October 19 2020
Matt Walker steps up in Maribor
It may be months behind schedule but boy was it worth the wait! Maribor delivered a pair of World Cup races that will go down as some of the most anticipated and entertaining that we’ve ever seen.
It was also a huge success for Matt Walker, who took a career-best fourth place at round one, only to better that with a third place at round two – just 0.4 seconds off the win.
Backed up by a pair of solid qualifying results, it also puts Matt into second in the World Cup overall standings.
Although Danny had a more challenging start with a crash in round one, he rallied hard and placed eighth in round two, just one second off the podium.
We take a look back at a packed five-days of action, before getting ready to do it all over again in Lousa, Portugal for the World Cup finals on October 29 and November 1. Don’t forget, you can catch up on all the World Cup action over at RedBull TV.
After a week of getting bogged down in Leogang at a World Championships that felt more like a lottery than a bike race, it was a relief to get another chance to perform at a venue that is a riders’ favourite.
With the perfect blend of high-speed, technical and fun sections, Maribor really does have it all and makes for great racing.
Day one of practice was great fun and there was no problem getting up to speed on some very familiar sections of the track. And then it rained.
Perfect timing just before qualies – but at least it was heavy rain, making the track into a river and keeping everything clean and splashy. Matt put down a great run to qualify third and Danny was not far behind in 13th.
On raceday things had dried up significantly but this meant course conditions were really mixed and choosing the right tyres was a tough task.
The Maxxis Shorty was perfect for the exposed sections up top – and especially the filthy first turn, but from the rock garden a faster rolling dry tyre like the Assagei or DHRII would be the better choice. Both Danny and Matt choose to take the risk of a dry tyre and unfortunately that didn’t pay off for Danny, who crashed in the second muddy turn, ending his hopes of a top result in the first 10-seconds of the race.
Matt was luckier however and held a huge powerslide in the grass. It may have lost him around a second, but he would recover well, producing a race run that would get him onto the podium with a career-best fourth place.
There was no time for celebration though, as the next day we were straight back into qualifying for round two! Conditions on track continued to improve and speeds were getting really high, with even the top grassy section starting to dry out.
Qualification was a dream result with both bikes in the top-10 and no risks taken on track. Matt notched up fifth place and Danny ninth, which put us in a great place for race day.
In the big show, Danny put himself back in the top-10, with an eighth place finish. The times really tell the story though, as he was just two seconds off the win.
Matt stepped up even further and with a couple of wild moments stepped onto the podium-proper, third place and just 0.4 seconds off the win. Next stop Lousa!
Tagged: Team