After a weekend off racing last weekend to watch the SX Open in Auckland I was really wanting to ride somewhere this weekend. Because of the amount of storms hanging around so many tracks were closed but North King Country was staying open so we went down. It was flooding at home and two hours down the road it was blue skies and dry track. There were only four Pro65 riders today so we rode split start with the Under 13 85s and I enjoyed the competition. My starts have improved, I watched the older riders between races and took some new lines and it made a difference to my lap times and speeds. The last time I rode here was Waikato Champs and I had two offs but today I showed I had learned from those mistakes and instead of over thinking what I was going to do, or not do, I kept my head up and focused on the next obstacle. I really like clay tracks because they are hard and fast but I need to start spending some time in the sand getting a feel for it before heading to Flipps for Junior Nationals in April. When I told mum and dad I wanted to ride Junior Nats it felt like it was so far off but now it’s only 3 one day events and 8 club days away.
Soren Staudinger 