2011 Malaysian Downhill Super Series- Round 2

Huge racing weekend over here in Putrajaya Malaysia yesterday. About 160 over riders converged here for Round 2 of our national DH series.

Our Elite rider, Adam, came third in Elite Men's behind Tan Hong Chun (Singapore) and winner Daniel Sprague (australia).

Team rider Aaron clinched 2nd in the Men's Expert category.

Here are pics of Banshee riders in action...


More Photos here on FakawiTribe.com

Banshee Legend podiums in 16th Asian Mtb Championship-- AGAIN!

Ausanee Pradupyard- Number 3 in Asia!

Congratulations to Fakawi Banshee team riders Ausanee (riding for Thailand) and Adam (riding for Malaysia) who competed in this year's Asian Cycling Confederation's Asian MTB (DH) Championships in Jecheon, Korea. Both our team riders qualified and were selected to race against the best riders in asia.

Ausanee, who also podium-ed in last year's ACC, won the bronze medal in the women's elite category on her Legend mk1.

Adam came in 6th in the men's elite finals on his Legend MK2.

Race results here: ACC2010 results.

Forget about ski lifts.. monorail uplift for riders and their bikes!
(pic courtesy of Beatrice A Lajawa)

Ausanee's Legend- 2 times ACC podium! 2009 and 2010!
(pic by Ausanee)

Ausanee flying the Banshee flag! (pic by Ausanee)

The finish line. (pic by Beatrice Lajawa)

Adam and Ausanee trying to look cute.
(pic by Ausnee)

riders warming up... (pic by Ausanee)

Adam at the starting line.
(pic by Beatrice A Lajawa)

Ausanee at the starting line.
(pic by Ausanee)

Banshee Kiara Rage..the video

Banshee Kiara Rage 2010

Pic by Keng Mun

Pic by Jay MacNeil

Teams Banshee Australia, Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia as well as all the regional rippers had a blast at our race last weekend!
Jay was present to give away the Banshee Wildcard to Men's Elite category winner, Aim who won the race in a nail-biting final run in the monsoon rain!

1. Aim Fauzi (ROAM Racing Division) 4:01.027
2. Adam Ahmad Faroze (Fakawi Banshee) 4:03.300
3. Ian Krempl (unsprung Rollick) 4:12.271
4. JR Stanly Jalip (Fakawi Banshee) 4:14.865
5. Pornomo (United Bike Kencana Freeride Junkie Clothing) 4:18.012

more pics and results here BANSHEE KIARA RAGE 2010!

Jay got to satisfy his craving for local curry dishes in the end...

Banshee RUNE and Fakawi Team riders featured in Cycling Asia Magazine!

Our Banshee RUNE on the cover of Jan/Feb 2010 issue of Cycling Asia Magazine!

Bonus- One full page write-up on the Banshee RUNE

Bike tester pinning it on the RUNE.

Top 2 pictures: Team riders Ausanee, Rizal and Gig made it into the news section.

..and a little article from the Fakawichief himself on how not to get yourselves killed...

Go get yourselves a copy of Cycling Asia today!
(available in Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and Thailand)

Arduum or Ardoom depending on how your race went

It was wet it was dark and it was knar.

It was however a lot of fun, very well organized… so much so that riders were only a few minutes behind when their official times to start were. So huge thanks to all the organizers, time keeper, commisares, first aid guys, and sponsors for putting on a great event.

Now lets get to some pictures.

First was the Trident Banshee Industry team. Thanks Michelle for you 3rd place finish.

As well as Dean Wilkes [Legend] and Tom Thorton [Scythe]

Tom placed 1st in Citizen senior and Dean placed 3rd in the same sandbagger class. EDIT: Dean actually came second to get a Banshee 1- 2! Not sure how they placed overall but those guys are fast so don’t let the class fool you.

Left: Michelle after the rock drop Right: Dean hitting the rock drop

Dalen and Zac were also racing and although podiums we’re not in the cards they were happy with their runs and to have survived Ardoom.

Left: Dalen eating shit before a hip gap. Can’t blame him as it was really greasy and finding traction was the order of the day. Right is Zac taking the chicken line. I guess his bike’s to pretty to get all dirty. You can see the white splotches in the pictures were rain drops and at times it was coming down real hard.

My cousin was one of the smart ones with golf umbrella put to good use on Sunday .

Some guys weren’t so lucky and I saw a few mangled bikes and bodies coming down the mountain. I hope this guy is ok and is healed up for next weeks Panorama race

Taking pics was not easy, everything was soaked, it was dark, and the amount of red eyes I had to fix was insane. So if you see your pic and your eyes look all f’d I tried my best.

Here is the rest of the riders that I managed to get. There was quite a few racers competing but I managed to get a few of you… enjoy.

View Full Album

Tyler from Pinkbike giving out the awards and prizes.

What's Next?

Aaron Larocque (the talented young film maker from BC), has been busy filming and editing recently. Check out the trailer for his latest creation which features 3 of our up and coming riders (Alan Hepburn, Mark Mathews and Matt Brooks).
Jay chimes in Keith how could you forget Dustin Greenhall... the guy throws it down large. Make that 4 riders.
Keith: Oh man, sorry Dustin, didn't see your name even tho I thought you would be in it and was a bit suprised when I didn't see your name... but there it is! Sorry bro! Sweet, this is just the Dustin on the cake! haha, man I'm so funny!

This is going to be Aaron's first full length film, but I think you'll agree that it looks like he has a great future and will hopefully be making many many more.

What's Next? Trailer from Aaron Larocque on Vimeo.

Ben Nylen Podiums in Aus

In Ben's words, with some race pics...


'Hey everyone,
Just thought id share a lil report on the Australian NSW state round that was help on the weekend.

Was a good fun track nice and flowy with a few good sections and jumps in the track so was looking to be a good race.


After qualifying early morning Sunday the times were all on the same seconds for the top 5-8 riders and was looking to be pretty tight and interesting racing to be ahead.
After having a good easy chilled out qualy run i knew i had plenty left in the tank for finals but still knew i was gonna have to give it all to get up the top box.

Come race run was feeling good i could do it, my run was pretty dam solid and i was happy with it right down to the last section where i came close to blowing it all away when i clipped a tree with my arm but just holding myself up to get to the finish upright.

Came across the finish to find myself in first place with 1 rider to come down and it happened to be that rider knocked me off top spot by a flat 1 second faster then me!


All in all happy with my place happy with how the weekend panned out!
Yet again overly happy with the bike AGAIN helping keep me on game!

keep it pinned!'


Congrats Ben, good riding!

Rob the Giant poacher

Just got this video... pretty bad quality but its funny cause Rob our new Taiwan rider / builder was interviewed on National TV at a Giant Maestro camp and check out his helmet hehehe. I don't think he'll be invited next year.
Again excuse the bad quality as it was pulled off the TV. We were surprised to find him on there and rushed to get any kind of recording of it

Ryan Hunt

Ryan Hunt...

Ryan Hunt from Nick Peterson on Vimeo.

Benny in the Sunshine

Queensland Sunshine Series Round 1 - Downhill 2009 - Kenilworth

Hey Guys,

Well, our 2009 Queensland State Series (Sunshine Series) commenced last weekend and round 1 was conducted at Kenilworth in the Sunshine Coast hinterland. Track conditions were very dry, dusty and loose which lead to numerous stacks and carnage. I have decided to up the ante' and race Under 19 Junior Men this season in an attempt to improve my riding. During my qualifying run I caught the rider in front and despite much abuse hurled at him he failed to give way and subsequently crashed right in front of me in Carnage Canyon. This resulted in me crashing over the top of him and losing precious seconds but I still managed to qualify 3rd last!!

Onto the race run and I was getting real nervous sitting up the top of the mountain for 1.5 hours due to problems with the timing devices!! Anyway I got underway and had a great run down on the Banshee Scythe and ended up on the podium in 3rd place - a good start to Under 19's.

Next month (April) we head to round 2 which is to be held on my home track at Illinbah where I hope to gain a small advantage because I love the track with all its roots and rocks!!! Until then, safe riding.

cheers,

Benny

Jazza and Steve ... Legend madness

This is a very cool video of the guys ripping it up on the Legends.
I really enjoyed this video and it has great shots of the skills of these riders and how they are able to get the most out of a bike like the Legend



Banshee- Jazza + Steve from Dale Lecluse on Vimeo.

Aussie Nationals Rd 5 - Hobart

Aussie Nationals Rd 5 - Hobart

Well guy's, the Aussie National Series Round 5 has been run and won which winds up the series for 2008/09. It is a long way to travel from Brisbane Queensland to Hobart Tasmania even by air but Dad & I got there on Thursday afternoon last week in time to walk the track which runs off the side of Mount Wellington.

I am racing one of the 2 Banshee Scythe's painted in World team colour red & white. The series has been a mixed one for me as I crashed in round 1 at Adelaide South Australia but still placed 15th, then onto Illinbah Queensland for round 2 where I placed 3rd but suffered a grade 2 tear of the calf muscle which put me out for 8 weeks. I missed round 3 and headed into round 4 at Mount Buller Victoria (close to the bad fires) very much lacking fitness but managed to finish 7th which had me placed 10th overall leading into the final round last Sunday. Practice at round 5 Hobart was going great until late Saturday afternoon when I suffered a severe mechanical and it seemed I was unable to race the next day. Many frantic phone calls and my good mate & Banshee racer, Ryan Hunt offered me his Legend to race in the Under 17 men division. I managed to get 2 practice runs in on Sunday morning whilst swapping number plates with Ryan so that he could get some practice runs and his seeding run in. I then went up for my race run and whilst I was very conscious of not wanting to damage Ryans bike I placed 5th which placed me into outright 6th for the series - I am as happy as a pig in sh*t and cannot wait until next weekend when our State Rounds (Sunshine Series) commences. My sponsor, Darren Bowman (Brisbane Boutique Bikes) is building up his own Banshee Scythe for me to ride until mine is fixed (thanks Darren - you are a champion!!)

On a final note, it was a great National Series and I met some awesome guy's out there riding Banshee Legends such as Ryan Hunt and Ben Nylen and I hope I can return the favours to these guys in years to come when they have a problem.

cheers all,

Benny Power

You can follow Ben on his own blog here http://benpower-racing.blogspot.com/

Mark Mathews is on Banshee

Mark is a ripper and a trickster from Vancouver Island and already rides for our buddies over at Straitline. And We are proud to say that he is now riding for Banshee.

Not only is he a great rider, but Mark is also one of the founders of Freeride BC Bike Park. See more on that here.

Check out Marks Amp on his blog.

Awesome photo skills by Alex Webb. check him out.

Frame Testing... Banshee Style!

This is how we test our frames outside of the lab.

If you want frames put through their paces, then a good option is to send them to some crazy Aussies to shred on, so thats one of the things we did! there is definately something in the water down there!

Some legend testing footage from 2 young rippers,

Ben Nylen

Ben Nylen. from kane chenoweth on Vimeo.

Ryan Hunt

Ryan Hunt Promotional Video - Uni Track from Nick Peterson on Vimeo.

Keep it up guys, you are shredding, great to see the legend doing what it was made to do. You now know the names, so keep an eye out for them!

And an old favourite put this vid together of testing over the last 2 years.

Chris Soininen


(chris just told me it is 45.7C there today! I would vaporise!)

It is a hard life being a bike tester!

We have test riders all over the world, but it is summer in Australia, so they tend to be riding the most right now.

XXIV / Banshee Australia Race Team

We've just put together a team to race the Australian Nationals. Dave Heatherington a former Aussie national team member leads the team this season and here is a quick video of him as he puts another win under his belt in the King of Ballrat? Ballarat? dah i can't remember what the real name is. Anyway heres the vid

Sponsors and Riders... oh the games

So I was hanging out with Greg from Straitline at Crankworx and he got a room for Jeff Lanosky and family a floor down [SL spono's Jeff]. Greg has been tanking the crap out of Jeff with his made up invisible stalker named Lee... however Jeff thinks the dude is real.
Heres an excerpt from an email forwarded to Jeff from Greg

"Hey Lee, the helmet is what it is, used just once during his demo, clean but the foam was used so sweat did touch it. I went over it for a hair but no dice.

The cell number is $125 sorry but I can get what I want for this on ebay so your call. Underwear cannot be verified but it was found near his rental in the parkade it is up to you but it was when he was packing up to go.

Talk soon!


From: Lee Murray [mailto:lee_murray136@hotmail.com]
Sent: Monday, aug 20, 2008 8:41 PM
To: inf0@straitlinecomponent.c0m
Subject:

Well, if I can get the cell number for 70 I will consider the underwear. How do you know they are his anyways? Last time you sent me hair with the pedals I felt kinda burnt on the deal. How do I even know it was his!
Let me know, 70 is my offer.
Lee

[2:03:50 PM] Greg Parish says: I made a fake email and sent it to jeff
[2:04:04 PM] Greg Parish says: he has a stalker so i fabricated ame responding lol
[2:04:07 PM] Greg Parish says: me funny
[2:22:36 PM] Jay says: hahaha


So the next post will be on the fun and festivities at Crankworx

Hi

Hi it's me again Polish Titanium rider. Just want to write about my last week.

My Doctor check my arm and wrist He removed 2 stabilising bars from my arm and wrist, but my bones aren't ok yet still 2 more weeks in plaster.

On saturday i was in Olsztyn city it's Polish rally drivers mekka. I was there for video shooting ( extrem sport channel is makeing show about me ) . I was driving one of K. Holowczyc (multiple times Polish and Euro rally champion) car. It was 2007 subaru impreza wrx sti made by pro drive. But because of my arm and wrist . I couldnt do much. BTW those photos are in EVO.Cars , rally driving , racing tracks it's my PASSION like freeride. Hope that i will be racing in future.

Btw my show will be on air from November 2008 till october 2009.
Thanks Szwed

Dave Hetherington (AUS) news

Sunday July 6th saw the running of round two of the ‘King of Ballarat’
downhill race series. Fine but cold weather conditions greeted the strong
field of elite riders, which featured both the current Victorian State and
Victorian series champions, and the previous two times King of Ballarat
champion, as well as other top riders.

The three race run format proved popular with both riders and fans who had
lined the tracks to cheer their favorite riders down.

Local Banshee rider Dave Hetherington won by 3.6 seconds (despite snapping a
chain on his final run) saying after the race that his Scythe had worked
well on the technically difficult tracks. "The bike was set up perfectly and
seemed to float over the rough and root ridden sections," he said.

Dave has now won the first and second rounds of the series and is looking
forward to the third round to be held next month.'

Great work Dave! It's good to see that your shredding, and beating the big boys on their pure DH race bikes on your Scythe. Just wait til you get your legend!

My bike just got better

June 12, 2008

Published by nato

My bike just got better.

Well it is still a wetter than normal spring here in the "sunny" okanagan valley but it is a good time to get the trails buffed before they dry out.
I spent a few hours last nite tuning the in-run and lip on my new stunt up Addiction. It is a step-up to bowled table to step down that you need to time just right to make the gaps. It also threads through trees.
I had over 60 lbs on my backpack, chainsaw, pickaxe, shovel, spikes, hammer,etc. pushing my Banshee Wildcard up the trail to work. Fun ride out thou!

Today i got the gillard bug and decided to try my bikes 5" travel setting for the first time. Wow! I thought i had a wicked bike before but this is just plane awesome! We hit up "Yo-Mama" with a few buds and i was instantly loving the increased pop and speed through the corners. Yo-Mama has some tight corners with doubles mid corner, and some nice senders. I was a little wet once we got into the trees but still super fun.
Next up was FistsFirst which has some dialed new berms which were a blast rifling through. There is a big step down hip that you can send 30+ feet down that was minty, but the slimy logride to gap after it was moldy. After Fistfirst we pushed up to RubHerDown, love the lighter weight Wildcard on the hike-a-bike bits. I found an axe left by some partiers that will work perfect for building so I stuck that in my pack and drop into my buddies trail, RubHerDown.

RubHerDown was good as always, feels like you are off the ground half the time. Next up we were off to Boss Hog to finish the lap. There is a huge amount of new blow down even from a few weeks back that has been nicely taken care of. Props to the builders and maintenance guys up there. Watched the look of fear in a buddies eyes as he nose cased the big step up on the HOG and just about got tossed. Good times fer sure. Finished off Boss and I watched the bikes while they got the trucks. I buffed up a little step down to puddle jump at the lower parking lot that i had built last year while waiting. The weather looked to be clearing over Postil so i decided that would be good for an afternoon rip.
I crept my little Fireflee down the access road swearing that i would not be taking it up there again. The road is brutally rough, in a little car with bagged out shocks and struts. Drive across town and get to Postil just in time time to jump in with a group of three heading up Addiction. As i gear up i realize i left my pack with all my tools and first aid gear up Gillard. Grrrrrrr.... grits teeth. So did a quick rip with the groms i got a ride up with and then booked it back up Gillard. The road was a little better the second time up and atleast my bag still there. Back over to Postil and met up with my bud Randy who hits just about all the big stuff and is a 50+ grampa. Did another 3 laps and sessioned the big line up top till we were all pooped.
Had so much fun i could not believe i was riding a 5" bike. Drops that were making me nervous last year on my old 8" DH are a new place to try throwing tricks now. Fun fun.

Thanks to the boys at Banshee bikes, Straitline components, Stpectrum techwear, and Outbound Cycle, for all your support.