Category: 2019

It was a last minute decision to do the Rotorua Schools competition today and it was great to be able to ride a sandy track at race pace to get my suspension fine tuned.
I had a good practice, qualifying 5th and getting a feel for the deep soft corners and bumpy straights. Race 1 was a bit sketchy at the start with a lot of us all trying to fit through holeshot corner together and banging bars. Race 2 I was battling hard with my mates and defending third when I took an inside line around a soft corner, got bogged down and lost all my momentum. Race 3 we all rode hard from start to finish trying to out ride each other. My results were 3-4-4 for 4th overall. I was hoping to do better but I stayed on my bike the whole day, had consistent lap times and was able to get my shocks dialed in. Dad was also able to get some good video of the my sandy corner speed and line choices getting ready to ride at Flipps.

 

After a big crash at TECT last weekend I had a week off my bike and spent the time relaxing and recovering. I’ve been eating good and Mum took me to a lady who does cranial osteo who straightened me out and made me feel heaps better.  By the time race day came I was feeling so good and keen to get back on my bike. Because Senior Nationals were on in Taupo and Northland Champs were on up past Auckland  it was a quiet day at Patetonga but with heaps of juniors (85s and 125s). The track was sloppy during practice and before racing began the tractor had to go out and scrape back a couple of places. I went 1-1-2 for the 65s today and enjoyed riding combined 65/U17 85 all in, and I met mums challenge of staying on top of my bike all day. Because of the small turnout we were packed up and heading home by 2pm with enough time to clean down my bikes before supercross live started.

Puke MX put a lot of effort into the new track layout since their last round in December for the Junior Auckland Champs on Saturday and Senior Auckland Champs, Senior Nationals and YZ Cup on Sunday running this weekend. It looked like it was going to be a soggy event but the rain stopped before sunrise on Day 1 and everything was looking good. I had the second fastest qualifying time out of big class of Pro65 riders – heaps of kids were riding in the YZ Cup feature, coming from all regions of NZ, and were getting some practice in. I got sixth in race 1 after a terrible start and had to battle my way through lappers and riders new to big track. There were a couple of really big crashes which stopped racing so we only got two races in today. I was riding pretty good in race 2 until I tried too hard and came into a corner far too hot into a corner and slid out. I finished in tenth which put me at ninth overall for today. Not where I wanted to finish but I still got a trophy for my shelf and came away with a lot of stuff to practice on to become a well rounded rider.

 

It’s been really hot and dry here lately and even with the track crew watering the track as much as they could it was a very slick, fast track today. I had a great time zooming around today with a full gate of Pro65 and Under 17 85s. I did one race of Junior Open too but came off on a sharp corner trying to take the inside line and throwing the bike over like the 125. The GoPro came off it’s handle bar mount and got buried in the clay somewhere so now I owe Dad a new one. Each ride here I try to take lines I am not comfortable with so if I need to get around someone or if I get pushed out I can use every part of the track to my advantage. I went 1-1-1 for my class today, beating my lap times from last month too. As soon as Auckland Champs is out of the way I am going to have to hit some sand tracks to get a feel for it for Nationals.

After working hard at training this week we headed to NKC to get some more track time in before Auckland Champs. The track had been groomed to perfection and I was really looking forward to getting out there. I had a terrible practice coming off on the step up, in the ruts and out the back but pulled myself together for the races. Someone had a pretty big off in race 2 so our ride was cut short. Even though my focus today was putting my new techniques I’ve been working on into race practice I came away with 1-2-3.

After such a great result in Taranaki I was expecting to do well at Woodville this weekend even though it was my first go on the big track here. We stayed in Palmerston North for the week leading into Woodville and spent a few days out at Flipp MX Park to get a feel for it before Junior Nationals. Unfortunately the wind was blowing like crazy so we got sand blasted and wind burnt but it was another different condition I hadn’t ridden in before so got to learn more new stuff. We did early sign on on Friday afternoon and did a track walk and it looked pretty good. This morning it was dry and still blowing hard so by the time we got to our practice I was already over thinking my ride. Even though I didn’t enjoy practice I qualified 8th out of 26 or 28 other riders. Race 1 was okay, I wasn’t committing to the race so spent most of the time with my wheels on the ground and staying upright. In Race 2 I realised to meet my goals I need to work harder and smarter. The wind had died down a bit so I started jumping until I went over the double and a gust caught my front guard and I lost it, landing on my bum and sliding down the jump. I was in 4th when this happened so I got angry and rode hard to finish in a reasonable place. Race 3 I was in the zone and I pushed from gate drop to flag and considering how my day started I was happy with my finish. 11-15-4 put me at tenth overall for the day. I have learned that it really doesn’t matter how good I am on a good day, I need to be able to mentally bounce back from a bad ride to not have a whole bad day.

Today was awesome. The best day ever so far. This was our first road trip to Taranaki and my first time running in KOTM, which was also the final round of the North Island Champs. We went out and set up our pits yesterday and did a track walk while the prep was still being done and the layout of the track was cool. There’s a massive step down and a few areas that switch back and are going to get gnarly and rutty. When we arrived at the track this morning all the grooming and watering had been done and it looked so good I couldn’t wait for the day to get underway. I felt really good in practice, checked out lines and tested out the rollers and doubles before attacking them in the races. My starts were tidy all day and despite so many riders on the track and some big ruts, braking bumps and shiny patches managed to stay on my bike from beginning to end and finished Races 1 and 2 in second. Race 3 was epic. There were three of us really pushing each other for the top step of the podium and I was in third when my battle buddies went down in the ruts in front of me with 2 laps to go. I could see they were ok and took this opportunity and went for it, I rode even faster and harder up until the checkered flag. I went and saw the boys at their trailers after the race and we hung out for a bit until prize giving. We all get along really well on and off the track no matter what the results are. 2-2-1 today put me in First overall for King of the Mountain and second overall for the North Island Champs. So so happy with my riding today and the results and really looking forward to taking on Woodville big track next weekend now.

Back at Patetonga again for the first races of 2019. I had a break after Summercross and in practice it looked like I had forgotten how to ride, I came off a couple of times in silly places because I wasn’t really paying attention and got stuck in the clay. I switched on and rode really well in Race 1 making it to the front for the win. I also rode Junior Open today for some extra race time but some funky line choices and odd decisions had me lose focus and I was in a bad mood for this ride and Race 2 of Pro65, even though I finished in 2nd it was lazy riding. I felt it, my muscles hurt at the end of the race and if I am riding with proper technique and strong body position I don’t ache. I did a full gear change and put my game face on and rode how this track needs to be ridden – back to clearing the jumps, smashing the ruts and full throttle downs the straights. 1-2-1 today which keeps me up the top of points for the series so far. Now I have to working on not letting one meh race affect the rest of my day, especially in the next two events.