Hey All,
The Queensland State Downhill Championships were held at the recently opened Mt Joyce Escape Recreational Park on weekend 8-9 October 2011. This was the first time the downhill track had been raced and it surprised a lot of riders including me with it's technical difficulty. No-one other than a hardy few who were prepared to do push runs prior to the weekend had ridden the track and this really did put everyone on a level playing field.
We arrived at Mt Joyce (part of the Wyaralong Dam) on Saturday morning to be greeted with rain and a wet track - just what I needed after Champery'! Fortunately the rain cleared mid morning and the track began to tack up nicely because of the sandy/loam soil in that area however; by end of practice on Saturday the track was starting to get dusty and dry. Practice was fun but there were a few sections of the track that were difficult including the flat off camber turns due to their sandy nature and they brought me underdone a few times, reminding me that 'digga's' are part of the game!
A short burst of rain overnight settled the dust and Sunday was off to a flyer! Practising with my ForTheRiders/Santa Cruz team mates, Liam Piaro, Lindsay Klein and Timmy McCulloch along with ForTheRiders/Giant rider, Rhys Willemse, FTR/Yeti-Fox rider, Brandon Yrttiaho and FTR/Pivot rider Mat Dodd certainly saw a rise in the Testosterone levels at Mt Joyce!! It was suggested by Lindsay that we all complete our Seeding Qualifying run as a 'chainless' race to determine the 2011 Qld Chainless Champ to which we all quickly agreed and then we set about convincing a few other 'punters' to remove their chains including Nathan Rennie.
Seeding got underway and as I was given the No. 2 race plate and because No. 1 did not show up, I was first down the mountain to set the pace. I managed to hold on until Rhys came down like a man possessed and knocked me off to take the title of Qld Chainless Champ - 2011. I managed to qualify at No. 4 overall which I was pretty happy with because I believed I had plenty left in the tank for pedalling (wrong move!!!).
Race time came and when I was due to go over the start line, Lindsay was sitting in first place on the Podium with Liam sitting in second place. Unfortunately, I had not calculated my speed with a chain on and over cooked my run in several places almost causing me to crash! I went into fourth place but was quickly deposed by Rhys who eventually finished second and Brandon taking the win with a scorching run. I ended up 5th overall which was a good result for my first event in Queensland as an Elite rider. The awesome result of the Championships in Elite Men was the fact that ForTheRiders team members filled the entire Podium with Brandon 1st, Rhys 2nd, Lindsay 3rd, Liam 4th and me 5th - a great day for our Sponsors!!
Just a quick note of thanks to my Sponsors for your continued support and encouragement - ForTheRiders.com, Santa Cruz Bikes, NSDynamics.com.au, Chunked.com.au, Elka Suspension, Diverse Springs, KWT-Maxxis and FreeLap Timing
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