I decided to race 4x kinda last minute and not really for any particular reason, mostly I think to have a bit of fun and do something different. After a few runs practice I had the course dialled and had some big inside lines ready on the turns. Going into qualifying I was just hoping to make it into the top 16 and at least get to race one round, when I came through the line after a run I thought was fairly average and slotted into 6th I was pleasently surprised!
My inside lines payed off for me in the round one after having a bad start and getting pushed into the back, I made my move on the 2nd turn and put one of my inside lines to use and block passed my way into 2nd where I stayed to the finish making it into round 2. Going into round two I was thinking this is probably where my night finished as I had two really fast 4x guys in the heat, after getting squeezed back into 3rd once again down the first straight I made my first pass on the first turn and then again put another pass in on the second turn to take the lead which I managed to hold onto until the finish.
Now I was sitting in the finals gate going oh man how did I get myself here! I definitely wasnt expecting that when I decided to race but I was stoked knowing id made it that far. Wyn Masters and Daniel Franks made it out front quickly had a battle for 1st and 2nd while I rode hard trying to catch them and hold onto my 3rd spot. In the end Wyn won the battle and was the new oceania champ with Daniel in 2nd and I took my first 4x medal ever with 3rd. (This was also only my 2nd ever 4x race)
The downhill track that was built for the race was awesome, it varied so much and was a lot of fun, I didnt want to stop doing runs but had to keep it calm other wise I would of over practiced and been wrecked for the race.
After a couple of practice runs on race morning I was amping to race, I felt really good and confident I could pull a good result. I wanted to put a good qualifier in so I would know how im sitting going into finals so I put a good sprint out of the start into the first few turns then as I was pedalling out of the 3rd turn on the track my chain dropped and got jammed out in my guide! I was pretty gutted so just tried to carry as much speed as possible for the rest of the run and still managed to come in 12th on a 2.57 so I felt good. After a quick mechanic session I had my bike sorted and a bit of time to chill out before my race.
I was confident going into my race run and knew what I had to do so I quickly got down to business and sprinted out of the gate as hard as possible. Straight away I was feeling good on my Tomac Primer and I hardly felt like any time had passed by the time I made it into the last woods. Knowing all I had to do was make it out of the trees and through the 4x section clean I started to ramp it up a little more until I hit the finish and into the lead on a 2.45! I was stoked as a couple of fast guys had started before me so I knew I had a good run.
In the end my time was good enough for 4th place behind Cam Cole, Nathan Rankin and Wyn Masters who have all been having some awesome results lately. It was my 2nd podium for the weekend and another huge confidence booster for me going into the US season.
Again it wouldnt of been possible without the help from everyone at DRD/Tomac and all of our sponsors!
No comments:
Post a Comment