Hutchinson was well represented at the Sea Otter Classic, both in the expo area as well as on the race course. Hutchinson’s United We Ride racers Fabien Cousinié and Mich Hannah both had great runs in the Pro Dual Slalom but some mechanical gremlins caused havoc with their final placing. In the Pro DH, Mick made the podium. The official team race report follows.

It was a sunny and hot weekend for Sick Mick and Couscous at SeaOtter and talking about heat, Sick Mick was on fire! He qualified 1st at the dual slalom and Fabien was 12th.

They were both ready to ripe it. Fabien’s 8th final was against Kyle Strait. Fabien was on a very good run, they were elbow to elbow but on the last jump, Fabien’s derailler broke. Fabien was then ready to fight on his second round. He finished in front of Kyle Strait but it wasn’t enough. Sick Mick on the other hand won his 16th and 8th finals. He looked very fast. The quarter finals were against Cedric Gracia. Mick was leading when, on the last jump, his derailler broke too. He then had to make quite a lot of time on the second round. He finished in front of Gracia but the time lost from the mechanical issue wasn’t enough.

Mick and Fabien were disappointed since they had the speed and felt very good on their bikes. Finally it’s Kyle Strait who took the win of the race and it’s too bad when we know that Fabien was able to beat the winner without a mechanical. They were then more than ready to pin it for the Downhill.

Sunday morning was foggy and a bit cooler. Mick’s start was pretty early and he did a time of 2:03 which put him in the hot seat for a while. The last riders were pretty fast but only Jared Graves, specialist on this track, beat Mick’s time by only 0.5 seconds. Fabien did a good run considering his mistake and finished 13th.

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