This past weekend the urban downhill circuit in South America held the Urbano Santos in Brazil. Though the course was short (about a minute long), it was extremely intense with over 400 stairs and plenty of spectators waving their hands as riders flew by. Check out some videos and race runs from this awesome South American downhill race and be glad you're not one of the bikes in this race! -gordo
Check out Polc's race run at Descida das Escadas de Santos 2012!
The winner, Filip Polc, provided this race report on the
Evil Bikes Facebook pageSame as in the past years Filip is focusing on the urban races tour in South America. After good start in Colombian Manizales Filip takes the victory on the 10th anniversary race in Santos. This year the organizer invited the top world ranked downhill pilots like Greg Minnaar, Cedric Gracia, Mario Jarrin, Marcello Gutierez, Markolf Berkchtold.
The Santos race is organized on the top level and it was LIVE on TV Glogo, covering 80 million people around the world. With all the spectators we had here you could see the biggest crowd ever. The 650 meter-long track was packed with 417 stairs!
Filip says, "We had really strong competition here and in the super hot and humid weather. We were sweating nonstop. In Saturday’s practice I could do only 3 runs. I didn't try all my lines and didn't reach the limits of the track. I started Sunday’s semifinal with a clicked out foot. I lost some speed for the first big gap but I still made the best time. It’s hard to race on such a short track. No mistakes alowed, not even in one corner or jump!
"In my final run I pushed it bit more, I knew I could still go faster. I was hitting all the jumps, braking at the last moment and pedaling everywhere I could. I felt this is the best run I could pull out! I did the best time and set new record of Santos urban race. I humbled my old one which was 59 seconds from 2010.Result from finals Descida das Escadas de Santos 2012:
1 - Filip Polc (ESL) - 0:58.207
2 - Walace Miranda (BRA) - 1:00.554
3 - Cedric Gracia (FRA) - 1:00.859
4 - Emanuel Pombo (POR) - 1:01.352
5 - Djone Fornari (BRA) - não completou o percurso
Drift put together a nice recap video of the 2012 Urbano Santos, Descida das Escadas de Santos
Another from BCL Productions
Cedric Gracia's Race Run
zoomvideosoutdoor
2/15/2012 6:07 PM
Images from Urban Downhill - Santos 2012
http://vimeo.com/36609686
cmcgary
2/14/2012 2:25 PM
Lucent
2/11/2012 10:53 AM
manhartt
2/9/2012 7:18 PM
DHmental
2/9/2012 4:53 PM