So last weekend we spent racing at Abetone, which is around half an hour from our base in Doganaccia which was cool as we didnt have any long drives to get there and could stay at our place at night.
The track in Abetone was pretty good and has an awesome first section nice and fast and open, and then it goes in to the trees where its a bit more technical has a few rocks and roots that catch you out sometimes. Me and Team mate Brook got some riding done there on the thursday before to check out the track and see what it was like, I enjoyed most of the track but struggled a bit on some of the really tight turns near the bottom.
We had a great turn out of Kiwi's representing, with myself and Brook, Matt Scoles, Nathan Rankin, and Junior Cam Johnson. So you could say it was kind of like an NZ race which was sick. Practice day was cool got a few runs done in the morning in the dry..but then as we were in Europe in came the rain for the afternoon, and turned the track in to a mess, the rocks and roots came super slippery on the spike tires but it was fun to ride I got a couple of runs done in the wet and was stoked on it.
Then on race day it was a perfect sunny day and started drying up a bit, which actually made it harder to ride as the ground got slicker, and it was also a struggle to get a full run in as other riders were just stopped everywhere on the track, they don't pull off to the side of the track over here just stop in the middle. So after one terrible practice run I was heading up for my qualifying run.
My qualifying run was a bit of a shocker, I slid out on a flat rock in the second corner and it sent me of the bike which wasn't the best start to the run, the rest of the way i tried to just keep it smooth and stay rubber side down. I was surprised that i had qualified in 3rd behind Nathan Rankin with my team mate Brook in the number 1 spot. So after qualifying the track started drying up a bit more, and we all went off the spikes we ran for qualifying and on to dry tires. Not something that i like doing as you kind of don't know what to expect or how much grip you would have.
So race run I started well made sure I got through that 2nd turn and rode the top section real good, then in to the trees where the ground was dry but all the rocks and roots were still slick as, I felt like i was swapping all over the place and in some sections just couldn't keep a straight line and was making a few extra uncontrolled turns but it was pretty fun, just had to hang on to it. I got to the bottom put a few pedals in to the finish and I did 3 53 and went in to first with two riders to go Nathan came down and I just beat him, after him was Brook who loves it in the wet, and he smoked us all with an awesome time of 3 47 nice work!
Young Cam didn't have the best day as he went over the bars in the steep rock chute and smashed himself up a bit. The ambulance crew were intent on taking him to hospital but he didn't want to go so he was trying to escape from the ambulance providing a funny scene for everyone watching, but once he calmed down we told him better to get all checked out and off he went.
So it was a good weekend for Ancillotti with 3 in the top 5 as Matt Scoles had to borrow one as his bike wasn't running, the top 5 went Brook, Me, Lorenzo Suding who in the process broke the Italian podium drought, then Nathan Rankin, Matt Scoles. Finally thanks to Tomaso and Alberto for keeping my bike looking and running sweet. Thanks to all my sponsors, Ancillotti Cycles, UFO Plast, Doganaccia 2000, San Marco seats, CampaBros, NZRIDE, Maxxis Tires, Landini Auto.
Next weekend I have Italian Champs and then I am off to Canada more to come soon.
Wyn
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