Flood and Booker win EWS Asia Pacific Race at Maydena Bike Park
Shelly Flood and Dan Booker took the overall wins at the 2nd round of the Enduro World Series Asia Pacific series at Maydena Bike Park, Tasmania.
Have you been to Maydena Bike Park in Tasmania? It is just about purpose made for racing enduro, with steep terrain and demanding lines mixed in with the flow trails and intermediate trails. The second round of the Enduro World Series (EWS) Asia Pacific Series saw racers descend on Maydena last weekend.
The event took in the absolute best of the park’s 60 descending trails. Maydena Bike Park has an elevation drop of over 820m, so racers were treated to some massive race and liaison stages, showing off the stunning rainforest in the area.
Want to ride Maydena Bike Park, but do something more mellow? This is for you.
Day 1 of the event went off with a bang. Heavy rain the day before the event mixed with gloomy conditions on race day made for some testing racing conditions as riders contended with a full top-to-bottom race. For many riders, the aim of the game on stage 1 was staying upright, though the elites still set blistering times with local favourite Dan Booker stopping the clock under 12 minutes.
On day 2 the sun made a very welcome appearance, warming up spectators and drying out the trails. The drying conditions made for highly-variable race conditions, with racers battling through a huge day of racing. Stage 2 saw Dan Booker take the win in the elite men, and Shelly Flood continue her dominance in the elite women. The second stage greeted riders with a wild ride down the infamous King Brown, where seemingly endless steep turns kept everyone on their toes.
In Stage 3 riders contended with arguably the most technical race course of the event, through some of the park’s steepest, most technical trails. Wet conditions made for some interesting racing, with Dan Booker and Shelly Flood again taking out the elite men and women’s stages respectively.
Stage 4 headed out to the park’s lower Wilderness Trail, Outer Limits. A longer format stage, the race took in some epic rainforest scenery (not that most of the racers would have noticed!). While this stage lacks in technicality, some slick sections kept racers on their toes.
Thomas Booth and Shelley Flood took out the elite men and women’s stages respectively. The 5th and final stage was a fun, fast and technical end to the day. Still a mammoth 400m vertical descent, the stage was one of the shortest in the event. The stage wins for elite men and women went to Rhys Ellis and Rachel Hore respectively.
Following a massive two days of racing and liaison stages, with nearly 3,000m of vertical descending, Dan Booker and Shelly Flood were unbeatable in the elite men and women categories respectively. While the weather made for an interesting race, with many stages slick race stages, racers were treated to some amazing race stages.
