Troy Lee Designs’ Cameron Zink Narrowly Misses Red Bull Rampage Win!

Legends of free-ride mountain biking and Team TLD stars; Brandon Semenuk, Cam Zink and Tom VanSteenbergen arrived in the southern Utah desert to compete in the 12^th running of the RedBull Rampage-the most watched mountain biking event on the planet, to sculpt their lines on the steep and treacherous terrain with hopes of Rampage gold! Cam Zink, the world record holder for the longest backflip and 2010 Rampage champion decided to start things off with a bang, by building the most death defying entrance into the belly of the beast with a 63° vertical drop, the steepest drop in Rampage history. This sent Cam into a massive canyon gap at over 40mph and onto the upper ridge that would send Cam into his biggest trick of the day-a massive flat drop backflip that stole the show. Finishing it up with another flat backflip, and even a 360 at the bottom. Zink immediately went into the lead with a 90.33 and stayed there for most of the day, until eventual winner Kurt Sorge just edged out Cam's score. Athletes get 2 runs at Rampage and Zink tried to outdo his score from run 1, he was yet again on track to take the win but on the last jump put an exclamation mark on his run with a front flip, but under rotated a bit and slid out-so he would keep his first run score and finish in 2^nd overall. “I did all I could, gave it my all, made some little mistakes and thought it was enough, but i'm happy and healthy, got my family here, sponsors, friends, and walking out of here healthy!” Cam rode Rampage in a new prototype jersey, an all new Skyline Long sleeve that will be available in early spring 2018, brand new fit, fabric and easy to wear on the trail-or hitting the big mountain lines like Cam! Watch his 2nd place run: Brandon Semenuk, last years champion and one of the few to have won the event 2 times, was not only fresh off his win at Crankworx Whistler, but also having some podium finishes in Rally car racing in Canada! Brandon also had an insane entry into the belly, that he built together with TLD team mate Tom Van Steenbergen. Their entry double-drop also was an elevator shaft that sent them into a high speed corner and soon after that is where Brandon set off a string of crazy tricks, a risky backflip onto a spine ridge which led to his biggest move, the 47’ step-up hip, pulling off a flat spin 360 with nac-nac variation thrown in! Brandon was on pace for a high scoring run, but he landed a little off his landing on his flat drop lilly pad jump and slid out in the corner, but was ok. Brandon had to hike back up to the top of the ridge quickly as he would go first on run 2-but of course stopped to sign the young fans tees and hats at the finish area before rushing back up. His 2^nd run was impressive, scoring 89.66, 4/10ths from a 3^rd place and rounding out the day in 4^th. Brandon was stoked with his riding and how the event went “It was awesome, great conditions, everyone got a solid run in, the overall vibe was great, i'd say it could be the best Rampage ever? Intern and Wyper worked so hard, made our line so sick too, I am really stoked on the day”. Tom Van Steenbergen the youngster from Kelowna, BC in already his 3^rd Rampage, was primed to get a good result as he came into the event injury free unlike his last Rampage. Tom’s first run was full of huge tricks, but a couple bobbles cost him some points, so he relied on his 2^nd run to improve his score. For run 2, Tom had the millions of TV viewers in disbelief when he was eyeing up his first drop, staring for minutes at it, then when he decided to drop in, he did a Ninja drop where you throw the bike away from you and jump down onto it, an incredibly risky way to start! But it looked amazing, he carried on the rest of his run to perfection and the judges only awarded him an 84.33 for 10^th place, which does prequalify him for the 2018 Rampage event. Tom was debuting the new Sprint Red Megaburst jersey that goes on sale next week-but strangely enough, wearing our new Skyline AIR shorts, meant for trail riding when it’s hot out “Yeah, I had a big crash this morning and tore my new red sprint shorts! I was bummed, but I had done all my pre runs in those skyline air shorts and they were awesome so I just ran those!” When asked about his run, Tom commented “yeah, Ninja drop, that one was really scary, probably the biggest one I’ve ever done, if you didn’t land you fall off a crazy cliff, glad to make it happen. I was a bit shocked on my score, but that’s how it goes. Pretty stoked on my run, how I rode, got surprised by my girlfriend coming all the way from Canada as well as my mom and dad here, but most importantly always stoked to leave here without being severely injured of course!” 2017 RedBull Rampage - Final Results 2. Cam Zink 4. Brandon Semenuk 10. Tom Van Steenbergen Peoples Choice Online voting 2. Cam Zink 3. Tom Van Steenbergen 4. Brandon Semenuk Link to rebroadcast https://www.redbull.tv/video/AP-1QG5HRGZN1W11 **Photos via Ian Collins