This past weekend saw the latest Downhill World Cup go down in Switzerland, and despite having some of the most ruthless conditions this year, Unit athletes Chris Kovarik and Claire Buchar scored some great results. Claire with a 7th and Chris a 9th. Check out Chris' blog from the event below...

This weekend I was in Switzerland/Champery for the 4th round of the downhill mtb World Cup, the weekend was going to be a tough one for everyone as we all know the track is the steepest, gnarliest on the circuit and plus it usually thunderstorms in the afternoon just to make it worse.

My practice started off well on thursday as the track was dry and it was easy to get a feel of the bike, on a track like this you barely have to take a pedal stroke because its so gravity fed so it was cool rolling the whole track and then hitting the high speed doubles at the finish.

Friday was qualifying and sure enough the rain came down and it was on and off all day just to keep the track slippery as hell. Practice went well, i was loving the muddy conditions, i got my lines down and i was running full spike tyres with low pressures to get as much grip as i could in the thick mud. During my run i hit a turn only to get halfway around it to find it had been blown out so my front wheel slid down off the edge and i went over the bars, i crawled back up and got on my bike with a hand full of mud and managed to qualify 27th.

Saturday race day i was pumped and ready to conquer the beast of a mountain, that had a number of riders helicoptered off the track with broken bones, cuts and concussions. The track was still a mudfest as it had rained all night and at one stage during practice it was like riding a river down the track. On my second practice run that morning i hit one of the big doubles at the bottom of the course, i slid up the take-off and was whipped out but landed too sideways and got high sided off the bike at high speed, i was a train wreck wrapped in course tape and mud. I got to the pits to discover i had a 2 inch gash in my shin to the bone and a corked calf muscle, i got it cleaned up by the medics, went back to the pits and geared up for the final.

I got to the top of the mountain a little earlier to give my leg a good warm up on the wind trainer so it wasnt so stiff before my run. All was good i took off out of the start gate and rode pretty solid start to finish not stalling and without many mistakes or coming off the bike. In the end i finished 9th on the day and was pumped to finally get a top 10 which is my first this year, i'm hoping my leg heals up before next weeks world cup race in Italy / Val Di Dol which is another crazy track!

My team also won team of the day, making the most points out of all the riders so we all got to stand on the podium and spray a little champagne!

Later!

• By Allan H
• Comments (0)

---

We took a camera along to the final round of the MX Nationals at Coolum and snapped a few sweet shots, even though the weather was absolutely dismal. Enjoy! All pics by Simon Makker

Cool Air Kawasaki's Billy MacKenzie (#211), Todd Waters (#47) and 2010 Pro Open champ Jay Marmont (#1) fight for holeshot honours during one of the four back-to-back 15-minute motos.



Unit rider and local Sunny Coast hero Ford Dale gets in some autograph practice just before he went out and dominated the Pro Lites class.



The step-down double after the straight-away is one big mutha! Tye Simmonds (#42) overtakes a rival by heading to the stratosphere.



The final round of the national motocross always brings industry icons and legends out of the woodwork. V8 Supercars god Craig Lowndes catches up with mutli-time Australian enduro hardman Brad "Wonka" Williscroft after the Vets moto.



The Under-19 class has gone from a support act to a high-profile series in just a few short years. Check the media scrum around the podium after Josh Cachia wrapped up the title at Coolum.



Jay Marmont was at his smooth, consistent best on his way to winning his third Pro Open title in three years.



Scotland's Cool Air Kawasaki rider Billy MacKenzie ponders what could have been after losing the title fight to Marmont by just 13 points. Billy did his best by winning the round Overall, but it wasn't quite enough.



The rapid-fire 15-minute motos meant for some super-tight racing in the Pro Open class.



CDR Rockstar Yamaha's Cheyne Boyd always has time for the fans.

• By Simon M
• Comments (0)

---

Dane Searls skipped the Dew Tour this year and headed over to Germany for the big jump contest 'Big In Bavaria'. With the lure of big jumps and big prize money, Dane couldn't refuse the offer, and ended up coming home with first place, $12,000 cash and a 30L keg of Bavarian beer!

Dane is now back in Sydney with a week off, before tripping make up to the Gold Coast, where he will be putting the final touches on his personal mega jumps. We can't wait to see him ride those things!

For more details on 'Big In Bavaria', you can read the full story now at FATBMX.COM

• By Allan H
• Comments (0)

---

Unit athletes Levi Sherwood, Mat Rebeaud, Tim Wood, Dan Reardon and Beau Bamburg will all be flying the Unit flag this weekend at X Games, so here are the viewing times for all the events, which will all be aired live on ESPN! (Aus time)

FRIDAY

10am - 1pm       Moto X Freestyle Round 1, Women's Super X Final, Men's Super X Final, Moto X Freestyle Final, Skateboard Big Air Final

SATURDAY

4am - 7am       Skateboard Park Elimination, Adaptive Super X Final, BMX Street Elimination

9am - 1.30pm      BMX Vert Final, Moto X Step Up Final, Skate Vert Final, Moto X Best Whip, Moto X Best Trick Final, Skateboard Vert Best Trick

SUNDAY

4am - 8am       BMX Park Final, Rally Car Racing Seeding, Skateboard Street Final

9am - 1pm      Rally Car Racing Elims, Quarters, Semis and Final, BMX Big Air Final, SuperRally Final

MONDAY

3am - 5am      Skateboard Real Street, BMX Street Final

9am - 1pm      Game of SKATE, Skateboard Big Air Rail Jam, Skateboard Park Final, Women's Skate Street Final, Moto X Speed & Style Final

• By Allan H
• Comments (0)

---

We've received some bittersweet news over the past 24 hours. The sad news was our newly signed Pro Lites privateer, Broc Tickle, crashed during practice at the Washougal round of the Lucas Oils AMA Motocross Championship and has reportedly broken his collarbone.

Tickle was sitting in fifth place in the championship at the time, and was the highest-placed Yamaha racer. As a result of his crash, Tickle had to pull out of the X Games Super X competition that starts in just a couple days' time.

However, we just got off the phone with MotoConcepts Yamaha rider Dan Reardon, who informed us that he was entering the high-profile event and throw his hat in the ring for a shot at the Super X gold medal.

Reardon will ride a YZ450F with his trademark #122 numberplate, so make sure you cheer our boy on! The Super X finals will be aired live on ESPN from 9am AEST on Friday (or 4pm Thursday local time).

• By Simon M
• Comments (0)

---

PHOTO: Unit rider Ford Dale got the overall on the final day in Coolum, but it was only enough to push into 3rd for the series. Fullnoise.com

There is so much to talk about at Coolum, so for a full wrap-up go check out the official website of the Australian Rockstar MX Nationals.

Unit MX team riders had an amazing showing over the weekend in Coolum, but with guys like Jay Marmont in the Opens and PJ Larsen in the Lites with such big point leads, there was little chance they would be able to claim top honours for the series.

In the Opens, all eyes were on Marmont, who was fighting to keep his title from last year, but Unit Kawasaki rider Billy Mackenzie smoked the field, and came home with 2 overall wins from 2 days. Billy was on fire, and nobody seemed to have his speed around the sandy Coolum track. Unfortunately though a few bad rounds throughout the year thanks to sickness and injury left Billy just short on points, and although making up a large margin, he just didn't have enough to overtake Jay, who rode to his very consistent ways all weekend. Billy still came home with a very solid 2nd overall in the 2010 series, and no doubt some very good confidence leading into Super X.

In the Lites, Unit rider Ford Dale seems to have finally found the form and consistency he has been looking for over the past few years. Ford has always been one of the fastest guys in Australia, but bad luck and inconsistency has stopped him really being a big threat. Coolum is Ford's home track and it was his chance to make up some ground on the class. Scoring a number of holeshots and race wins, he came away with a 2nd and 1st overall from 2 days. This was enough to push Ford from 5th to 3rd in the series.

In the U19's Luke Arbon sustained a broken wrist last weekend, so he was forced to sit out the Coolum races. His Unit Kawasaki team mate Cody Mackie came into Coolum in good form, and also sitting comfortably in the points race for a good result in the series, but a massive cart wheel on day 1 sent him to the hospital with a broken collarbone. However, Mackie and Arbon are both very positive moving firward towards Super X, and both say they have plenty of time to heal up and get back to full strength.

• By Allan H
• Comments (0)

---

Madrid X-Fighters went off on Friday, the riding was at it's best and we even got to see some brand new tricks in competition.

Aussies Jackson Strong, Clinton Moore, Robbie Maddison and Cam Sinclair were all on hand, as well as Kiwi Levi Sherwood, but come the top 8, and only Maddo and Levi were left with a chance of the win. It is fair to say Clinton, Jacko and Cam all had their sights set on X Games the following weekend, and held alot back.

Levi was set against Maddo in the first quarter final, and on his first run in to the ramps his bike bogged down, causing him to dead sailor over the 110 footer. He was lucky to even make it over the 110 foot jump safely, but that 1 jump basically cost Levi any chance of backing up his win from Russia. However, nothing should be taken away from Maddo who was absolutely on fire, riding at his best and throwing 3 perfect 'Volts', A trick only done once in a contest before Madrid.

Maddo went onto take down series leader Andre Villa in the semi-final, and then come face to face with former X-Fighters champion and Unit team rider Mat Rebeaud. It seems like Mat is back to his best after sustaining some big injuries at the start of the year. The 2 battled it out, both performing near flawless runs, but it was the 'volt' of Maddo that gave him the edge over his Swiss oponent. Maddo walked out on top of the field, and scoring some much needed points to help catch series leader Andre Villa coming into the final rounds.

Check out more stories and updates from the event below...

X-FIGHTERS OFFICIAL RELEASE

FREERIDER MX STORY

ESPN.COM/ACTION RESULTS

• By Allan H
• Comments (0)

---

So much went down over the weekend, it was hard to follow everything, but we will try and bring you some details of everything today...

First off the Dew Tour kicked off this weekend in Chicago with the opening round for BMX. Bad weather hampered the proceedings, and events were shuffled around and pushed back. By the end of the weekend, the weather cleared enough, and we saw the young Brett Banasiewicz take the win in the dirt contest.

Unit riders David Girsch, Jaie Toohey and Nate Berkheimer all had a good showing in the Open Qualifiers, and will now be invited along for the rest of the tour. Cam White was already on board, unforuntately though NZ shredder Jed Mildon missed out. In the finals though, it was Nate and Jaie who really pulled it together, Jaie scoring an awesome 6th, and Nate 7th. Those guys are riding their best right now and we will see alot more out of them in coming rounds. Young David Girsch has proven he has the skill to be mixing it with the best, however some bad luck prevented him from performing at his full potential.  Cam White has been riding really good considering he has a torn ACL, but may struggle through the season, taking it easy until he gets surgery at the end of the year.

I can't wait to catch up with all the guys at the end of August, when Unit take a trip around te states to film, party and catch up with all the guys.

Check out all the links below for full coverage from the tour, including the park and vert events...

DIRT - VIDEO + RESULTS

PARK - VIDEO + RESULTS

VERT - VIDEO + RESULTS

• By Allan H
• Comments (0)

---