Bergesons back on the attack at Red Bull Crashed Ice

ST. PAUL – Red Bull Crashed Ice is back at the Cathedral of Saint Paul and Red Wing brothers Andrew and Danny Bergeson are keeping with the competition.

Both brothers qualified for the finals Saturday after competing Thursday and Friday.

Danny moved on to final day after placing 31st during the time trials, with the top 32 getting an automatic bid. Andrew, on the other hand, was forced to compete in the elimination round of 64, coming in first place in his heat, after taking 35th in the time trials.

“I did fine, made it easily through,” Andrew said of racing in the elimination round. “But it was nerve-racking. It makes for a tenser day.”

Once both brothers moved onto the finals, they could focus on the Team Challenge Friday night.

The Team Challenge is a new addition to the ice cross downhill world championships this year but it consists of the skaters choosing teams of three amongst themselves and completing a time trial, with the top 16 teams moving to the elimination rounds. The Bergesons joined with Cameron Naasz, of Lakeville, to form Team Zubz, complete with bright green-colored Zubaz.

“We had all three guys as a factor,” Danny said. “We didn’t have a great time trial unfortunately, but I think we were really confident going into because we knew if one guys went down we had two strong riders right there.”

Team Zubz finished ninth in its opening time trial run and made it to the quarterfinals before getting knocked out of the competition by the eventual Team Challenge winners, Living The Dream. Canadians Scott Croxall, Adam Horst and Travis Nagata comprised Living The Dream.

“We were the low seed in both of our races,” Danny said, “but we had a pretty good team strategy going on. … Unfortunately my brother fell right away and it messed up our strategy and against a good team like that you’re not afforded any mistakes.”

Andrew and Danny will have to regroup quickly before the final rounds of the 2013 Red Bull Crashed Ice St. Paul tonight from 7-9 p.m.

“We’re just going to take it easy tonight and we get practice tomorrow morning to work out the kinks and try out a few new things,” Danny said. “This morning our time on the track before the time trials was really short. … But (the Team Challenge) was great practice tonight.”

The goal for Saturday night remains the same for the Bergesons: win Crashed Ice St. Paul.

“People want to win,” Danny said. “We all want to be No. 1 at the end of the night and we’re going to do whatever it takes to get there.”

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