United Ride Odyssey 2012 – Sea Otter Classic
It was a sunny and hot weekend for Sick Mick and Couscous at the 2012 Sea Otter Classic. Speaking of heat, Sick Mick was on fire qualifying first at the dual slalom with Fabien in twelfth.
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They were both ready to rip it. Fabien’s 8th final was against Kyle Strait. Fabien was on a very good run, they were elbow to elbow but on the last jump, Fabien’s derailler broke. Fabien was then ready to fight on his second round. He finished in front of Kyle Strait but it wasn’t enough. Sick Mick on the other hand won his sixteenth and eighth finals looking very fast. The quarter finals pitted him against Cedric Gracia. Mick was leading when, on the last jump, his derailler broke too meaning he had to make up a lot of time in the second round. He finished in front of Gracia but the time he lost from his mechanical wasn’t enough.
In contrast Sunday morning was foggy and a bit cooler. Mick’s start was pretty early and he put down a time of 2:03 putting him in the hot seat for most of the race. The last riders came close to Mick’s time but only Jared Graves, a specialist on this track, beat Mick’s time by just half a second. Fabien did a good run considering his mistake and finished 13th.
It was the first time a rider of the team made it on the podium at Sea Otter and with a second place, Mick Hannah finished just in front of Aaron Gwin, the 2011 world cup champion. With his second place in DH and a fifth place in Dual, Mick has been the best rider at SeaOtter.
With the weekend ending up on a podium, the team is very happy and can’t wait for world cup #2 in Val di Sole.
Mon 30th Apr, 2012 @ 9:10 am
