World champion downhiller Vanessa Quin is spending more time off two wheels than on them.
Quin crashed again in round six of the World Cup in Angel Fire, New Mexico, at the weekend, shunting her to fourth in the overall standings.
The crash came just two weeks after she came a cropper
in the downhill World Cup at Mont Saint Anne in Quebec. In Brazil a week ago she battled a chest infection to finish sixth in downhill.
Quin had qualified third for downhill in New Mexico.
"In my race I had a hiccup on a technical section, hitting a rock and going over the handlebars.
"I didn't hurt myself but lost a lot of time and think I ended up 12th. I was pretty frustrated as my qualifying time would have put me on podium for sure - but that's racing."
Quin picked herself up for fourcross - head-to-head racing rather than timed runs - and had a blast up against the best fourcross riders in the world.
"I had a battle in my round of eight with former world champion Katrina Miller, swapping for second and third position three times before she finally out-maneouvered me in a turn to go through to the final four."
Quin went on to win the consolation final to finish fifth. Queenstown's Scarlett Hagen continued to shine with a second place in New Mexico.
The 18-year-old finished four seconds ahead of English rider Tracy Mosley, who is second overall on the world series table.
After last week's fourth place in Brazil and her fifth in Canada two weeks ago, Hagen has now lifted her overall standing to sixth.
