The opening round of the 2016 4X ProTour took place in Winterberg, Germany at the weekend. Officially classed as round 2 due to a warm up event the previous weekend, however this was the first points scoring event of 2016. Held as part of the Dirt Masters Festival, this event attracts thousands of fans who flock to Winterberg to watch 4X ProTour, IXS Downhill Cup and the impressive Slopestyle event.
The race had nearly 200 riders entered so practice was busy and the track had a constant flow of riders as everyone got to grips with it. The weather was dry for qualifying making the track super fast and dusty. The sun was shining and the track was absolutely perfect.
Scott has had some great results here in the past and always rides his track well so we were confident heading into qualifying.
With all the top riders injury free, this year’s 4X ProTour looked set to be one of the best ever. With 10 of the elite men riders all more than capable of taking wins and the overall title, the strength in depth of 4X ProTour is now better than ever. Scott knows that consistency will be the key and was looking for a decent start to his campaign.
Qualifying:
In his qualifying run, visually, Scott looked one of the quickest on course and as he crossed the finish line the time agreed placing Scott in 5th position. Happy with the run Scott said:
“I made a great start and rode all the lines well. I was a little conservative due to the cross wind on the table tops lower down on the track, but generally I am happy with the run”.
Race Day:
Race day rolled around and what a difference 24 hours makes! With snow, hail, wind and rain, temperatures did not rise above 2 degrees all day. It was a winters day in mid May! The Yeti race bikes were prepped and Scott was ready. Winning his first 2 rounds of racing Scott was looking good. In his quarter final Scott made his best gate of the weekend and led the race into turn 1 but drifting a little wide, Swedish rider Felix Beckeman moved past. Scott finished 2nd and qualified through.
In the semi final, a tiny mistake cost Scott dearly. Missing the first beep of the automatic start gate by fractions of a second, Scott got cut up down the first straight and was in the pack. Try as he may, he just could not find a way through and unfortunately he did not make the main final.
Small Final:
Heading back up for the small final to determine 5th to 8th places, Scott wanted the final step of the podium. Unfortunately it was not to be as Scott fractionally missed the gate again. Standing his ground on the first straight Scott got tangled with another rider. Fighting back he was able to move into 3rd then at the finish line he almost grabbed 2nd but it just wasn’t to be. 3rd in the small final gave him 7th for the day.
“Obviously I haven’t come to Germany to finish 7th. I am disappointed however there are a lot of positives to take from the weekend and I know we have the speed for Fort William. I’m looking forward to getting back to training on Tuesday and fox using on my home race in 3 weeks time”.
