Downhill World Cup: Sheridan qualifies, tougher day for McGlinchey & Cornforth

Dan Sheridan has lived to fight another day

Dan Sheridan will be Ireland’s sole participant in the final of the World Cup Downhill in South Africa on Sunday after a crash forced Christopher McGlinchey out and Cameron Cornforth failed to get past today’s qualifiers.

McGlinchey had a bad spill during his final run of practice yesterday and while it was hoped he would be OK to ride today he was unable to start; so a disappointing result for the Belfast teenager.

Dubliner Sheridan enjoyed better fortunes, grabbing 80^th place today to take the last qualifying slot for Sunday.

“I’m stoke I qualified in 80^th place, too lucky; going get to the finger out for Sunday,” said the 17-year-old.

He was 25.398 seconds off the time of local winner Greg Minnaar (Santa Cruz Syndicate), who clocked 3:59.62 for the 3.12 km run.

Cornforth was a little further back in 113^th slot. However, he was philosophical about the outcome.

“I’m pretty happy with it, I know I can qualify; I just needed to learn from this one,” he told stickybottle from South Africa.

He didn’t seem daunted by the prospect of competing on such a big stage – with juniors mixed in with the elite riders – despite the fact he, like the other two Irish riders, is aged just seventeen.

“I found the atmosphere the same as any race really, it's always about getting from A to B as fast as you can, it doesn’t make any difference who else is on the track really. I know where the bar is now and I’m focused on hitting lines that a week ago I wouldn’t have dreamt of.”

He said he was now looking forward to riding the National Points Series Round 1 in Rostrevor on Sunday week as well as more World Cups and the British Downhill Series in the season ahead.

The Downhill World Cup is a series of seven races worldwide, the first of which is in South Africa this weekend. Other rounds are in Val di Sol in Italy; Fort William in Scotland; Val Disere in France; Windham in the USA; Mt Saint Ann in Canada and Hafjell in Norway.

Downhill World Cup Qualifier, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa

Greg Minnaar (RSA) Santa Cruz Syndicate 0:03:59.620
Aaron Gwin (USA) Trek World Racing 0:00:00.008
Steve Smith (Can) Devinci Global Racing 0:00:00.871
Gee Atherton (GBr) Gt Factory Racing 0:00:01.767
Troy Brosnan (Aus) Monster Energy-Specialized 0:00:02.270
Michael Hannah (Aus) Hutchinson United Ride 0:00:04.385
Cédric Gracia (Fra) Cg Racing Brigade 0:00:05.055
Aurélien Giordanengo (Fra) Topcycle By Trek 0:00:05.901
Jared Graves (Aus) Yeti Fox Shox Factory Race Team 0:00:05.908
Andrew Neethling (RSA) Giant Factory Off-Road Team 0:00:06.347

Irish Team

80 Dan Sheridan (Irl) 0:00:25.398
113 Cameron Cornforth (Irl) 0:00:37.481
DNS Christopher Mcglinchey (Irl)

The riders:

Christopher McGlinchey is a 17-year-old from Belfast who rides for the Nukeproof junior team. He was Irish junior champion in 2010 and was 5th overall in the British Downhill Championships. Last year he qualified at the Fortwilliam World Cup meeting.

Dan Sheridan is aged 17 years and is from Dublin. He’s already won a range of national titles from schoolboy level up through the ranks and has victory in the National Points Series on his CV as well as third overall in the British Downhill Series. He also rides for Nukeproof.

Cameron Cornforth, is the third 17-year-old in the team and hails from Kealkil, near Bantry in Co Cork. He has been dominant in the National Points Series since his early teens and counts is 4th place at the European Championships in Norway in 2010 as his career highlight to date.