Moto Direct Cycle Division’s racing team set to go for 2012 headlined by Gunnar Gronlund
One thing that has become apparent in recent years is the ultra-high level of fitness required to ride at the top level of motorcycle sport. The fitness regime of professional racers equals that of any other professional athlete.
Gunnar Gronlund winning the Hillclimb championship for RST Clothing/Trigon Bikes
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The Moto Direct Cycle Division started with RST cycle clothing; designed and developed with the same D.N.A. that has made it’s motorcycle clothing range the UK’s number one. Using the highest quality Italian fabrics, Czech specialist manufacturers and RST’s ethos of designing the highest performance, best fitting and best value products possible the RST cycle clothing range is already starting to make waves in the cycle clothing world.
Virtually the entire RST development team ride motorbikes, but we also all ride cycles. RST designer Chris Walker is an ex professional cyclist (he won the Milk Race Tour of Britain in 1991), Sales Director Jonny Towers was an Elite racing cyclist and Cycle Division manager Gareth Hewitt was an Elite cyclist who spent time racing in Italy, so as you can imagine this small development team knew what was required to take RST Cycle apparel to the same level as our Moto clothing.
We’ve been fortunate enough to have a World Champion (Andrew Pitt – WSS) wearing RST on the motorsport side now our next goal is to have a world champion in our cycle apparel.
Whilst developing the clothing range the RST development team were keeping an eye open for a cycle manufacturer that had the same “RST philosophy†, the first time the team rode a Trigon they knew they had found that manufacturer that produces technically advanced full carbon bikes. The distribution of Trigon bikes alongside RST cycle clothing was a natural choice.
The list of motorcycle riders already using RST cycle clothing and Trigon cycles is impressive, ranging from British superbikes to Moto Gp all providing great feedback on the products. Add to this the newly launched RST racing team it’s no surprise to see the Moto Direct Cycle Division with RST and Trigon making an impact in the cycling world when you consider the strength of the design and development team.
Cycle Division Launches RST Racing Teams
The RST racing Team for 2012 features two key aspects, the youth squad which is developing some great talent across lots of disciplines with the likes of Abby Mae Parkinson landing a National Cyclo Cross championship along with her bronze at the U14 National circuit race champs. Grace Garner also took an impressive Bronze behind Abby at the Cross champs. On the road Joey Walker earned a bronze medal at the U14 National Circuit race champs in 2011 and Gabz Cullaigh has started 2012 with a bang by being invited to join the British Cycling Talent Team with some great track performances.
The biggest addition to the 2012 RST racing team has been the announcement of the Elite Senior team comprising some young exciting talent.
We have retained the service of 2011 National Hill climb champion Gunnar Gronlund who is aiming to turn his Hill climb champs performance into wins and high end results on the road and the Rudy project TT series, Gunnar’s aims are to move up to the professional ranks and has been training hard in Sweden over the winter.
Supporting Gunnar and aiming to develop further is Dan Storey 22 who had a solid first full season on the road in 2011 and a taste of mixing it with the big boys with a fine 7th place in National A ranked crit at York in 2011.
We have also recruited Tom Stewart 22 from Doncaster who coming from a Mountain bike background has a good engine which he hopes to put to good use in his first full road season, Tom has been seen getting stuck in and impressing the numerous hitters on the Rotherham Saturday chain gang in the last 12 months.
Our final rider is Matt Sumpton who at 19 is fresh out of the Juniors and with a National XC Mountain Bike championship to his credit and 12thplace finish at the Europeans.
Matt’s aims and ambitions for 2012 with RST are to make a successful transition to the road and build upon his obvious talent and transfer his results to the senior category.
The RST racing team will be going into battle suitably attired in the full range of RST cycle apparel and aboard their Trigon RQC29 and TTQC29 models. The team will also benefit from the vast experience in house from ex Milk race winner and top pro of the 90’s Chris Walker along with other backroom staff such as Dave Coulson who will be team manager, who’s knowledge of the Elite bike racing scene spans 15 years.
Finally supporting and along for the ride are a growing number of Club riders and motorbike stars, some who race and some who just like riding.
www.rstracingteam.com
www.cycledivision.co.uk
