After a busy day of downhill qualifying and semi-finals, five Canadians are through to Sunday’s finals for the Bielsko-Biała World Cup in Poland. Finn Iles leads the Canadian elites with Ryan Griffith putting in the fastest junior men’s time.
Qualification: Junior and elite
The day started with elite qualifying where Finn Iles (Specialized Gravity) moved through to finals with the 12th fastest time. Loris Vergier (Trek Factory Racing) led, just ahead of Mandrake’s Dakotan Norton. Moving through to semi-finals with Iles are Mark Wallace (We Are One Momentum) with the 22nd fastest time, Jake Jewett (Pivot Factory Racing) with the 25th, Bodhi Kuhn (Trek Factory Racing) with the 28th fastest time and Tegan Cruz (Kenda NS) with 49th.
Seth Sherlock (Gwin Racing), Kirk McDowall (Norco Race Division) and Gabe Neron (Raaw) miss out on semi finals, placing 65th, 95th and 115th in qualifying.
On the elite women’s side, Camille Balanche (Dorval AM) was solidly the fastest qualifier, 7.553 seconds ahead of Tanhée Seagrave. Winner in Fort William, Valentina Höll (YT Mob), broke a chain out of the gates but moves through to finals as a protected rider despite placing 32nd.
Gracey Hemstreet (Norco Race Division) advances to the semi-finals with the ninth fastest time in qualifying. Emmy Lan (Forbidden Synthesis) placed 22nd in qualifying with minimal practice after spending the prior day racing the Enduro World Cup in Bielsko-Biała. The Vancouver Island racer was the only rider taking advantage of having two events in the same location on one weekend.
Juniors
Canadians were flying in the junior men’s race with Ryan Griffith qualifying seance behind Commencal Muc-Off’s Till Alran. Griffith’s teammate, Dane Jewett, set the fourth fastest time. All four top riders were within two seconds. Asa Vermette, winner in Fort William, advances to finals in 19th.
A large contingent of Canucks were close, but not quite through to finals. Jon Mozell in 31st just misses the top-25 cut-off for finals. Dylan Marino (Outlaw United) in 33rd. Jack Maleod (Outlaw United) is a little further back in 37th. Michael Delesalle (Gwin Racing) is 44th, Benny de Valle (Outlaw United) is 49th and Jake Polito (Outlaw United) 56th of 90 starters in Poland.
Eliana Hulsebosch (Union) leads the junior women in qualifying, just ahead of Erice van Leuven (Commencal Les Orres).
Semi-Finals
From qualifying, the elite men and…
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