Daina Banks has taken out the 11th Kozakov with an impressive lead on his competition. Daina managed to win every heat coming into the Finals where he met Harry Clarke, Chase Hiller and Max Capps. Here's the play-by-play from Max Capps.
"Harry led into the left, Chase scrubbed and Daina almost smoked him as he passed into 2nd. Chase and I tried to close the gap on Harry and Daina battling for first but were getting hung out to dry. My pass zone was right into the entrance, tried to go outside of Chase but couldn't hold the line and smoked the hay"
Emily once again remains undefeated in the Womens division and has consistently shown her power here at Kozakov with impressive leads. An early upset in the 1st round saw Lyde Begue receive a DNF after falling on the start line and as the 3rd seed for Womens this created an opportunity. The Womens Finals finished with Emily Pross, 1st, Lisa Peters, 2nd, Grace Wong, 3rd, and Diane Hiebert, 4th.
The Juniors today produced a surprise, young gun Nick Broms suffered today after being beaten 2nd round in the Opens and in the 1st round of Juniors to Felix Begaud and Sten Lengsfeld. Grégoire Schwab was on fire all day and managed to take the Juniors win with Raphael Waser close behind followed by Felix and and Sten. Congratulations to these guys for laying it down on one of the most iconic race tracks.
Luge finals included three previous World champions! Mikel Echegaray chose to race the buttboard again this year, but it may have been a poor choice with Ryan Farmer back on track and dominating races throughout Europe. Ryan showed flow and precision whilst riding Kozakov this year; racing undefeated through finals and into 1st place! Abdil Mahdzan and Olivier Gerling joined the two powerhouses in the Finals and managed to take 3rd and 4th, respectively.
Masters saw Czech local Pavel Zajíc improve on his last years position and take out the win over Kyle Martin who has been until now, undefeated this season. Czech/Aussie Jakub Rod along with Déberson Oliveira managed to hold tight and took 3rd and 4th respectively.
The European rankings after Kozakov have Tristan Cardillo leading with Yanis Markarian and Arthur Spuhler close behind. Tristan and Arthur are currently not registered to ride at Transylvania DH so can Yanis take the top spot for Continental Champion?
The World Rankings have also revealed an underdog winner perhaps for 2019....Daina Banks took the win today securing him multiple high WC finishes, so all he needs to do now is grab a few high WQS finishes and he could indeed be our new World Champion..
