May 24/09 9:50 am - Lisboa Downtown Won by Steve Peat

Posted by Editoress on 05/24/09
 

Santa Cruz Syndicate’s Steve Peat (SRAM/RockShox) has just won the Lisbon Downtown race, yet again, for the 8th consecutive year, raising speculation that he somehow has some cheat lines, which of course is not the case. Mick Hannah was riding incredibly well and came 2nd with our own Greg Minnaar rounding out the podium with a third place finish. In his first Lisbon appearance, Josh Bryceland wowed the crowd with his huge whips and bowed down to the master.

The race nearly got rained out with rain the night before, and a bit right before the first practice. Not only are the cobbles unridable in the wet, one can barely walk on them without slipping. The classic event still has its charm and flavor as Old School walked the course with Greg and Josh the day before while teaching the youngster a few things. The organizers do such an amazing job at this event and this year was no exception.

Surprising the Syndicate was the arrival of two members of the Greg Minnaar fan club, Lyle and Dave (Greg’s good mate from South Africa). Rocking the GM jerseys the boys had a wonderful time rooting for their boy, but I think they will have to trade in their jerseys for a Steve Peat model come Ft. Bill.

Josh had this to say about his first Lisbon race, “I just stayed smooth in the qualifier to not make mistakes. I turned it up in the finals. I messed up a section, but I’ve learned a lot and I won the whip!”

Greg was disappointed with third; he just couldn’t snatch the win from the old dog. He said, “I rode like a twat, again. I felt I had a good qualifier riding smooth. I wanted to race the same in the final but with a bit more pace to the run. I tried to pedal too much, but didn’t go as fast, but I’m happy for Steve!”

Steve jokingly remarks, “Riding my Santa Cruz V-10 it makes the downtown races a piece of piss!”

Report by Santa Cruz Syndicate