Walker rides to downhill victory

Kawerau's Matt Walker puts his breakthrough national downhill victory down to a home course and a more chilled out approach.

The 21-year-old proved he is a force to be reckoned with when he pulled off a stunning victory in the fourth round of the New Zealand Mountain Bike Downhill Cup in Rotorua on the weekend.

Up against a brace of more fancied competitors in the Elite division, including former junior world champion Brook MacDonald, Walker threw down a brilliant 2min 56.70sec run from third seed. Neither MacDonald or Matt Scoles could beat that and a delighted Walker took his first ever victory in a national level downhill race.

"I was real happy," he said.

"I hadn't had a great season so far but got a good result."

Walker said he went into the race with extra confidence after a month of solid racing, despite finishing no higher than eighth in the first three rounds.

"Being on a home course helped a lot," he said. "I was trying to take it less seriously and just have more fun. That seems to help me."

The Rotorua-based electrical apprentice will miss this weekend's fifth round in Wellington but returns for the final round in Napier next week.

"I really like the Napier track. It would be great to win it for sure," he said.

He said he would then be getting in as much riding as possible to prepare for the Oceania Mountain Bike Championships, in Rotorua on March 9-11.

Walker wasn't the only Rotorua rider to feature on Sunday. In the women's Elite division former New Zealand representative Gabby Molloy finished second in just her first cup race of the summer, going down to overall leader Sarah Atkin who is unbeaten this summer. Lower Hutt's Atkin is growing in confidence with every race and looks tough to beat this season.

In the age group categories, Louis Hamilton starred on his home track, winning the U-19 race over fellow Rotorua riders Jake Robinson and Lawrence Cawte.

The downhill cup continues this weekend with a mountain bike double header event in Wellington - the fifth round of the downhill at Long Gulley over both days and the third round of the cross country on Mt Victoria on Sunday.