Pivot Factory Racing. This lot are one seriously versatile bunch of bike racers. Competing at the sharp end in any sport takes heaps of commitment and dedication, so when riders can jump between between bikes and keep sending it with the best in the world then you know there's some serious talent in play. We were pretty excited to support the Pivot team with saddles this year, running mostly High Tails on the downhill bikes, and the Silverados on their trail bikes. Some of the crew are running our PadLoc grips too!
The 2019 season has been filled with some good times and some great times for the Pivot posse, so we're here to give you a quick run through of our favourite moments.
Let's start with Ed Masters. Racing almost a full World Cup DH and EWS programme, Eddie has had a pretty full-on year.
With the Enduro World Series kicking off as early as March in Rotorua, the results started stacking up pretty soon for the man for New Zealand. On home soil Eddie managed a 14th, a respectable way to start the campaign, but from then on the number just kept getting smaller. A 6th in Tasmania, followed by a 6th in Madeira, and then a 4th in Italy marked a solid improvement in form, and finally Eddie took his first EWS victory in the high mountains of France. The speed carried over to Whistler for a 3rd place, and now Eddie was looking like a serious overall series contender. Along side such a fruitful EWS story, Eddie was also racing the DH World Cup rounds in Europe. With four top 20 results and a top 10 in Fort William, the confidence was there and everything was looking good for a strong end to the season. Unfortunately a crash in the Northstar round of the EWS resulted in a broken wrist for Eddie and that was that. It was the sidelines for the final few races and a winter of recover and prep ready for a big 2020! Here's some images from that awesome win in Les Orres.
Next up, Matt Walker. Another one of the Pivot squad with a full calendar. Matt not only raced in the EWS with increasingly impressive results as the year went on, he also hit up most of the DH World Cup rounds too, the highlight being a 16th place in Fort William. A real display of bike handling, speed and strength.
On top of the heavy programme of Enduro and DH racing, Matt also got the invite to take part in the 2019 Red Bull Hardline event. Always an impressive end of season spectacle, Matt managed a top 10 in Hardline too - a killer ride from Pivot's 2nd New Zealand native.
On paper Emilie Siegenthaler's season hasn't been as hectic as Eddie or Matt, but that certainly doesn't mean she's got an easier job. Right now the elite women category is arguably the most competitive it's been, with closer racing and a wider variety of race winners than we've seen in previous years.
Following a similar theme to the guys we previously mentioned, Emilie's season has followed a general trend of climbing up the rankings round by round. A number of podiums including a 3rd place at Lenzerheide and a 5th at World Champs are surely the highlights of what has been a great year for the shredder from Switzerland.
Finally we have the Stoppie Sunday king himself, Bernard Kerr. Like Emilie, Kerr has been putting the most on the Downhill World Cup this year, and has walked away with a number of top 20's after a busy season. After putting down a solid run for 19th in Les Gets, (the same weekend as Eddie was racing to victory in the French EWS), Kerr jumped straight in the van and made the trip to to Les Orres to make sure he could be there to celebrate with his team mates. What a great team spirit!
Like Matt Walker, Bernard also got the invite to Red Bull Hardline 2019 -an event Kerr had previously taken the top spot at back in 2016. After an exciting week of practice and tight day of qualification runs, all eyes were on two riders. Home town hero Gee Atherton and Kerr were both looking super fast and it came right down to the wire on race day, with Kerr taking top spot and becoming the first rider ever to win Red Bull Hardline twice! What a way to top off a great year for Pivot Factory Racing set up!
Big thanks to Sven Martin and Kike Abelleira, and Boris Beyer for taking such great images all year!