British Bobsleigh Association
World Cup Round 05 and 06 - St Moritz Race Reports, January 2009
20 January 2009
The final European Round of the Bobsleigh World Cup Series was held at the St Moritz track in Switzerland, which is unique in that it is the only natural track, being fashioned out of the snow along the same historic course each year, whereas all other bobsleigh tracks are concrete structures, which have to be refrigerated along their length.
The St Moritz track is renowned for being fast, but it is also long, making it a real test of a driver's skill. It boasts some famous corners, such as Wall, Sunny and Horse-shoe, and has a kink called Nash-Dixon Corner that is named after the British duo Tony Nash and Robin Dixon (now Lord Robin Glentoran) who won the 2-Man Bobsleigh in the1964 Winter Olympics.
St Moritz is a popular winter resort, with horse racing, polo and golf being played on the frozen lake, in addition to the more conventional winter sports. As such, the Bobsleigh World Cup at St Moritz is very much a showcase event for the teams and this year it saw two 2-Man and two Women's races, to make up for the Cesana Round that was cancelled due to heavy snowfall (10 feet in 5 days!).
2-Man Bobsleigh Races 05 and 06
The Canadian pairing of Pierre Leuders / David Bissett won both the 2-Man bobsleigh races, with Beat Hefti / Thomas Lamparter of Switzerland coming 3rd in both races. Variety was provided only by Ivo Ruegg / Roman Hanschin of Switzerland who came 2nd in the first race and Andre Lange / Martin Putze of Germany who came 2nd in the second race.
Royal Marine Lee Johnston was again pushed by Dan Money and finished 20th in both races, consistently starting around the 5.60 second mark, which was only a tenth of a second or so off the winner's start times. The fastest start time was 5.29 seconds, which was recorded by the 3rd placed Beat Hefti / Thomas Lamparter.
4-Man Bobsleigh Race 05
The Russians Alexsandr Zubkov / Roman Oreshnikov / Dmitry Trunenkov / Dmitry Stepushkin won the 4-Man bobsleigh race with Thomas Florschutz / Marc Kuehne / Andreas Barucha / Alexander Metzger of Germany 2nd and Karl Angerer / Andreas Udvari / Thomas Poege / Gregor Bermback of Germany finishing 3rd.
The GB1 bobsleigh was crewed by Lee Johnston / Karl Johnston / Julien Hughes-John / Dan Money and finished in 15th place, picking up from 17th position after the first run courtesy of a 12th fastest second run. There were twenty five entries in total.
Women's Bobsleigh Races 05 and 06
The two Women's races went the same way, both being won by Sandra Kiriasis / Berit Wiacker of Germany, with Cathleen Martini / Janine Tischer of Germany finishing 2nd and GB1 driver Nicola Minichiello finishing 3rd in both races. However, in the first race, Nicola was pushed by Jackie Gunn (formerly Davies) and in the second race, Nicola was pushed by Gillian Cooke, so honours were shared around Team Minichiello in these great results.
For Jackie Gunn, this was her best result since finishing second with Nicola in the 2005 World Championships in Calgary and she was watched by her husband and Coach, Peter Gunn.
These two race results mean that Team Minichiello have now finished 2nd, 3rd and 3rd in their last three races, which is a great credit to the Team Coaches, 'Gomer' Lloyd and Peter Gunn.
Race Reports written by Mark Carter - Performance Coordinator
The St Moritz track is renowned for being fast, but it is also long, making it a real test of a driver's skill. It boasts some famous corners, such as Wall, Sunny and Horse-shoe, and has a kink called Nash-Dixon Corner that is named after the British duo Tony Nash and Robin Dixon (now Lord Robin Glentoran) who won the 2-Man Bobsleigh in the1964 Winter Olympics.
St Moritz is a popular winter resort, with horse racing, polo and golf being played on the frozen lake, in addition to the more conventional winter sports. As such, the Bobsleigh World Cup at St Moritz is very much a showcase event for the teams and this year it saw two 2-Man and two Women's races, to make up for the Cesana Round that was cancelled due to heavy snowfall (10 feet in 5 days!).
2-Man Bobsleigh Races 05 and 06
The Canadian pairing of Pierre Leuders / David Bissett won both the 2-Man bobsleigh races, with Beat Hefti / Thomas Lamparter of Switzerland coming 3rd in both races. Variety was provided only by Ivo Ruegg / Roman Hanschin of Switzerland who came 2nd in the first race and Andre Lange / Martin Putze of Germany who came 2nd in the second race.
Royal Marine Lee Johnston was again pushed by Dan Money and finished 20th in both races, consistently starting around the 5.60 second mark, which was only a tenth of a second or so off the winner's start times. The fastest start time was 5.29 seconds, which was recorded by the 3rd placed Beat Hefti / Thomas Lamparter.
4-Man Bobsleigh Race 05
The Russians Alexsandr Zubkov / Roman Oreshnikov / Dmitry Trunenkov / Dmitry Stepushkin won the 4-Man bobsleigh race with Thomas Florschutz / Marc Kuehne / Andreas Barucha / Alexander Metzger of Germany 2nd and Karl Angerer / Andreas Udvari / Thomas Poege / Gregor Bermback of Germany finishing 3rd.
The GB1 bobsleigh was crewed by Lee Johnston / Karl Johnston / Julien Hughes-John / Dan Money and finished in 15th place, picking up from 17th position after the first run courtesy of a 12th fastest second run. There were twenty five entries in total.
Women's Bobsleigh Races 05 and 06
The two Women's races went the same way, both being won by Sandra Kiriasis / Berit Wiacker of Germany, with Cathleen Martini / Janine Tischer of Germany finishing 2nd and GB1 driver Nicola Minichiello finishing 3rd in both races. However, in the first race, Nicola was pushed by Jackie Gunn (formerly Davies) and in the second race, Nicola was pushed by Gillian Cooke, so honours were shared around Team Minichiello in these great results.
For Jackie Gunn, this was her best result since finishing second with Nicola in the 2005 World Championships in Calgary and she was watched by her husband and Coach, Peter Gunn.
These two race results mean that Team Minichiello have now finished 2nd, 3rd and 3rd in their last three races, which is a great credit to the Team Coaches, 'Gomer' Lloyd and Peter Gunn.
Race Reports written by Mark Carter - Performance Coordinator