Saturday, June 26, 2010
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Leogang WC3 report
So the past weekend was the third round and the midpoint of the World Cup series in Leogang, Austria I was looking for a good result at this one as I certainly haven't had the start to the Series that I wanted. I headed out to Austria from Cheshire in the UK, where I had been hanging out for a week staying with Harry Health, it was a massive drive I was wired after 2 Redbulls and a Coffee and we drove pretty much non stop, we were certainly glad to see the end of it after 16hours in the van!
The next day I got to check out the track and on first impressions I wasn't that impressed with how it looked, it had a couple of really good sections but then also had some big flat pedally sections linking to the steeper sections. The first day was perfect weather and we were greeted to so awesome summer weather, which called for a bit of a cricket international in the pits to kill some time, it was also first time cricket for some of the guys and there were some interesting bowls and ways to hold the bat, all round it was a good laugh though!
We awoke to rain for first practice session of the weekend makes it the 2nd muddy race this year. The track actually rode a lot better than what it had looked it was still going to be a hard to do a full race run and it was changing run after run as there were new holes and ruts appearing all over the place, I felt pretty good in practice but had a crash in the last run of the day trying to get the most out of a couple of tear offs I couldn't see properly and missed my line and went off track and over the bars, it wasn't too bad but the only parts of me that hit the ground were my hand and elbow which were healing up, and it did a good job of cutting them back up again. Other than that it was a good days practice, now was the hard part trying to get all my kit cleaned and dry for the next day on the hill, muddy races certainly take some effort!
So next up was qualifying day and once again it was wet, but I was pretty happy with the rain as it makes the track less sticky and a bit better to ride. I did a couple of runs and felt pretty good on the bike and had all my lines pretty well sorted. Then I headed to the top with my mechanics Alan and Nige, did a good 20 min warm up before my before heading in to the start gate. I was set to go and set off rode the top section steady just trying not to make mistakes, I was going well until the end of the second woods were I went in to a big hole got all heavy on the front and just went straight off course, I didn't come off but had to push back up and get going again, I was pissed with myself and tried to make up time pedaling hard the whole big pedally section, I finished in 39th spot which was ok considering I lost a fair bit going off track, Sam Blenkinsop was repping it for the kiwis in the #1 qualifying spot!
Race day rolled around and I got up on track early to make a couple of changes to some lines, as the track was real beat up and there were some wheel swallowing holes to be avoided. I had a good solid couple of runs and was happy with how I felt coming in to the final run. I headed up to the top feeling confident and ready to go, did a warm up and then rolled to the start gate and set off rode the top section ok, but my googles were getting pretty dirty so I had one place in mind to pull a tear off, I went to pull one there in a hurry and missed it so then had to pull it in in a sketchy piece of track and pulled them all off on accident, I was still on the top part of the track and had pulled all my tear offs..I had a stall in one section just after pulling my tear offs, but then rode solid the rest of the way, I pedaled the flat section well but by then end of there I could hardly see anything out my googles and I was forced to pretty my ride to stay on as I couldn't really see the line so I just had to get to the bottom, I was so pissed to have made this mistake as I lost a lot in the bottom and didn't ride anything like I had been, I was glad to hit the line as riding without much vision wasn't really fun, I ended up 34th as so many riders crashed out, it was one of those, "What could of been" weekends, so on to the next and hopefully I can have a good weekend for once. I moved up to 39th in the overall so it wasn't as bad as it could've been, but certainly was not what I was looking for.
The kiwis really did well with Blinky and Cam Cole on the podium in 4th and 5th, Blinky could of won but blew his feet off in the worst place possible, Justin was 7th with Scolesy in his career best 14th, George Brannigan took the lead in the junior WC with his awesome 25th placing and Brook had a solid ride to 27th.
I would like to thank everyone that makes it possible for me especially my mechanics Alan and Nige and to all my awesome sponsors, South Star Shuttles, Infamous Designs, T.H.E helmets and clothing, Backflips.co.nz clothing, Rockstar Racing, Adidas Eyewear, Taranaki Elite Athletes Foundation, Leatt Brace, NZRIDE.com, E*Thirteen, Kenda Playbiker Team, Lapierre Bikes, Burgtec, Fox Racing Shox and last but not least Mum and Dad.
Monday, June 14, 2010
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
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