News

In the 2004 Subaru National Mountain Bike Series, in the final results Justin is SECOND overall! Moving up from third in the 2003 Series.

World Championships Lugano, Switzerland: Justin's position: 26th overall: 4 mins 58 secs.
(just under 21 secs behind the winner!)

You can see our latest race reports on our travels in Europe and how we are getting on in the International Races.

Thanks to all the help from my parents and sponsors I am able to compete in the following International Races:

Fort William, Scotland 31 May – 1 June
(World Cup Race)
Alp D’Huez, France 7 – 8 June (World Cup Race)
Engadein Cup, Switzerland 22 June
Spain 18 July
France 27 July
Switzerland 24 August
Switzerland 31 August
Switzerland 7 September (World Championships)
Kaprun, Austria 13-14 September
(World Cup Race)

For the World Cup Series there are six races in total but I will only be competing in three as the other races are in North America and my funds do not stretch that far unfortunately.

Newspaper Articles

Article
Marlborough Express 28 Jan 2004
- Leov Twice on Oceania Podium

Article
Marlborough Express 18 Nov 2003
- Justin Wins Sportsperson of the Year

Article
Marlborough Express 9 Oct2003

Article
Marlborough Express 25 Sept 2003

Press Release
Mountain Bike NZ 24 Sept 2003

Article
Marlborough Express Sept 2003

Mountain Bike NZ 11 Sept 2003

Article
Marlborough Express 27 Aug 2003

Press Release
Mountain Bike NZ 19 Aug 2003

Article
Marlborough Express 5 Aug 2003

Press Release
Mountain Bike NZ 4 Aug 2003

Article
Marlborough Express 11 June 2003

Article
Marlborough Express 3 July 2003
Written by John Alexander

News from Justin

Saturday 28 February 2004
Hey Everyone,
Had the final round of nationals today and it was the muddiest and hardest race i've ever done! The track was really fun to ride in the dry but today in the wet was like riding on ice! I ended up 3rd today which was ok and 2nd in the series so i'm happy and going to party tonight!
Hope everyone is well, and big thanks to all the people who support me!!!!

Monday 23 February 2004
Hey
Just got back from Nelson last night. Had the 3rd round of the 2004 National series at Sharlands Creek in Nelson. I had a pretty good race , finishing 2nd to Nathan Rankin by .2 of a second. Another close race! The track was really rocky and fast. You had to really concentrate the whole way down. I'm back in the HiAce and heading down to Queenstown today. I've heard the track in Queenstown is all rocks too. Next race is this coming Wednesday, hot!

15 September 2003
Raced yesterday in the final of the world cup in Kaprun. The weather was just the same as the last 3 days before, cold and raining! The track was really difficult to ride without crashing. I crashed in my qualifing run and just made the cut 75th. Only top 80 go through to the final. I crashed a couple of times in my race run which lost me a bit of time but still was happy to improve on my qualifing run to finish 42nd. We are off to the final of the Swiss cup this weekend and I am really looking forward to a break from racing and being back in New Zealand.

10 September 2003
Have not had a chance to email lately, its been pretty busy these last weeks. Have had 2 races at the Maxxis cup where it was just mud all weekend and I crashed on the last corner to finish 17th. The world champs was last weekend at Lugano. The course was mental with just rocks every where. After seeding in 43rd I was a little unhappy with how I was dealing with the course , I ended up finishing 26th which I am pretty happy with, I had some moments in my run but I didnt crash so yeah. We are at Kaprun, Austria now got the final world cup this weekend so should be cool.

August 31st
The Giant DH team competed in the final Maxxis Cup Race at Zweisimmen, Switzerland. It rained all weekend and the track was very slippery. Justin came 17th and Tim was 45th in a field that will be similar to the World Champs this weekend, September 6th
and 7th.

Justin, Round Six, Swiss National Series
Been racing at Crans-Montata at the 6th round of the Ixs cup. It was the coolest track ever with really fast grass, bermed switch backs, rocky chutes, off camber corners , 3 wooden ramped jumps and fast root sections pretty much top gear off the start. I had a mint weekend with winning the Elites grade. Been on a good buzz and feeling good for the world champs in 2 weeks. Really enjoying the Swiss races , the people are really friendly and always help you out if you break stuff. Racing at Zwiessemen this weekend for the Maxxis Cup , should be hot.

Justin 17 –18 August
Just got back to Morzine we raced in the weekend at Bouttes in Switzerland at the 5th round of the Ixs cup. The track was really fast and mostly gravelly corners with a top gear grass sprint at the finish. It was pretty cool to race, a lot of the time it felt you were on the edge of crashing! I finished 3rd which I was happy with, the first 3 of us all were on the same second! Such very close racing. The next round is this weekend the course is meant to be all grass so that will be fun.

Justin 7 August 2003
Raced in the weekend at Scuol in Switzerland. Was about an 8 hour drive from Morzine and was pretty cool mountains around that area to drive through. The track was pretty dusty and hard to race. The first run i was sitting in 3rd , but slipped to 5th in the final run. I wasnt really riding good in the top section but pulled it together for the last section , which ended with about a 30 foot double which you could go as big as you wanted! Meet some Kiwi dudes in Scuol who work as rafting guides so they helped us out with meals and a few beers! Was a good weekend. Rest weekend this weekend so just hanging out in Morzine. Hope winter's not to bad over there , it was about 39 deg driving back to Morzine on Monday and its about that today to!

Justin 24 July 2003
Hey every one, I had a pretty good weekend. We raced at Les Croset in Switzerland which we could access from catching two chair lifts from Morzine! Saturday we found out there was a 4 cross race not far from where we were racing so we went along. Was the tightest gravelly 4 cross track I've seen and only decided to race 10 mins before the start. I was on my downhill bike so I thought there wasn't a lot of point, but as it turned out Ii ended up 3rd!! The final was crazy, more like a rugby game! We ended up having to get Jason to tow us home back to Morzine at 11pm at night behind his Gas gas 250, was an interesting exprience! Sunday was a good day too, dry dusty track. Not really any pedaling just beams and fast turns, average speed ws about 56 km hour! I finished 2nd overall just 1 second down so Ii'm happy. Made a bit of cash to so that's always good. I think there's a Swiss national this weekend so we may go there, I'll be in touch.
Justin

Justin 16 July 2003
Hey, Raced in Les Arcs France in the weekend.
The weather was the hottest its been and the track was so dusty. 300 riders made it tough to see in practice but was good to see those numbers.

All the Kiwis were on the pace , Glenn put in a mint fast seeding run but flated in his race gutted! Tim rode a 5:14.86 and I rode a 5:14.85 so it was so close!!! I finished in 4th and Tim 5th. Jason rode good to with a 5th in masters. All in all a mint weekend. Justin

Justin8 July 2003
Hey, Just got back to Mozine again, we have been racing the third round of the IXS Cup in Morgins, Switzerland. The track was really pedally , pretty much a time trial down the bottom. The pace was pretty fast also, a lot of people where riding fast. The Kiwis all went alright, Tim 20th, Glenn 4th, Jason 5th in Masters and I got 3rd. Pretty cool weekend really. Were all feeling confident with our riding, should be a good race this weekend coming. Hope all is well back in NZ, Justin

Swiss Cup Race - St Luc Switzerland
Three Kiwis in the top ten -
Justin Leov took a win with Glen Haden 4th, Tim Mackersy 8th.

Again the course was long (4 minutes) with lots of track variation. There were 110 starters. Jason Marsh took out the Masters Class.

Back at Morzine for the week then another Swiss Cup race next weekend. Still incredibly hot at 35 degrees most days.

Justin 30 June 2003
Hey, Have just got back from the Ixs Swiss Cup in St Luc Switzerland. It was an awesome weekend! The transport to the top was a train which could fit about 50 people and bikes in. The track was brand new just been built, lots of grass off camber and they had wooden road step downs which were different.

Seeding run was on Saturday and all the Kiwi Boys did alright, Jason 6th in
Masters, Glenn Hayden 3rd in Elite, Tim 8th and me 2nd. We had two race
runs on Sunday we all went ok on our first run, I put down a smooth run
down in my first run but still was a second off the leader, Second run was
that much better and I ended up beating his time by 3seconds to take the
overall win and 200 Swiss Francs, I'm pretty happy was a great race! Glenn
was also stoked he finished 4th and won best crash (from his first run) Tim
crashed in his last run but finished 8th so he is also happy. Jason finished
6th in Masters so all the boys got top 10 !

Next weekend we have round 3 of the IXS cup so we are all hungry for it!

Justin 16 June 2003
Have just got back from the Maxxis Cup in Todtnau Germany. It was really cool , weather was in the 30 -40 deg range and there were loads of people there. The track was really technical with lots of roots and loose corners. The race felt ok I found a couple of sections hard in the heat , a long flat piece in the middle and an up hill short sprint at the end. It was a killer! I finished 18th and Tim finished 60th. We are back in Morzine now its really hot here to. Im looking forward to less travelling for these next few racers. Not sure where we going this weekend but I will keep in touch.

Justin 4 June 2003
At the British National Round at A E Forest Dumfries and Galloway Justin and Tim finished 28th and 50th in pro-elite – It rained continuously so it was hardly pleasant. There were nine seconds between them and Justin was just 12 seconds off the winner.

World Cup Round One at Fort William was rain free but a really rough track with lots of brake bumps. ( Both are concerned with these rough conditions as they are very hard on the gear.) This time Justin came 41st (after qualifying in 42nd place) and Tim 84th. There was only 12 seconds between them but this equated to 43 competitors! Tim’s result was from qualifying as only the top 80 run the final. Tim missed this by less than two seconds!

Justin 21 May 2003

World Cup Round Two - Alp D'Huez. The long drive to the South of France for next World Cup race, near Grenoble – Alp D’ Huez, did not adversely affect the performances of Tim and Justin they both had great results - from Justin direct:

"I have some great news, had the second round of the world cup and I finished 9th!! I'm pretty stoked! Track was the fastest I've ever riden. And the most people, over 200 elite men! Hot and sunny weather and the track had big wide open grass turns and heaps of rocks. Made about 450 NZ dollars so I can eat this week. Met up with the Spy and the Maxxis dudes they are cool. Tim said he was happy with his riding, he finished 96th but wasn't far behind so he's improving. Any ways we're off to Morzine tomorrow to a flat that Jason Marsh has organised for us as a base for the rest of the tour. We have Germany next weekend for the Maxxis Cup , I'll be in touch."

This is a fantastic result for Justin with such tight, tough competition. Justin's 9th in the final came after a 63rd in qualifying . Tim was 96th in qualifying which was only three seconds down on Justin and missed the top 80 shoot out by only 1.5 seconds.