Sam Hill and Sabrina Jonnier

Grab Overall Series Titles at Maribor

Holbrook, NY

This past weekend in Maribor, Slovenia, Sam Hill continued his season-long domination by winning the 2007 World Cup Series’ final race as well as claiming the World Cup Downhill Series Overall Championship.  Teammate Sabrina Jonnier took home 6th place in the Women’s Elite Downhill event and also secured the World Cup Downhill Series Overall Championship.

After a five-year hiatus, the UCI World Cup Series returned to Maribor for the 2007 Series Final.  A mix of roots, loamy soil, and tight turns, the course had become a bit of a legend since last hosting a World Cup round in 2002.  The course was described by riders all weekend simply as “fun to ride” and as an added bonus, weather conditions remained perfect throughout the event with clear skies and temperatures in the mid-20’s C/70’s F.

In the weekend’s main event, Sam Hill followed up on his World Championship in Scotland the previous weekend by taking the win in Slovenia.  Hill raced his dw-link equipped Iron Horse Sunday to a 1.33 second win over second place rider Gee Atherton.  Hill finished the course in a time of 2:53.78 minutes.  “Maribor was awesome”, said Hill.  “I finally managed to win the World Cup Series, which was a big goal for me.  I had been second for three years in a row and wanted to get the win pretty bad.  I have had an amazing year, the whole team has helped to get the World Cup Series Championship and hopefully next year can be even more successful.”  This was Sam’s third World Cup win of the season and his first World Cup Series Championship.

Battling illness all week, Jonnier wasn't feeling up to par, but still gave it her all to finish the season on top.  Sabrina said of her race run "I have been sick all week.  I tried to go because I love to win, but I didn't have any energy on the pedaling sections.  I just couldn't go quick.”  She then added, “I got 6th today but I won the overall, so that's always good."  This was Sabrina’s third World Cup Downhill Series Overall title.

With Sabrina’s title the Monster Energy/Iron Horse Team also secured the women's Downhill Trade Team Title.  Team mechanic Jacy Shumilack joined Sabrina on the podium to accept the award.

The Monster Energy/Iron Horse Team finishes out the season with an impressive collection of victories and titles in 2007 including two World Championships, two World Cup Series Overall titles, five World Cup wins, European Championships in downhill and 4X, French National Champion, and wins at the Sea Otter dual slalom, US Open, Psychosis, and Crankworx Garbanzo downhill events. 

For complete info on the 2008 Iron Horse Bicycles product line, including the Sunday World Cup team replica model, visit www.ironhorsebikes.com.  For more info, photos, and schedules for the Monster Energy/Iron Horse race team visit www.ironhorseraceteam.com. 

The Monster Energy/Iron Horse Team thanks the following sponsors for all their support during the 2007 World Championship and World Cup Series winning 2007 season: Monster Energy, Iron Horse Bicycles, Mad Catz, Alligator Cables, Avid, Crank Brother, DT-Swiss, e-thirteen Components, Five-Ten Shoes, FSA/Gravity, FUNN, Maxima Lubes, Maxxis Tires, Minoura, mtbidsystems, RockShox, SRAM, THE, Troy Lee Designs, and WTB.