burbidge smith has moved from fourth place into second and she is very much in touch with verbeek because we've still got four scoring events left in the race for the queen of crank works robin goombs still in fifth there casey brown keolani hines their choice not to ride today could be critical in how this pays out whoa what a day of racing i'm actually running out of air yes sam that so many of those races blew me away and amazing to see all the riders pushing through and making that event happen definitely not the easiest conditions definitely not the easiest situations with a lot of them going down obviously in pain but what a day nikolai you have been an absolute pleasure to commentate with as well thank you so much for joining us in here the slopestyle course is just over to my left i'm gonna let him go the moment we finish this he's going to run out and grab his bike start putting some laps down on that we've got slope style coming up tomorrow and then we'll have the finals of pump track in the evening but we are far from done today coming up in just a couple of hours time we have crank works downhill and this course is in devastating form do not miss that join us i'll be joined by ed masters in the booth so that will be just as entertaining we'll see you then [Music] you

Channel: Red Bull Bike

Views: 156,727

Keywords: red bull, red bull bike, bike, mountain bike, crankworx, crankworx 2021, crankworx live, replay, crankworx replay, mtb, mountainbike, mountain biking, vali holl, kade edwards, kaos seagrave, sam pilgrim, speed and style, speed & style, crankworx 2021 speed and style, speed and style live, crankworx speed and style, rotorua, crankworx rotorua, crankworx rotorua live, rotorua 2021, crankworx rotorua 2021, emil johansson, red bull tv, mtb tricks, best of mtb, mtb speed

Id: cveBRo-q8Hs

Length: 140min 40sec (8440 seconds)

Published: Thu Nov 04 2021