Earnest, Wayman secure top-10 finishes

Otago Daily Times

2 days ago

Two top-10 elite placings for emerging teenagers Sacha Earnest and Luke Wayman highlighted New Zealand performances in the downhill finals in France for the second round of the UCI world series yesterday.
Earnest, 19, and Wayman, 18, both finished 10th in the elite finals on a challenging and blown-out downhill test at Loudenvielle in the French Pyrenees.
It was the first top-10 finish for the teenagers in elite racing as the rising New Zealand talent continued to make their mark among the gravity racing fraternity.
Earnest, the two-time junior world championship medallist, is in her first year in elite company. She was the only Kiwi to make it through the double qualifying system, producing a solid performance for her 10th place, 18sec behind winner Gracey Hemstreet (Canada).
Only two New Zealand riders made it through double qualifying for the elite men's final, the first for Christchurch rider Wayman.
He produced a strong run on the challenging course, where speed was vital in the opening flat section before giving way to a demanding and twisting section through the forest.
Wayman finished just 5.314sec behind winner Jackson Goldstone, a good return for the young professional riding for the respected Continental Atherton team.
Fellow New Zealand rider Tuhoto-Ariki Pene, who qualified with an impressive run, finished 22nd after a mistake on the bottom part of the course after he was fastest in the initial open section.
The sole podium for Kiwi riders went to Hawke's Bay teenager Tyler Waite who claimed his second runner-up finish in the junior men's grade, where he is now second in the overall standings.
Waite, the Yeti-Fox professional from Clive, was just half a second behind winner Bode Burke (USA).
The dry and dusty track produced some holes in the racing line that caught out some riders, notably Kaikoura's Oli Clark, who was fastest on the junior men's course when he flatted his front wheel which ended his hopes.
There were strong performances from Queenstown's teenaged pair of Rory Meek and Malik Boatwright, who finished sixth and eighth respectively.
Palmerston North's Jonty Williamson was 11th.
Rotorua 17-year-old Bellah Birchall was the best of the Kiwis in the junior women's final, finishing fourth, just 0.6sec outside the podium.
Outstanding Tauranga rider Eliana Hulsebosch was the fastest on the course near the end of her run, until she fell but remarkably recovered to complete the course in fifth with Queenstown's Indy Deavoll, 17, finishing sixth.
— APL