Great Southern mountain bike riders enjoy success at opening round of the WA State Downhill Series

Rising mountain bike star Corben Weinert took out the opening round of the WA State Downhill Series at Wellington Mills in the Peel region last weekend.

A total of 16 riders from the Great Southern region jumped on their bikes to compete against some of the State’s premier downhill riders and a number finished on the podium in their respective categories.

Weinert, who has previously been known for his exploits on a motorbike, showed his talent on the pedals after taking out the junior under-19 final in a time of 2mins.08secs.

His superb run beat his nearest opponent by almost 10 seconds.

Denmark rider Kaiden Godden also came away from the event with a victory in the sport men division by more than two seconds after finishing the course in a time of 2:33.

In the elite category, Albany’s Hayden Kinnear impressed to finish third overall in a time of 2:13.

Kinnear was within four seconds of the winner Roly Kyme. Ben Halsall also competed in the elite class and had a strong weekend, finishing fourth in the final.

Nathan Devenport produced a strong performance to claim second in the masters final, in a time of 2:34.

The under-15 category had four riders from the Great Southern, with Declan Poett (third), Jackson Poett (fourth), Charlie Thill (fifth) and Ashton Sobik (eight) all impressing to finish within a minute of the winner.

Youngster Rory Wolfe claimed third place in the under-13 category with his final time of 3:34.

In the expert category Albany rider Andrew Hannig finished fifth and Tim Harman was eighth, while Travis Fage did not finish the final.

Hayley Poett finished fifth in the open women category.

Jayde Sleep competed against Kinnear and finished 10th, while Eden Hughes finished eighth to Weinert.