2014 NATIONAL MOUNTAIN BIKE SERIES INCLUDING NATIONAL DOWNHILL CHAMPS

The 2014 National Downhill Series has wrapped up after three rounds at Eagle Park Adelaide, Mt Buller Vic and Thredbo NSW. I didn't attend round 1 in Adelaide due to work commitments but managed to fit in rounds 2 & 3 at Mt Buller and Thredbo. My weekend at Mt Buller was pretty typical of all my visits to this venue - struggling! There is something about this track that I cannot get my head around and as a result I spent the weekend crashing my way down the track in both my qualifying and race runs to finish well out the back! A fortnight later I headed to Thredbo and had a better weekend of practice and racing although I still managed to lay the bike down a couple of times. I ended up placing 13th in this race which was not the best but still better than my efforts at Mt Buller. It was then time to head to Bright, Vic for the 2014 National Downhill Championships and whilst the track is probably the best in Australia by World Cup standards, it is a very steep, loose and technical one to ride. I managed to keep the bike upright all weekend during practice despite a number of my riding buddy's crashing out at one stage or another! Qualifying (seeding) took place on Saturday afternoon and I rode conservatively to ensure I did not crash and finished up in 9th place for the next days racing. The weather on Sunday was fine and after a couple of practice runs, I headed up Mystic Mountain for my race run. I had a good race run and felt fast in a lot of the track sections whilst managing to keep the V10 upright for the trip. I came across the line to finish in 9th place for the Championships which was a great result considering the 'hot' field which lined up to contest them. Once again my Supporters - NSDynamics.com.au, Santa Cruz Bikes, ForTheRiders.com, KWT Maxxis and Ben Power Racing kept me and my Santa Cruz v10 Carbon bike running in top condition over the past few months - thank you! It is now time to continue my training in the lead up to UCI World Cup DH Series round 2, Cairns which I look forward to racing on home soil.