Claire Buchar: Rhys Willemse Rider Profile

Claire Buchar: Rhys Willemse Rider Profile: "Rhys asked me to do him up a rider profile/proposal after his mum saw one of the ones I've made for Chris Kovarik. Rhys is super talented, h..."

2009 UCI DH World Championships - Mt Stromlo, Canberra, Australia

here is a vid I found from the 2009 world champs. I'm featured 1.30 min into the vid.

New Sponsors for Australian National Series!

Hi All,

I'm happy to announce that I'll be riding with new sponsors this Aussie season.

My new sponsors are:

Giant Bikes: I'm really looking forward to hitting the Aussie National series on a Giant.

For The Riders: Thanks to the guys at FTR for always looking after my bikes and for helping me with sponsors.

Shimano: really looking forward to riding with Shimano parts/brakes ect.

Fox Racing Shox: Can't wait to be back riding with Fox forks and shocks.

Tekin Suspension: Thanks to Tekin for looking after my suspension

Last but not least: Unit Clothing. Loving the Unit clothing.

I'll keep you all updated on my racing results this year. I've just got back from racing in Sydney. A full update of my results from the Sydney race will be in Revolution magazine next issue.

Cheers
Rhys

Long Overdue Update!

Hi All,

Well I've finally got some news to tell you...

Since arriving home, I've been recovering from my broken arm and that's all healed up well. Going into hospital on the 17th November to have the plates taken out of my arm. Leaving the plates in would mean more broken arms in the future, so its time to get them out.

I managed to pick up a couple of more sponsors. Unit are still my main sponsor here in Australia. I've also picked up a Pro Yamaha sponsorship (See photos above) and for the Australian National DH Series, I will be riding for Giant... Thanks to FTR for hooking me up with the deal...

I'm also happy to say that I will be heading back overseas again next year to race the world cups... I can't say who I'm riding for yet as I have to wait for the press release, but considering how shit my year was with injuries, you can't believe how happy I am to be given another chance...

Will update when I know more.

Cheers
Rhys

Bad News! I'm coming home.

Hi All,

Just had the worst news confirmed.

The crash on Sunday caused my arm that had been broken to fracture again. When I went for a x ray 2 days ago, the x ray didn't show a hairline fracture. So I went riding yesterday and felt something go pop. I went back to the hospital tonight and had another x ray. This time is showed the break. The break is from the last screw of the plate they put in 10 weeks ago, and it goes up my arm to my elbow.

Looks like I'll be coming home. If I'm out for 6 weeks, then it's not worth staying here because I will miss 2 world cups.

This just tops off a season I would rather forget. I am devastated to say the least.

This has made me more determined to come back next year with a whole new focus on achieving my goals. I will train hard through this off season and make up for a terrible 2010.

I would personally like to thank Tomaso from Ancillotti racing. I feel like I have let you down. You have been great to me all through these hard times and for that I thank you.

Cheers
Rhys

Italian Cup Round 3

Hi All,

So the past weekend saw the third round of the Italian Cup series at Campo Felice near to L'Aquila the Italian city that was ravaged last year by a huge earthquake.

George and I made the trip to Rome and met up with another team mate Francesco Petrucci. We set up our team tent and all was going well until a helicopter decided to land in the car park. I saw our tent flying in the air while coming down the track from practice. Nothing worse than having to phone your team manager and tell him the tent is stuffed. Tomaso took the news well, but I hope it doesn't cost Tomaso alot to fix.

I wasn't overly excited with this track, but riding it was different and after the first few runs I was into it ,some bits could of been better but it was really loose due to all the rocks which made it pretty fun.

Qualifying went well and I ended up in 2nd place after Shaun O'Conner. I was feeling happy with that result. With all the bad luck I've been having this year, it was good to qualify 2nd, when you had riders like Shaun, Wyn and Matt Scoles, plus the 100 or so Italian riders.

Final day came around and for once this season, I was feeling confident. I took off from the start gate and all was going well, until I came into the forest section, my wheel hit one of those loose rocks and sent me flying into a tree. The first thing I felt was pain in my arm that had just recovered from a break. I picked myself up, jumped back on my bike and came across the line in 6th place. Still not a bad result considering I crashed.

The pain in my arm was bad and i knew something was wrong. More about that in a sec. here is a great photo of me during practice.

Here are some videos. The first one is a helmet cam of me riding the track. One video is from the racing and one is from Wyn Masters. All great videos to watch.



Two of the videos can be seen at this link: http://www.dhdvideomag.tv/

Italian National cup round 2

Hi All,

I'm currently practicing for the Italian National cup here in Italy this weekend. Here is a video of practice.

Cheers
Rhys

Junior Sportsman of the year awards

before I left to go overseas, I was nominated for a Sports Star of the year awards. My parents went to the formal awards night last Saturday night. I'm happy to say that I won and I am now the junior sports star of the year. This is the second year in a row, So I'm stoked.

Cheers
Rhys

The photo is mum accepting my award.

Leogang Qualifying

Hi All,

Qualifying didn't go so well this weekend. I noticed everyone was crashing in practice. It had been raining hard for most of the weekend, and the track was muddy and slushy. So I decided I would take it easy in qualifying. I thought whoever can make it down the hill without crashing, would finish in the top 80 and qualify. I made it down alright without crashing but I made a big mistake. I didn't go hard enough and I ended up in 86th spot. Not going to make that mistake again.

I didn't have any problems with my arm all week. It looks like its healed up nicely. One thing I did notice is that my arm is still a bit weak, so I'll be building it back up before the next world cup in 4 weeks time. My fitness was also suffering a bit, plus riding in the mud made me realise that alot quicker.

So my plan now is to put in the training and work on building up my arm... Can't wait for the next world cup.

Cheers
Rhys

Heres a pic of be before qualifying. I only wish I had a moto to ride in that mud.

Leogang Track Walk!

Hi All,

Here are some pics from the track walk today.

I'm the one wearing the Unit clothing and blue Unit hat..

Cheers
Rhys

Leogang World Cup

Hi All,

Just got the good news that my broken arm is now fixed and I'm looking forward to racing my first world cup in Leogang, Austria next weekend.

I've been out of action now for 6 weeks, with only being able to ride some cross country and a stationary bike for training. It felt so good to get back on my mountain bike on Monday and ride a real downhill track again. On Friday my team mate George and I headed up to Leogang to spend a week training on the world cup track. I'm hoping to know this track inside out by the time the world cup teams turn up in the next 5 days.

The pressure has been put on me for this race, as I've just found out that I need to produce a top ten result if I want to make the Australian team this year. If I don't make the team, this will be the first time in 2 years that I haven't represented Australia at the World Championships. After breaking my femur 6 months ago and now my arm, its going to be a big ask, but I love a challenge, and this could be just what I needed to push all the limits to achieve my goal of riding for Australia again.

To help me try to achieve my goal, Ancillotti racing team have built me a new frame pacifically for this world cup in Leogang. Its a longer lighter frame which will help me go faster on a track like Leogang. The track is fast and technical and the longer frame will hold the speed needed to get down the course in the quickest time. Here is a pic of me holding my new frame.

Update:

Hi All,

Well all is good. I started riding again on Monday. My arm feels good and no pain whatsoever.

George and I will be driving up to Leogang (Austria) on friday. We will stay there for 7 days practicing on the world cup track. I have one race to get it right to make the Australian team for this years world champs in Canada.

Its all or nothing at the Leogang world cup in 2 weeks from now.

Will update after qualifying in 2 weeks from now.

Cheers
Rhys

Another Injury Update!

Hi All,

Well I'm here in Fort William, Scotland with my team.

Unfortunately, I will be watching from the sidelines. I went to the doc after Maribor and xray's showed that I needed another 20 days for my arm to heal. The 20 days are up on the day of the finals here in Fort William. I chose not to risk it, and will wait until Leogang to make a come back. This will give me two weeks of training once we get back to Italy.

Just to add some more pressure, I have to get a top 10 in Leogang if I want to make the Australian Team this year. I missed the cut back home in Australia this season, because I was out with a broken femur. Thanks to the broken arm, I now have to give everything I've got in Leogang. It's hard to make the Australian team because we have so many talented riders. I believe that if I can pull off a result like I did in Maribor (13th) last year, then I can be in with a chance. My fitness may let me down but I've always enjoyed a challenge. So bring it on!!!!!!!

Cheers
Rhys

Injury Update!

All is going well with my broken arm.
I got the cast off last week and 30 something stables taken out.
The news so far is that I should be right to ride again 3 days AFTER Maribor world cup. Still sucks that I'm going to miss Maribor but at least I will be right for Fort William.

Cheers
Rhys

Bad News: Won't be racing Maribor world cup.

Hi All,

Yep, got some more bad news. As if breaking my femur and hand 7 months ago wasn't enough, I've now broken my arm.

I had been in Italy for 6 days when we were doing some test runs on our Ancillotti bikes. Just got to the last run of the day when I was near the bottom of the hill, coming around a berm, my arse end slid out and down I went. As I put my arm up to get back up and on the bike, my team mate came around the berm and accidentally run over my arm.

The end result was two broken bones just above the wrist. I spent 3 days in hospital having surgery to pin my arm back together. Tomaso Ancillotti made sure he got me the best surgeon in Florance. The surgeon did a great job but the scariest thing was being awake while they screwed my arm bad together. I did manage to sleep through 3/4 of the operation though...lol

The good news is I will only be out for 4 weeks. The bad news is that I will miss Maribor, and I've been looking forward to this race since finishing 13th there last year.

I've had my fair share of bad luck over the last 7 months, and now its time for me to go through another 2 years without another injury. *fingers, arms, legs crossed*

Here is a pic of me in a cast. The Italians are really looking after me by giving me a manicure....lol

Team Ancillotti in Italy

Here is a photo of George and I in our new racing gear.

Leaving for Europe Today!

Hi All,

I'm 3 hours away from leaving on a jet plane. My bags are packed and I'm ready to go.

Its been a tough 6 months since returning home from Europe late last year. Breaking my femur/hand/finger in October, didn't help my training preparations much before Christmas. I finished 6th in the Australian Champs in January, and that wasn't too bad considering it was my first race in a while.

So now I'm off to Italy to start training for the world cup season.. I'm hungrier than ever to get a good result at Maribor. I finished 12th there last year, so hoping for a top ten result this year. I'm really looking forward to racing on the world cup tracks this year. They are all challenging and technical tracks and that suits me just fine.

I will keep you all updated on my results and hopefully Mum will track down photo's of me from each race and I will add them to my write ups.

Thanks must go to my sponsors, Ancillotti Racing team, Unit Clothing and FTR.

Goodbye everyone and keep your fingers crossed for me to have a top season.

Cheers
Rhys


Cheers
Rhys

Oceania Finals

Hi All,

What a day! I seeded 5th this morning and was feeling really good. The track was nice and technical and I took it easy during my final run, so I would have heaps in the tank for the finals.

The Finals: My run was perfect. I didn't make any mistakes except the fact that it all went too smoothly. I didn't push it hard enough and ended up 6th. I was hoping for a top 5, so a 6th is ok. Next race I will be pushing it alot harder.

Here are the results:

ELITE MEN
PL NAME SURNAME # FROM COUNTRY TIME GAP OVERALL PL- SEEDING
1 Cameron Cole 76 Christchurch New Zealand 2:39.15 +0:00.00 1 1- 2:43.36
2 Nathan Rankin 17 Levin New Zealand 2:41.03 +0:01.88 2 3- 2:47.85
3 Wyn Masters 2 New Plymouth New Zealand 2:45.01 +0:05.87 3 2- 2:46.97
4 Kieran Bennett 5 Nelson New Zealand 2:45.60 +0:06.45 4 12- 2:57.24
5 Matt Walker 20 Kawerau New Zealand 2:46.59 +0:07.44 6 5- 2:50.60
6 Rhys Willemse 21 Brisbane Australia 2:47.17 +0:08.02 7 6- 2:50.87
7 Glenn Haden 77 Wanganui New Zealand 2:47.52 +0:08.37 8 27- 6:42.50
8 Matt Scoles 19 Alexandra New Zealand 2:48.11 +0:08.96 9 10- 2:56.59
9 Richard Leacock 75 Wellington New Zealand 2:48.17 +0:09.02 10 7- 2:51.19
10 Martin Frei 73 Switzerland Switzerland 2:49.67 +0:10.52 14 8- 2:53.96
11 Reuben Miller 15 Nelson New Zealand 2:51.44 +0:12.30 17 14- 2:57.37
12 Hayden McGregor 74 Tauranga New Zealand 2:52.35 +0:13.20 21 15- 2:57.69
13 Freddie King 56 Christchurch New Zealand 2:53.13 +0:13.98 24 11- 2:56.93
14 Dan Sims 16 Auckland New Zealand 2:54.61 +0:15.47 27 16- 3:00.12
15 Lindsay Klein 12 Brisbane Australia 2:54.66 +0:15.51 28 18- 3:00.75
16 Laurie Dinham 8 Adelaide Australia 2:58.05 +0:18.90 39 19- 3:01.92
17 Michael Manning 14 Gold Coast Australia 2:58.71 +0:19.56 43 17- 3:00.53
18 Simon French 10 Howrah Australia 2:59.12 +0:19.97 47 13- 2:57.26
19 James Rennie 18 Christchurch New Zealand 2:59.24 +0:20.09 48 25- 3:24.26
20 Edo Franco 9 Saint Christophe Italy 3:01.88 +0:22.73 53 21- 3:05.15
21 Chris Barlin 3 Sydney Australia 3:01.91 +0:22.76 54 22- 3:05.32
22 Benjamin Ayling 78 Queensland Australia 3:06.42 +0:27.27 60 20- 3:02.12
23 Eymeric Blay 6 Papeete French Polynesia 3:20.66 +0:41.51 91 26- 3:25.69
24 Aari Barrett 4 Hastings New Zealand 3:33.95 +0:54.80 106 9- 2:54.34
25 Hayden Lester 13 Brisbane Australia 3:51.80 +1:12.65 118 24- 3:08.62
DNF Justin Leov 1 Dunedin New Zealand DNF 4- 2:47.87
DNS Kaine Cannan 7 Hobart Australia DNS DNS
DNS Ryan Hunt 11 Sydney Australia DNS 23-

My Ancillotti team mate George Brannigan, took the win in the under 19's. Well done mate!

2010 Oceania Championships

Hi All,

I'm currently in Dunedin, New Zealand for the 2010 Oceania Champs. Seeding and Racing is tomorrow and looking forward to giving it my best shot. The track has been great and I'm enjoying riding a more technical track again.

I finally caught up with my Ancillotti team mate George Brannigan, and we are both really looking forward to racing the world cups this year.

Here are some photo's of me and George and me riding the track.

Will let you know how things go tomorrow.

Cheers
Rhys

Thredbo National Round Qualifying

Hi All,

I'm here at Thredbo about to take on Australia's best in the final tomorrow.

All I can say is " IT'S WET WET WET". We've had so much rain over the last 3 days that the track is just a mush pit. There are rumors that they might call off the race if it continues to rain like this overnight. I am not enjoying riding in the mud. I usually love racing in the rain but this is hard work on a 8 min track. I've been really working hard on my fitness lately, and I would say that my fitness is really good right now, but its a real struggle when your trying to pedal through so much mud.

I also broke my clip in pedal today, so I raced the qualifying run with flats. I managed to borrow a pedal for the finals tomorrow from Troy Brosnan. Thanks Troy!

So tonight I'll have a good sleep and wake up ready to lift my game for the finals. I qualified 9th but I had a small crash after making a silly mistake down the bottom of the track. To make things worse, I had to then push the bike uphill and roll to the finishing line. So as you can see from the qualifying top ten, my time wasn't real good.

Bring on Tomorrow!!!

Here are the top ten results:

Downhill, Thredbo
Elite Male
1 7 Joshua Button 7:08.30
2 4 Chris Kovarik 7:08.61
3 1 Amiel Cavalier 7:13.69
4 72 Ben Cory 7:19.21
5 15 Shaun O'Connor 7:24.88
6 19 Rick Boyer 7:31.49
7 16 Rhys Atkinson 7:34.95
8 67 Deon Baker 7:45.62
9 10 Rhys Willemse 7:47.98
10 8 Bryn Atkinson 7:50.06

Australia Champs Video

Here is a really short vid of me racing at the Australian champs. Thanks to Mitch Pierias for putting this vid together for me.

Rhys Willemse from Mitchell Pierias on Vimeo.

2010 AUSTRALIAN CHAMPIONSHIPS

Hi All,

Just got back from racing the Australian Championships in Adelaide. Wow what a week!

A few days before leaving for Adelaide, I had a sore hand. I have just started riding again since breaking my femur and finger 3 months ago. Well it looks like I have broken my hand 3 months ago as well, and it hasn't healed. So I'm going to see the specialist on Thursday to organise an Operation to take a couple of floating bones out of my hand. I shouldn't be out of action for long, maybe a week or two. A broken hand wasn't going to stop me from racing the Australian Championships.

So the racing was great. I was up against world champion Sam Hill and Unit's own Chris Kovarik. My qualifying run went well with only a couple of little mistakes. I placed 5th with Sam Hill 1st and Chris 2nd.

My final run didn't go as planned. I made way to many mistakes thanks to the slippery gravel track. Sam Hill crashed out to take 5th. Chris finished 1st and I placed 7th. Still I'm not disappointment with my result. Its been a long 3 months after breaking my femur and I've had my new Ancillotti bike for only 2 weeks. Also, I was only just over 3 secs off Chris Kovarik's winning time, so I have alot to be happy about for the future.

Here are the top ten results.

Elite men – downhill
1. Chris Kovarik 1:56.03
2. Shaun O’Connor 1:57.52
3. Joshua Button 1:57.58
4. Kaine Cannan 1:58.50
5. Sam Hill 1:59.25
6. Amiel Cavalier 1:59.65
7. Rhys Willemse 1:59.82
8. Mitchell Delfs 2:00.07
9. Rhys Atkinson 2:00.40
10. William Rischbieth 2:00.51

Cheers
Rhys

My New Ride!

Hi All,

I'm happy to say that I will now be riding for Ancillotti Racing team for the 2010 world cup season.

Here are some photo's of my new bike and race clothing.

Cheers
Rhys