mike jones

7 Juli 2018

world cup round 4 in Val di Sole

admin Allgemein, racing 2018, brage Vestavik, brook macdonald, Johannes von Klebelsberg, laurie greenland, mike jones, patrik butler, val di sole, worldcup

With Laurie’s 2nd place, Patrik’s 3rd place in juniors and Brooks 9th place we won the team ranking of the day- an amazing result for us for sure. Check out the impressions of this weekend captured by Björn Hunger.

Music credits:
„broken pieces“ by Not Scientists
„blue pill“ by Uncommonmenfrommars

Day 4:

This day was one of these days, which pay off for all the blood, sweat and effort… but let’s start at the beginning. First important race for us today was the junior world cup, where we have been represented by the Australian Junior Patrik Butler. Patrik missed the first couple of race because of a broken scaphoid and Val di Sole was just his 2^ndworld cup race in 2018. After qualifying 5^thPatrik showed that there is a chance for him to enter the podium. Because of his figure and his body language he looked like flying over the track. He beat some of the stronger and bigger riders and got 3^rdwith 3.3 seconds off first.

In the Elite race we have been represented by three riders and first of them to come down was local Johannes von Klebelsberg. With his so far best qualifying result in his pocket, Johannes rode a little bit to conservative and repeat the position from the day before. Johannes finished in 38, which is still his best world cup result so far.

Brook showed top split times in timed training as well as in his qualification run and so he was in a good mute for the race. On race day he struggled a bit with finding the right suspension setup before his race run. The problem lead into his race run and Brook rode a little bit too consistent to be able to get on the podium- 9^thplace for him. Last to come down one more time was Laurie Greenland. Laurie had a run, which was evocative to his run of world championships in 2016. He showed some wild lines, which paid off in the end. He crossed the finish line in lead and jumped into the hot seat with 4 more riders to come. Vergier crashed at the very top and was not able to attack the podium anymore. Luca Shawn was a few seconds of in the top split times, made up time in the lower part, but couldn’t beat the time of Laurie. Former team mate Danny Hart came close to Lauries split times, but could beat him in the end. Last men to come down was Amaury Pierron, the two times winner of the 2018 race season, who pointed out his strength in qualifications with a fabulous time and for sure he was the favorite for this race. Amaury was ahead at split one, back at split 2, back again at split 3 and a few tenth of a second ahead again at split 4. The French men crossed the finish line 0,524 ahead of Laurie, who got 2^ndin the end.

With the 2^ndplace of Laurie, the 9^thplace of Brook and the 3^rdplace of Patrik in the junior race we won the team ranking of the day and made up some point in the team overall ranking.

We are now heading to the 5^thround of the 2018 UCI MTB worldcup in Vallnord/ Anodrra- stay tuned.

: Brook MacDonald on fire.

: style shot by Nathan Hughes of Brook MacDonald

: racing at it's best in front of an awesome crowd

: the last seconds waiting in the hotseat and last man is coming down

: happy days with happy people...

: junior Patrik Butler with his first podium in 2018.

: that does not happen very often- this is why it is so special: team of the day!

: Mr. MS himself and Brook MacDonald- again happy people.

Day 3:

Again heavy rain over night- the conditions were difficult and Mike Jones struggled riding with his sore thumb from the crash from the day before. Mike crashed again and could not qualify for the race on Saturday. Brook came down with top split times, but unfortunately crashed in the so-called “Sam Hills corner”, which is the second last corner before the finish. With no speed Brook pedaled into 25^thplace. Laurie had a constant run and finished in 10^thplace. Big surprise of the day was co-factory rider Johannes von Klebelsberg, who finished in 21^stposition- not just his best qualifying result so far, but also in front of his home crowed. Last but not least Patrik Butler qualified in 5^thposition.

: steeeeeeeeeeep.

: mudd action marks

: crashed again in qualifications- Mike Jones

: Laurie on fire as in 2016

: Mike Jones

: Laurie Greenland

: Brook MacDonald

: Laurie Greenland

Day 2:

First day of training is done. We had some heavy rain over night, which made the track being even more tricky. The roots and rocks get even more slippery and the dusty ground changed into a loamy surface. Mike Jones slipped in one sections and crashed, not hard, but he caught a crack and dislocated his thumb. Brook and Laurie didn’t push too hard in timed training and finished in 7^thand 36^thposition.

: Laurie in the zone

: Mike following Brook.

: team work

: the MS Mondraker training train

: sew SDG dropper seat posts seen on the trainings bikes of Brook, Laurie and Mike

: Brook in stoned stones section

: Mike dislocated his thump

: Mike just before the crash happened.

Day 1:

Comezzadurra in Val di Sole host the 4^thstop of the 2018 UCI MTB world cup. The track is known as rough and unforgiving. We are always come to this place with mixed feelings- for sure it is an exciting track to race on, but we are always happy to leave this place in one piece. There was nothing really new to discover on track walk and so it was just about finding the fastest line… a lot to discuss on and off the track.

: nice overhauling for the race bikes

: Brook and Ben discussing the bike set up for the first training session

: the MS Mondraker factory team

: factory team riders helping out co factory riders with line choices... Johannes appreciates that help

: well... this is where we go thru

: talk shop

: pretty difficult line choice here and there

: steep and gnarly...

19 Juni 2018

Innsbruck Crankworx

admin Allgemein, racing, special events 2018, brage Vestavik, brook macdonald, crankworx, fabian urlich, innsbruck, Johannes von Klebelsberg, laurie greenland, mike jones, patrik butler

That was the second issue of Crankworx Innsbruck. Laurie Greenland, Brook MacDonald, Mike Jones, Brage Vestavik, Johannes von Klebelsberg, Fabian Ulrich and Pat Butler compete in different disciplines and showed some good action… watch here the summary of our week in Innsbruck by Björn Hunger!

Day 3:

Even it looked like Brook might not race because of a bruised hill, he was back in the game for race day, owing to the help of Innsbruck local physio therapist Jon Örarbäck from Loft 41. With some special heel caps and after some days of rest, Brook decided to race at least to represent the team in front of our home crowd.

The training started with a shock as co-factory rider Fabian was carried down by the mountain rescue team because of a ripped front ACL as it turned out after further checkups.

The conditions where difficult, the track and lines changed with every rider going down. Pat race in the under 19 category- he struggled a little bit and crashed in the wood section. His time showed that the pace is there, but after a long break riding because of a broken scaphoid he is still building his confidence on the bike and his constancy. Pat finished in 7^thposition.

Brage and Johannes went into the race with early start times and both showed good runs. While the run of Brage was maybe a little bit too conservative, Johannes pointed out with a strong 19^thplace in a well casted field with some big names!

For the top riders like Mike, Brook and Laurie, the very late start time, was a bit of an issue. The long break between the last training and the late start after 17:00 made it hard for them to keep the tension they need for their race run. Mike kept building his constancy was able to put a guaranty top ten run together and left with a 7^thplace in his pocket. For Brook is was just about to do another race run, the heel didn’t really hold him back, but for sure it was affecting the performance as he was also missing a full day of training- Brook finished in 11^thplace. Laurie started into the race as 6^thlast. The track changed quite a bit from his last trainings run and he couldn’t put his dream run together and end up in 10^thplace.

All riders enjoyed the track a lot and so they will stay for a few more days in Innsbruck to recover and train.

Full results of the crankworx downhill race.

: big crowd in Innsbruck

: Brook was hold back by a bruised heel, but race for the crowed!

: solid performance of Laurie Greenland!

: Mike Jones with another top 10 result- 7th!

: track changes from rider to rider...

: Johannes on the very tight line...

: Mike loved the track... bummer that this track is closed most of the time!

: Mike in front of the main partners of the MS Mondraker team...

Day 2 part 2:

One of the highlights of the Crankworx Innsbruck event is the so-called “Whip off” contest. Highlight for sure because of an unique panorama, an perfect shaped jump and an amazing crowd somewhere high up the mountain. The MS Mondraker team was represented by Laurie, Brage and Pat. While Laurie and Brage are known for their whip off skills, Pat was one of the dark horses in the field. In a jam session format Laurie and Pat qualified for the top 10 finals and performed well in an amazing show. They couldn’t win the whip off in the end, but they enjoyed every take off and this is what counts in events like this.

: Laurie enjoy the jam session format

: that whip off put a smile into Brages face

: young gun Patrik Butler was flying...

: more airtime...

: moto whip

: Laurie going siiiiiiideways...

: Young gun and even younger gun...

: Laurie and the fabulous Innsbruck crowd

Day 2:

The Day started with downhill training. The course walk showed that the local track builders did a good job. All the top names of the flied lauded the track as it had a little bit of everything and a good amount of natural features, which the riders really like. Brook had an incident after he tried to jump a gap- he hit his heel, which end up in a heel bruise.

: Brook loving it... considering the DH track of Götzens as one of his favourites!

: co-factory train with Fabian and Pat

: happy days for Laurie Greenland...

: Johannes on one of his Innsbruck home tracks

: Mike in one of many root sections...

: Pat Butler

: Mike Jones raved about how good the ground is...

: jungle shot by Nathan Hughes

Day 1:

Because of heavy rain we started into the week on Thursday and the first event for us was the pump track race. This is one of those formats, where riders of different disciplines converge. While some of the riders see this as a fun event there are quite a lot of riders, which are focused on this one event. Mike and Brook came into the event with limited training time on a brand new bike and they had a tough lot in their first round. Brook was racing against the BMX professional Niels BENSINK and Mike against pump track specialist and four cross legend Tomas Slavik. Both Brook and Mike tried hard, but dropped out. Last man in the race was Brage Vestavik from Norway. Also Brage faced a difficult log with Joost Wichman, a retired athlete, but famous for his BMX skills. Brage managed to qualify for the evening’s finals. In the first round of the evenings finals Brage faced Adrien Loron and lost both heats.

Summarized the pump track race was a fun event and a good opportunity for us to warm up for the upcoming races!

: MS Mondraker boys are in town...

: Mike's first pump track attempt after 3 years not being on a hardtail...

: Brage pushing hard...

: ...and qualified for finals

: top 16 finals

: Brage with some backlog...

: pushing hard...

: but out after the first final round...

9 Juni 2018

Leogang world cup round 3 with the first podium

admin Allgemein brage, brage Vestavik, brook, brook macdonald, fabian, fabian urlich, Johannes von Klebelsberg, laurie greenland, Leogang 2018, mike jones, mtb worldcup, UCI, worldcup

Another video summary by Björn Hunger of our fabulous week in Leogang… good things happen when you don’t expect them! 4 elite men in the finals, 3 out of 4 in the top 10, 1 podium with a 3rd place and the 2nd place in the team results… you can’t ask for more- we are stoked!

Day 4: Race day

Another race is in the books and we are catching up. We went into the race day fully excited, as we knew we were on a good pace. All the riders from the factory program qualified in the top ten, as well as Johannes qualified for the men’s final and new add on Patrik qualified for the juniors final. The times from the day before were very promising, which let us hope for the jackpot.

Patrik was the first in juniors race and struggled a bit after coming back from a broken scaphoid. He did some mistakes and crashed in the last section of the track. In the end he became 16^th, which was maybe a little setback for him, but the result from qualifying is something we can build on.

Co-factory rider Johannes was the first to come down. Johannes didn’t find his flow, made some mistakes, which send him back into 54^thposition, but we think positive, as we know what to change to get him up in the rankings.

Mike Jones was net to come. He already showed in the first timed training session that you have to have him on the radar. His 2^ndplace was motivation was enough to qualify in 10^thposition with a steady run. In his final race run Mike put a solid run together which got him into 8^thplace in the end.

Laurie was next to come. He qualified in 6^thplace, which was the perfect position for an attack- and so he did. Laurie had one of these runs he is known for- wild and on eth edge, but controlled and precise at the same time. He was just a few tenth of a seconds of the time of current leader Aaron Gwin and crossed the finish line in second position, but got 3^rdin the final result.

Last man of the MS Mondraker team was Brook MacDonald. Still not 100% fit and missing some weeks of riding after a broken collarbone, Brook shows an incredible performance. A 2^ndplace in qualification got him into the circle of favorites. Brook was the second last man to come down today. He lost some time in the top parts and took a different line in the lower section. Brook got 9^thin the end… maybe he was not really satisfied with that, but happy to know that he is on the pace to keep up with the current podium riders.

The 3^rdplace of Laurie was our first world cup podium this season and the fact that we had three riders in the top 10 brought us into the 2^ndplace of today’s team ranking. We are now back in 4^thposition of the team overall world cup ranking and keep catching up.

Here you can find the complete set of results.

We are now heading to Bikepark Innsbruck for the second round of the crankworx series- meet us there!

: Patrik Butler, had some good split times but crashed at the end of his final run

: Johannes von Klebelsberg- always 100%

: Mike Jones is back. The top 10 is his new home along with both his team mates MacDonald and Greenland.

: Brook sending it into the panorama...

: check out the line and where they took off...

: Laurie was again on a pinner... 3rd place

: Ex team mates, Brook and Greg after one eventful afternoon in the woods.

: first world cup podium for the MS Mondraker team with Laurie Greenland in 3rd

Day 3:

We had an amazing qualifying day today. Brook, Laurie and Mike from the factory squad qualified in the top 10, as well as Johannes from the co-factory team qualified in 40^thposition. This result got completed with the 6^thplace in qualification for the men junior race of Patrik Butler, which is pretty promising considering his situation of a coming back after a broken scaphoid. We are now in a very good position for the race tomorrow. Stay tuned and follow the race on https://www.redbull.tv/live/AP-1VPHMM9GS1W11/mercedes-benz-uci-mountain-bike-world-cup

: "habt acht" boys are ready for action

: Mike Jones at one of the bike park wallrides- prefers the natural sections for sure.

: Laurie 6th in qualies...

: Laurie enjoyed riding the new version of the worldcup track in Leogang

: Johannes qualified in 40th position

: Brages was sick all week- too enfeebled to qualify

: Brook again on fire- 2nd place in qualies

: typical bike park section... wall ride action

Day 2:

First day of practice was wild. The riders couldn’t wait to ride the new version of the DH world cup track in Leogang. Laurie, Brook and Mike got on speed really quick and they were on the same pace thru out the open training session. Mike was leading in the timed training session for quite a while and got 2^ndin the end. Brook got 14^thwith a solid run and Laurie got 20^thwith a so-so run and an almost crash, where he hit a tree. We have a good pace and everything is open for tomorrows qualification.

: Austrian rider Fabian Ulrich

: the MS Mondraker train is on course

: Brook is getting stronger and stronger after his broken collarbone

: The Viking Brage Vestavik- will he qualify this weekend?

: no question- Laurie like the new version of the track.

: new for this weekend- Patrik Butler from Australia joined the cofactors squad

: our Italian rider Johannes von Klebelsberg- also known as"putega internazionale"

: Mike Jones- a 2nd place in timed training get him back on the screen.

Day 1:

In the past few years Leogang was maybe not the most popular track on the world cup circuit. Too easy and to “bikeparky” was the common sense between the riders. Even more we have been surprised on track walk when we saw the modifications the organizers did to the track- especially the nice new grass off camber section was in favor of all the riders. The new common sense?! Bring on the race and lets rock!

: Greenland getting all out of shape on the first kicker.

: Mike Jones keeping up with the MS squad.

: the boys are sharing lines...

: thats the way to go...

: Brook and Ben doing fine adjustments

: the good stuff for the cockpit- Renthal bike components

: Laurie and Brook switch to hike mode ready to go find out what awaits them up the mountain.

: bike is getting a overhauling

We had an amazing qualifying day today. Brook, Laurie and Mike from the factory squad qualified in the top 10, as well as Johannes from the co-factory team qualified in 40^thpositi

2 Mai 2018

Losinj- the closeness of Victory and defeat

admin Allgemein, racing brage Vestavik, brook macdonald, croatia, Johannes von Klebelsberg, laurie greenland, losing, mike jones, mtb worldcup, UCI, worldcup

Full race report:

Losinj in Croatia was the first tour stop of the 2018 Mercedes UCi downhill world cup. The venue was new on the calendar and there were doubts about the conditions of the track. Videos from former races showed hard and very different conditions to other races.

For sure the rocky track characteristics supposed to be a murderer for the material and a lot of flat tires were expected, but the doubts of being a too short course with too many rocks were gone after course walk.

Laurie Greenland came to Losinj with already one victory under his belt and also Brook Macdonald and Mike Jones proofed the 2018 performance with a third place and a 12 place at the European IXS cup on the weekend before.

Laurie was not too much in favor with the track, but Brook and Mike really liked it and from how the riders looked it seemed like it will be a good race for the MS Mondraker team.

Even there were high expectations the start into the race weekend was surprising: Brook went fastest in timed training, which does not mean too much as a lot of riders such as Laurie use the timed session for finding the right line.

Everything was served for a good qualification: Laurie set a good time with a few little mistakes in his run. After a few years not having top results Brook was the big surprise. He set the best time in qualification with 1,169 seconds ahead of American Dean Lucas. Mike Jones came thru split 1 with the 8^thbest time and managed to catch uptime till the 3^rdsplit where he came thru in 4^th. Unfortunately Mike hit a rock and punctured his tire, which made it impossible for him to qualify. Another big surprise was the performance of the young guns of the co factory team. Brage Vestavik as well as Johannes von Klebelsberg managed to qualify for the top 60 finals.

Last man in qualification start first why Brage Vestavik opened the finals on Sunday. He pulled out a decent run which got him into 53^rdplace in the end. Johannes struggled thru out the week with finding the right setup, but managed to end up in 46^thplace. Both results mean a big step up for both riders.

Fastest qualifier Brook came down first of the MS Mondraker squad. He looked strong from the start and expectations where high. He came thru split 1 and 2 with the fastest time, but missed his line before he scrubbed down over a drop and crashed pretty bad. As a result of the crash Brook broke his collarbone and has to have a break for a few weeks before he will be back on the world cup circuit. The positive thing he can take out of this weekend is that he proofed the package of him and the Mondrkaer Summum and that he is back up to speed.

Last man to come down was Laurie and all our hopes for a good result was now on his shoulders. Laurie started with a strong pedaling performance in the start section and came thru the splits with decent times. A little mistake in the very last wood section where he caught a little rock cost valuable tenth of a second, which where missing for a podium result. Laurie finished in 7^thplace- 0.37 seconds of f the podium.

Overall the start into the race season was not the best based on the results and the injury, but the MS Mondraker team showed a strong performance and that we will be competitive.

Stay tuned for the next round of the 2018 Mercedes UCI worldcup in Fort William/ Scottland. Keep reading below for daily reports from day 1 to 3 including impression galleries.

Day 3:

So this is not how you want to finish a race… again this final showed how close victory and defeat are: 7^thplace for Laurie Greenland, but a DNF (did not finish) for Brook MacDonald.

Fastest qualifier Brook was 2^ndfastest in the 2 top splits and missed his line over a drop and crashed. The result is a broken collarbone and several weeks break.

Laurie had a strong pedaling part at the start and looked good thru out the rocky middle section. A little mistake in the bottom part cost some essential tenth of a second what got him into 7^thplace 0,37 seconds off the podium.

Co factory riders Brage and Johannes proofed their results of the qualification 53^rdand a 46^thplace in the finals. This means a big step forward for both of them and an upgrade into the A training for the upcoming races.

: Lauries mechanik Mark Sterland is giving some finishing touches to the bike...

: another rider to look at in 2018 is the Norwegian Brage Vestavik. Qualified in 60th position in his first elite worldcup.

: young gun Brage Vestavik- 53rd place.

: Coming back from Enduro racing Johannes von Klebelsberg proofed his DH skills with a 37th place in qualifications and a 46th place in the end

: Brook in the top section of his final run- Split 1 2nd, split 2 2nd...

: Brook almost accomplished the impossible... he was on a winning run...

: ...unfortunately he crashed with top split times- broken collarbone.

: Laurie in the top section- very nice panorama, but no time for them to enjoy...

: rock garden from top to bottom...

: some little mistakes hold him back from entering the podium- just 0,37 seconds off...

: Laurie finished in 7th position... best world cup season start for him so far.

: Laurie was happy with his season start- for sure he had some more up the sleeve, but managed to come down in one piece and a 7th place is more than a solid season start.

Day 2:

The first qualifier in the 2018 Mercedes UCi world cup showed how close victory and defeat are:

After being fastest in timed training Brook MacDonald managed to win the qualification with 1.160 seconds ahead of Dean Lucas. Laurie Greenland ended up in 9th place with a mistake in the top part and Mike Jones couldn’t qualify because of a flat tire even tough he came thru with the 4th fastest time at split 3.

Especially satisfying where also the results of the MS Mondraker co-factory program: Johannes von Klebelsberg qualified in 37th place and Brage Vestavik managed to qualify in 60th and last spot.

Don’t miss tomorrows race and follow us on https://www.redbull.tv/…/AP-1UU8QF…/world-cup-chatter-losinj

P.S.: site fact: it is the very first time in Brooks career that he set the fastest time in a timed training session and won a qualification.

: Ben is playing around with the wait... even running a heavier setup the Summum Carbon wc race machine is pretty light...

: Laurie inspecting his new Fox kit.

: Brook and former head mechanic Christian- good memories as their last cooperation resulted in Brooks first world cup victory.

: perfect picture to document the sharp rocks of Losinj.

: it was about finding the right line thru all the loose rocks...

: no room for mistakes and no escape...

: Laurie in the so called pinball section.

: Brook on his way to his first little success after being back on the MS Mondraker program: 1st place qualification

Day 1:

First round of the 2018 Mercedes UCi world cup started today with the first day practice. The track of Losinj is known for its characteristics such as the sharp rocks from top to the finish part, where the track changes from natural into manmade city style conditions.
Apart from 2 flat tires and a few mechanical problems at the beginning first practice went good for the top boys Laurie, Brook and Mike as well as for the co-factory pilots Johannes and Brage, while Fabian is suffering from gastrointestinal infect.
Brook brought down a solid run and had the fastest time in the timed training session with 2:22:739 and 1,160 seconds ahead of his fellow Sam Blenkinsop.