The SYMPATEX BIKE-Festival in Willingen, Germany was
the location for the Wheels Of Speed Downhill
Challenge. The Rasoulution team of Tarek Rasouli and
Anne Baltes conceived the concept for the unique race
format and threw down a total purse of 30,000 euros to
spice up the challenge. The concept for the race
invites amateur downhill racers to come challenge the
2-minute world class downhill course with a chance for
the top eight quickest amateurs to advance to the main
event of 40 riders, mixing it up with the pros, which
includes the women. The 16 invited riders are
automatic qualifiers, and the other 16 riders are
pulled from the pro qualifying event held Saturday.

Filip Polc (Gravity Group), suffered a hard crash in
Saturday’s qualifier, being knocked unconscious for 2
minutes and shipped off to the hospital. Fellow
riders were relieved to see him doing well and riding
practice on Sunday. Little did they know that they
were about to take a beating by Filip in the final.

The race started with the top 8 amateurs which was
very exciting for them as Kristof Lenssins did a stint
in the hotseat for a bit until Filip rocked down the
course. Because of the crash Filip had in the
qualifier he was the first pro to arrive at the
finish. He sat in the hotseat until the very end.
Marc Beaumont (MBUK/Santa Cruz), was the next pro down
and describes what he saw of Filip’s run, “Polc was
so fast at the top, oh my god!!! I don’t believe he’s
even riding after yesterday. He rode the top 4X
style, pedaling and pinning the top!!”

Many minutes later Syndicate’s Steve Peat came down
bumping himself into 2nd place. Few men to go, and
Minnaar comes in knocking Peat into 3rd, but behind
Polc for the final result, Polc, Minnaar, Peat for the
top three.

Peat says to Minnaar, “You got smoked!” Minnaar says,
“Smoked by Polc!! I had a good top section, but the
middle section I rode very cautiously.” Peat says, “I
never got right on it, not into a rythym, not up to
speed.” Polc said, “I was drifting a lot up there,
and lost my rear end in the grassy corners, but I am
very happy with the result”.

As always Anne and Tarek have treated the riders to a
great event and they give the personal touch to
everyone making the experience top notch. They hosted
a riders dinner held at one of the finest restaurants
in town and arranged VIP passes for the riders to get
into the best club in town with free drink tokens
thrown in, and access to the VIP area with free food
and drinks everyday. The downhillers think this is a
really great thing and wish every race could be this
way. Peat says, “It should be this way, really.
Riders have a place they can hang out have a piece of
cake and a cup of tea. It makes the riders feel
better about the event. It’s one of the small things
an organizer can do to give the rider a good feeling
about the event. These things take the event up a
notch.”

Here’s your top five results:

1st: Filip Polc 1:58.01
2nd: Greg Minnaar 1:58.03
3rd: Steve Peat 1:58.45
4th: Sam Blenkinsop 1:58.74
5th: Andrew Neethling 1:58.91

Filip Polc – Champagne burns…

The SYMPATEX BIKE-Festival in Willingen, Germany was
the location for the Wheels Of Speed Downhill
Challenge. The Rasoulution team of Tarek Rasouli and
Anne Baltes conceived the concept for the unique race
format and threw down a total purse of 30,000 euros to
spice up the challenge. The concept for the race