PHOTOGRAPHY: JACK FLETCHER & JOEB DEDMAN // WORDS: OLLY FORSTER
Maydena, Tasmania - In some of the dustiest and most blown-out conditions in memory, Forbidden Synthesis team rider Connor Fearon took home the gold medal in the men’s downhill event from this past weekend’s Australian national championships.
Connor, aboard a stock 154mm travel size medium Forbidden Dreadnought equipped with a 180mm travel RockShox BoXXer fork, Crankbrothers Synthesis DH wheels, Burgtec cockpit, Maxxis Max Grip tires and a SRAM 7-speed drivetrain, entered the weekend with a single goal in mind.
Qualifying on Saturday, less than a second behind Troy Brosnan, would make for a nail-biting finale come Sunday as the two heavyweights of Australian downhill, duked it out for the title. During finals, as the second to last man down, Connor kept things upright in the challenging conditions, eventually putting over three seconds between himself and former teammate, Jackson Frew. All eyes were on Troy, as the last man down, but an unfortunate crash ended his title challenge.
"I’ve been chasing the Elite National Championships title for a long time now and to finally get the job done feels awesome! The track here at Maydena was fast, rough and challenging to put a clean run together, but I was feeling really confident and everything fell into place for me this weekend." - Connor Fearon
Connor, as the residing 2022 Australian national downhill champion, will wear the coveted national sleeve throughout his World Cup campaign, which kicks off in Lourdes, France in late March. We wish Troy a speedy recovery from his injuries and look forward to seeing him back at the races.
