The Utopia corner with Jared Graves and Justin Leov
Tuesday, March 6th, 2007
Utopia Optics is pleased to announce the addition of rising world cup downhill star & former New Zealand downhill champion Justin Leov to the 2007 Utopia Optics mountain bike team.
Utopia Optics’ Jared Graves (Toowoomba), got a clear run this last weekend in the BMX UCI Oceania Round #7 in Canberra to win the most recent UCI Oceania Region Points Race.
Leov joins Utopia’s elite caliber of mountain bike racers & is projected to be a vital part of the team. Leov will be representing Utopia Optics donning the “Slayer†and NEW “Warrant†MX goggles at a variety of mountain bike events globally, including the Sea Otter Classic, World Cup series, Crankworx, select US events (Mountain State series & NORBA series), as well as the World Championships.
Utopia’s bike team manager, Jeremiah Dylan Dean states, “I’m extremely excited to have Justin Leov a part of our team! Justin’s excellent personal demeanor, as well as his stellar performances on the bike, is well known & a perfect match with Utopia Optics. I know Justin will represent the company to the fullest & I look forwards towards a great season working with him!“
The addition of Justin Leov to the Utopia mountain bike program attests to the fact that Utopia Optics is growing tremendously in the sport and is attracting the best riders in the world!
Jared Graves, the 24 year old used his early lead to stay out of trouble and win his second UCI race this year. Graves lead in the first straight and with a long track by BMX standards he managed to retain the lead from Billy Joliffe (Tamworth). Joliffe is coming back to form after being the highest placed Australian at the World Championships last year. Graves’ win now elevates him to the top of the Oceania Ranking with New Zealander, Matthew Cameron just one point behind. Second placed, Billy Joliffe now moves up in rankings into a close third just one point behind Cameron.
With an Australian National Title just last month at the Downhill Mountain Bike Championships in Canberra. Graves has turned his attention to BMX in an attempt to make the Australian World Championship team in BMX and then perhaps an Olympic berth in Beijing.
Riders line up next week in Papakura, New Zealand for the 8th UCI Oceania Round.
UCI Oceania Round #7 & Probikx National Series #7
Saturday, 4 March 2007 - Tuggeranong, Canberra - Australia
Elite Men
1 Jared Graves [UTOPIA]
2 Billy Jolliffe
3 Khalen Young
4 Daniel Johnstone
5 Jamie Gray
6 Wade Bootes
7 Alexander Cameron
8 Kamakazi
story & photo from BMXmania.com
