Hard day at the office for the Specialized boys
Specialized Factory Racing | September 21, 2009
With the final round of the World Cup circuit in Schladming it was once again a case of “what was the weather going to do? Previous years had been wet and muddy and there where signs of it happening again but fortunately the intermittent rain never materialised to worse and there were perfect conditions on race day.
Burry was going to have a big fight on his hands as the Merida boys of Hermida and Naf were looking at moving up and team tactics would play a definite role. When the gun went at 14:30 it didn’t take long for an elite group of eight to form at the front with Burry just hanging a fews seconds back from it.Susi had a good startand found himself in the top 15 with Todd not having the best of days further down the field. His chain came off on a bumpy descent on lap 2 and got stuck between his bottom bracket and chainset unfortunately ending his race.
The shortened race was going to see some fireworks and Absalon put in a hard surge on lap 2 opening up a gap with Hermida chasing in second. The big road ride from Champery to Christophs home in Sigriswil in preparation for Burry’s ride at the road World Championships seemed to be taking its toll and Christoph and Burry were further done the field in around 19th and 20th.
The final 2 laps saw Hermida catching and passing Absalon to take the lead with Absalon eventually withdrawing after puncturing. Ruzafa from Orbea was having a surprisingly good ride and was eventually in second place and closing on Hermida. Christoph and Burry started finding their legs in the last quarter of the race and move up quite a few positions with Susi ending in 11th and Burry in 15th. The race was won by Hermida which would put him up to second overall in the standings.
The final race might not have gone as well as the riders would have wanted it to go but it capped off a great season for the team with Burry convincingly winning theU/23 overall as well as finish in third overall in the elite division of the World Cup standings.
