The DH World Champs are only a matter of days away now so it's office sweepstake time!
The baking heat and bone dry conditions in Oz have effected a lot of people's betting as has the difficult nature of the track. The Canberra track is flat-out pedally at the bottom with a lot of riders plumping for different machinery than their regular rides which has also been making life tricky at the bookmakers.
You can check out a more in depth look at the runners and riders in our World Champs preview feature in issue 242 on sale now. In the mean time though what are your predictions? Who do you fancy to take the win in the 'thunda down unda'?!
Here's how the MBUK betting slip shaped up;
Kim; Greg Minnaar (WC Ranking; 2nd) Ops Ed Kim gets in there straight away backing 'The Pietermaritzburg Express'.
Ric; Sam Hill (WC Ranking; 3rd) Ric reckons that 'the antipodean flyin' machine' has it in the bag this year. No-one is backing him after a relatively quiet season, no pressure = big results!
Jamer; Gee Atherton (WC Ranking; 1st) It's been a topsy-turvy year for Gee-man but Jamer fancies him to silence the doubters this weekend. Could a win here set him up for overall World Cup glory?
Danny; Fabian Barel (WC Ranking; 9th) A wily fox backing another wily fox, Editor Danny reckons Barel clearly has the speed and the lightest bike out there. Has already proven that he can still out-class a competitive field this year and has nothing to lose. Apart from his knee...
Carl; Steve Peat (WC Ranking; 4th) Northern boys stick together and office favourite Peaty has one helluva monkey to get off his back! Dr.Steve is adamantly sticking to his tried and tested Santa Cruz V10 too.
Rosee + Weaver; Mick Hannah (WC Ranking; 6th) 'Sick' Mick is the newly crowned Pump Track World Champion and has been on a flier all year. In the event of a Hannah win however, it may come down to a car-park based knife fight for the cash.
Collins Boy; Nathan Rennie (WC Ranking; 20th) The bet of a gambling mastermind or simply someone who wasn't in the office when the sweep was started? You decide...
Doddy + Ollie; Justin Leov (WC Ranking; 8th) The Kiwi has done a manful job of heading up Trek's World Cup squad this year and clearly has the legs to get the job done. He's got the tall people's vote but are we going to see a few aero tweaks come race day?
So go on then, who are you fancying to take the win? Leave us a comment below and let us know and why. Digital high-5's may well be exchanged...
Also, don't forget that you can follow all the thrills, spills, gossip and sneek peeks on our new spangly Twitter site. Pleasent.