With my 125 currently in pieces being rebuilt after NSW States I got to try my first 250 gatedrops at Cessnock at Round 4 of East Coast MX series. My starts were average but I went out with no expectations and got some good laps in. AJMX is only a few months away so I’ll be putting some hours in to get this beast set up and myself 250 junior lites race ready.
Considering the Hunter area had about 300ml of rain the the week before States it was a bit of a surprise that the event went ahead. The pits were soggy, and as the fog lifted you could see the track was doing to form some deep lines when we cracked the surface of the mud. My starts were so off today, I started nearly every race last out of the gates and had to chase hard to work my way through a lot of riders. I had some good battles and went 5-5-8 for 6th overall today which left me at 8th in the NSW State Titles. It was outside of my goal and has highlighted how throwing away a couple of races can have a big affect on a series.
This weekend we got to go back to where it all began in 2015. Appin was where I learned to ride, where I did countless laps of the mini tracks on my CRF50 before needing a fast bike and moving up to a KTM50. It felt very familiar so many years later and was a good weekend all round making new memories. My starts were good and I can feel the difference in my endurance levels, I’m not as tired at the end of the motos. Tipped it over in race 2 in a corner but it didn’t ruin my ride. 2-6-2 for 3rd overall today.
Another big road trip this weekend… we drove 5 hours out west to Dubbo for the second round of the NSW State Titles and I was feeling really good about the upcoming races. I have been making sure I am giving my best at the gym, at the track, and with my support teams. My starts have really let me down recently and today they had not improved. My jumps were late and I had to fight mid pack around holeshot corner each race. There were some sections of the track I where I was making massive gains and others where I would keep taking the same lane and bouncing through some blown out lines. I continued to focus on myself each race and communicate clearly with Dad to make sure my suspension and bike set up continued to work for me. My attitude has definitely improved lately and things don’t seen as hard now. 7-5-5 for 4th overall today which bumps me up to about 12th in the series now… still got some work to do but it’s moving the right direction.
Now that I am back at full health again we have started chasing gate drops which has been not easy with it raining everywhere but Ironman decided to run regardless and just made some changes to race order to keep the event going. I missed Round 1 of Ironman while I was injured and was looking forward to this series as they are running a 2 x 18 minute format for the 125s and 250s. The trip up the coast was pretty good with mum and my sister coming along for the trip. The rain stayed away for most of the day but swung back around for my last race. The track had formed up some deep tacky ruts over the weekend and when I got comfortable leaning my bike over in them I was able to make a lot of progress. 4th overall for the day which is a good starting point for a mid season restart.
I have so many excuses for todays efforts at Round 1 of the NSW State Titles. My injury from Bega was bigger than it was originally thought with a grade 3 groin tear and I have had MRIs and ultrasounds to make sure there was no hip joint damage and there has been a lot of focus put into physio and osteo to gain full movement and flexibility. I have not been able to do much on the bike or off the bike drills and instead been catching up and getting ahead with my schoolwork which was not very exciting. I was not ready to race today and race 1 was the weirdest experience I have had on a track… got an outstanding holeshot in Race 1 and was doing pretty good at staying near the front of the class when the official at the finish line had a dumb moment and put the last lap board out with heaps to go, and then took it back in and then put it back out at the wrong time again which messed up nearly everyone. Some of us slowed up to pull off the track thinking the race was over and lost places because the checkered flag had not been put out. Learned a pretty sucky lesson at this point and this frustration carried on through my rest and recovery time and into Race 2. Instead of trying to look at the positives of what I could do for the series while not at 100% I pushed too hard too fast, faded bad and then spent the rest of the race in my head beating myself up. I had another solid start but with not riding my bike as hard as it should be I had the same issue with lagging power that I had at SummerX. We didn’t finish the day, I had quit on myself. 13-18-DNS for 17th as a start point which is easily 7+ places out from where I wanted to be.
Headed waaay down the road to Far South Motorcycle Club in Bega for Round 1 of East Coast MX in the rain and once we had unpacked our camp we looked around and prepared for a mudder weekend. The regular coffee lady told us that this track loves a good watering and if we just wait, we will see a prime track in the morning… and we did. This was a really cool track to race, it was technical and flowing and I was having a very promising day staying up near the front when I grabbed the holeshot in Race 3 and was leading still on the last lap when I made a mistake and sent myself into the face of a jump. My day ended pretty face and I was checked out by the medics and nothing was broken, just going to be bruised and stiff for a bit. 4-3-DNF for 11th for the day.
I have been doing a lot of work on and off the bike over the holidays with Dad, refining technique and finding better ways of doing things, and been looking forward to being back at Lakes for SummerX after Memorial weekend. My starts were really good despite there being no racing for a while and getting a holeshot and leading for a few laps was a buzz. I still need to work on bike fitness and we are continuing to work out the weird lag my bike has at random times, we appreciate people like Chris Woods Performance helping out with the problem solving in the pits. 2-6-4 for 2nd overall today.
Today was awesome. A milestone day with my first race win in Aussie. After a solid six weeks away from moto, resetting and working on building a solid foundation for 2025 I enjoyed being back at the track. I only just missed the holeshot in Race 1 but quickly got out front and then lead until the end and it felt so good to get that monkey off my back. I got the holeshot in Race 2 and 3 and finished second in both races for second overall for the day by one point. The track was amazing, and my bike set up was on point. I felt like I was belonged out front and racing forward. I can’t wait to keep on working on my program now.
Today was wet. It poured leading up to this race day at Cessnock, they didn’t cancel like so many other race days lately and most of the rain held off until the Jnr Lites races throughout the day. Even in the wet the track formed up really well, my starts improved from terrible to not as terrible and when I didn’t pick dumb gates I was able to get a better line to holeshot corner, opening it up and avoiding some of the bunching. I rode really tight today, not really trusting myself or the bike and was easily frustrated but these are the days we can learn the most when we look back.
Soren Staudinger 