NSW STATE DOWNHILL CHAMPS - LITHGOW

Mat Dodd and I took a drive to Lithgow, NSW to compete in the NSW State Downhill Champs over the weekend 27-29 September 2013. We arrived in Lithgow late Friday evening and caught up with Phil Piazza and checked into our accommodation. On Saturday we were greeted by howling winds and low temperatures, not exactly ideal but I guess we have to deal with whatever is served up on the day. We practised all day Saturday and from the outset I knew I was going to have a tough time of the track! It was a short but relatively flat track with only a couple of steep sections which lasted all of 10 seconds on the bike and required a lot of pedal. The track pretty much traversed across the gradient with lots of right turns (my least favourite turning angle!) and I just found that pedalling through rocks was near impossible with my suspension set up! The good thing is that the Santa Cruz V10 performed without any issues and I met up with lots of old mates and had clean if not, slow runs! Race day came around on Sunday and the weather was much the same so we did a couple of practice runs before our Seeding race. I had an ordinary run and placed 22nd which I was disappointed with but not surprised. Come race time I tried as best I could but at the end of the day, the track just did not suit my style of racing and I could only manage to finish 17th overall in Elite Male. Mat had an awesome race and made the podium in 4th place which just goes to prove, he is a better at pedalling than I am having touched me up a couple of times recently but my turn will come, hahaha!! Phil finished a respectable 19th overall considering he has not got a bike to ride at the moment and has been borrowing one which he has not had the chance to train on as yet - hopefully, that will change for him in the near future! Anyway, after Lithgow the 3 of us headed into the big smoke of Sydney to hit up some riding around the City for a day before we headed back to Brisbane and Phil to Canberra. We managed to catch up with Mathew Whitmore, CTN Imports and Elka distributor for a brief chat during our time in the CBD. Back into training mode at Illinbah and selected other tracks before heading to Awaba for the final round of the NSW Red Ass DH Series in November after which a further update will be posted. Thanks to my Supporters including NS Dynamics, CTN Imports (Elka Suspension), Santa Cruz Bikes, Maxxis and Mavic Components.

YAKIMA QUEENSLAND SUNSHINE SERIES 2013 - WRAP UP

The Yakima Qld Sunshine Series Downhill wrapped up last Sunday, 11 August 2013 with the postponed round 2 being run at Cedar Creek located in the Sunshine Coast Hinterland. This race was preceded by round 5 on Sunday, 31 July 2013 at the same venue. On both occasions, fellow NSDynamics/BM Racing Team member Mat Dodd and I went up for the weekends so we could get some practice runs in on the Saturday before racing on Sunday. The first race (round 5) was disappointing for me to a large extent because I just could not get my flow on all weekend and for whatever reason, managed to crash in most practice runs and my Qualifying run. I held it together for my race run but still managed to stuff it up and finished in 4th place but well off the pace! Mat put together a good race run and came home in 3rd place which was a great effort considering he had been really sick and confined to bed for the week beforehand! The second and final race (postponed round 2) was run on a different track at the same venue and was dry, loose and dusty. We practised well on Saturday and I got my flow back on and was looking forward to racing the next day. We hit the track early on Sunday and after a couple of practice runs I noticed my Santa Cruz v10 was acting weird in the rear end and on inspection I found that I had sheared the bottom pivot bolt! I had no choice but to head up for my Qualifying run with the knowledge that it was broken and that played mind games with me during the race but I just put down my best effort and managed to qualify in first place. I borrowed a pivot bolt from another rider before my race run (thanks mate!) and headed up the hill. I had a reasonably clean race run and came home in 2nd place with less than a second from the eventual winner. Mat finished in 3rd place so we had good representation on the Podium for both races. We only raced 3 of the 5 races in the Series and I managed to finish in 5th spot overall which was a reasonable effort under the circumstances. Now we are back into training mode to get prepared for the Qld State DH Championships to be held at Mt Joyce on 24-25 August 2013. Massive thanks to my Supporters, BM Racing - NSDynamics - Santa Cruz Bikes - CTN Imports (Elka Suspension)and KWT-Maxxis.

YAKIMA QUEENSLAND SUNSHINE SERIES DOWNHILL 2013

Round 1 of the 2013 Yakima Qld Sunshine Series Downhill was held on Sunday, 12 May 2013 at Toowoomba's Jubilee Park and Mackenzie Frenzy Downhill Track. Approximately 250 riders competed in all categories with Elite Male attracting in excess of 45 entrants. Unofficial practice was held on Saturday with self shuttling over the Toowoomba range and I took the opportunity of practising with fellow Elite rider Matt Dodd and junior rider, Remy Morton who elected to race up several categories in Elite Male!! Shuttle driver for Saturday was undertaken by Remy's father and genuine all round good guy, Jim Morton. We managed to get in 8-9 full runs which took the pressure off practice on Sunday and this was a good thing given the numbers entered for the race! Sunday arrived and I was in a pretty chilled mood and happy with the previous day's practice so I elected to do just 1 compulsory run before Qualifying/Seeding. I managed to qualify in 3rd place behind Chris Kovarik and Lindsay Klein. Race time came around and unfortunately; there were a number of delays on-track when Under 19 rider and fellow club member, Chris Dalziel crashed heavily in the rock garden knocking himself out. A further delay happened when Elite rider and good mate, Liam Paiaro (ForTheRiders) took a massive and serious crash off the Booter at the end of the rock garden which required him to be evacuated by helicopter to hospital. Racing finally got under way again and I could not wait to get down the hill. I put in a good run which resulted in me placing 3rd behind Lindsay and Chris K with only 1 second separating 1st from 3rd - good close racing with good mates! It was a great day of racing and good to be riding with fellow NSDynamic's riders Matt Dodd, Chris Kovarik, Remy Morton and Aaron Cairns. Liam suffered several fractured vertebrae (not spinal thankfully!) and a broken hand and is currently resting in hospital in Brisbane. Chris Dalziel suffered severe bruising but has been cleared of major injury and is now resting at home - heal up quickly boy's, we need you on track! Finally, a big shout out to my supporters - NSDynamics.com.au - Santa Cruz Bikes - Elka Suspension & CTN Imports - Chunked.com.au - Mavic Equipment, thanks for your continued and much appreciated support!! Next race is at Cedar Creek - bring it on!! Photo credits to Dan McCallum of Toowoomba - thanks Dan, great pic's!!

2013 OCEANIA DOWNHILL CHAMPS - HOBART

I travelled to Hobart, Tasmania over the Easter Holiday period to contest the 2013 Oceania Downhill Mountain Bike Championships. We (Dad and me) arrived on Thursday and right from the word go we knew it was going to be a bugga of a weekend particularly when Budget Rental did not have our Van available which was booked in early Jan 13! After spending 3 hours sitting around at the airport we finally got our vehicle and headed to Sandy Bay to check-in to our accommodation and build the V10 which went without a hitch. We headed to the track early Good Friday morning for all day practice. The track had not changed over the past few years but was really loose, dusty and challenging - as were the 50kmh+ wind gusts which were hitting the open areas at the bottom of the track! I was just getting into my rhythm on about my 4-5th run and as I hit the 50' tabletop near the bottom of the track - everything went pear shaped! I think I got hung up in a wind gust and when I hit the lander, both hands slipped off the bars and I got body slammed into the track including a 'scorpion' and then ragged doll off the track into a 3' gutter running alongside the track. I knew I was injured pretty bad because my lower back was screaming in agony! The Paramedics arrived and checked me over to ensure nothing was broken (bloody amazing!)and then took me back to our Van. I did not give myself much chance of riding for the remainder of the weekend but Dad insisted that I treat myself with an ice-bath, heaps of anti-inflammatory tablets, pain killers and later, heat pack treatments. Saturday I woke feeling pretty beat up and sore but decided to head to the track to walk around to try and get some movement happening which eventually started to happen. I elected to kit up and head for the start line for my Seeding/Qualifying run knowing that I only had to break the beam and I would have another 20 hours to recover further. Only problem was that when I broke the beam there was no transport left at the start line so I had no option but to roll down which took 14+ minutes but didn't cause me too much problem. Sunday we headed to the track believing we had several hours of practice before race time but as it turned out, I managed to get one only practice run before race time which meant that I had a total of 6 runs on the track since Friday morning. Being last in Seeding/Qualifying meant that I was first over the start line in Elite Men and I just put it all on the line without crashing. I had a good run and came over the line in a respectable 3:20 and held onto 2nd place through until the last 10 riders came down. In the end, I placed 8th and given my lack of practice and injuries I was pretty stoked particularly with riders like Kovarik, Brosnan, Moir, Kannan and McMillan in front of me. Once again, I would like to thank my supporters - NSDynamics.com.au, Santa Cruz Bikes, Elka Suspension, Chunked.com.au and Mavic Equipment for helping out during the past season. Time to rest up and get ready for the Qld State Series commencing May before heading to Whilster later in the year for Crankworx.

Australian National Series - Round 3, Bright Victoria

After having sat on the sidelines for the past 12 months as a result of injuries and work commitments, it was time to join the Aussie National Series circuit once again! In company of my training, racing and travelling buddy - Matt Dodd we headed on a road trip from Brisbane Qld to Bright Vic to compete in the final round of the National Downhill Series which was a mammoth drive - about 20 hours each way. We headed up to Mystic Mountain on Friday for the first practice day and were greeted by a track which is best described as steep, loose and incredibly tight with bar grabbing tree's either side of the track from top to bottom. Having said that, the track was awesome and great fun to ride and puts the word 'downhill' into the correct perspective for our sport! Both Matt and I took our time and worked up to speed during the day but on the last practice run, I made an error of judgement and crashed at high speed resulting in a rolled left ankle. Saturday morning saw a drop in temperatures when we headed up for our first practice run and my ankle was feeling pretty good after treating it through the night. Matt took off on his first practice run and came unstuck when in a high speed section resulting in him 'shoulder charging' a pine tree which caused his shoulder to dislocate! He limped back down the mountain but was in extreme pain so he decided to sit out practice to see if it would improve - not to be! He had to make the hard decision to call it quits for the weekend as he had no strength in the injured shoulder and the pain was pretty bad. I continued to practice through until Qualifying/Seeding race later in the day. The weather started to turn for the worse with rain beginning to fall so it was a rush to set-up my Santa Cruz V10c for wet weather racing. As it turned out, not a lot of rain fell and the track remained pretty dry - even dusty in some areas! I headed down on my Qualifying run but on a high speed section of the track my front wheel washed out and I crashed however; I managed to get going again and qualified 15th which I was OK with given my crash! Race day arrived on Sunday morning and after a good breakfast, Matt and I headed to the track later in the morning. I only did 2 practice runs before my race run late in the afternoon and managed to crash multiple times on each run - bugger! I decided that I would ride the more difficult sections of the track conservatively and open the V10 up on the easier section (not sure there were any easy sections, actually?). I settled into my race run and all was going well until I had a momentary lapse of concentration (in an easier section) and the next thing I was sliding sideways down the track which resulted in me bashing my right knee into something large which ripped my 661 Kyle Strait knee pad off my leg! I got going again and finally charged over the finish line into 10th place outright and achieved the goal I had set myself of a Top 10 finish. I am pretty stoked with my result particularly with the class of riders I was competing against in Elite Men - Sam Hill, Troy Brosnan, Chris Kovarik, Ben Corey, Connor Fearon, Dave MacMillan, Jack Moir and numerous other top class riders! Now to get home and rest up before heading to Hobart at Easter for the Oceania Champs which I am really looking forward to as Glenorchy is a great track to ride and race. Finally, to my Supporters - NSDynamics.com.au, Elka Suspension, Chunked.com.au, Mavic Equipment, Maxxis and Santa Cruz Bikes - thank you for your continued support as I get back to racing mode.