Soren Staudinger

We decided to hang out in the Bay of Plenty this weekend, had a sleep over at a mates house and headed out to Awakaponga to shake out any bad ju-ju this track still has for me. I’ve done two SummerCross’ here and a schools event and each time I have had spectacular crashes and walked away from the place determined to come back and get it right. It also doesn’t run the 65s and 85s as combined classes on the big track so it was a good test to see how I’ll go with double classing. I have been putting in a lot of work in my endurance so it doesn’t matter how long my days are or how many races I have I can be consistent from start to finish. My starts have definitely improved and I got a couple of holeshots in the 8-11 65cc class. I was having a good time in the 8-11 85cc class on my 65 too, battling for the good lines and pushing around corners when in race 2 I washed out and slammed into a tractor tyre barrier. Luckily I was able to get my body out of the way and my bike took the full impact – my plastics got bent up and my left radiator is twisted but nothing was hissing or leaking so I finished the race. I completed 5 of the 6 races I intended to do and going 1-1-1 in Pro65 (and around 12th in the 85 with only 2 completed races) so even though I have a damaged bike I still had a successful day. My starts were good, my suspension set up was good, I didn’t run out of energy or focus during the races and kept myself in a positive head space even though yet again this track decided to test me. I’ll be back again to tame this track one day…

I got out of bed really positive this morning and was ready to race before we even left the house for Tokoroa. I rode in with the 85s again this round and I am getting much better at holding my lines and not making it easy on the bigger riders to get around me.
Practice and Race 1 were good and I was working hard to try clear the 100 footer before the finish line. I was a lot more confident in my corner speed and was enjoying sweeping around them as fast as I could. It rained before Race 2 and the sandy track firmed up so I started doubling through the whoops. Race 3 started a lot better with a different gate pick and I made it through holeshot corner near the front of the pack. Unfortunately I slid out half way through lap 1 and went from 4th to last in seconds and fought my way back up to 6th. 5-5-6 for 5th overall today. I’m pretty happy with my results considering I have little wheels and a little less power.

This weekend was my first Nationals event and I went into it very excited. We have been doing training at Karapiro to get my bike set up for sand and to get a feel for using a sand tyre. We did the early sign on on Thursday and set up our pits so on Friday morning we had no need to rush and after riders brief we were the second class on the line. We rode practice and three races on Friday, two races on Saturday and two races on Sunday. The track was nicely groomed, deep soft sand on Friday; it wasn’t prepped for Saturday so started to get some gnarly braking bumps and ruts forming on the jumps, and then had some work done on Sunday after some overnight rain. I managed my nerves really well, not letting the track or pressure get to me and rode each 15 minute race with a clear head, not letting anything that happened in the last affect me. I had a few crashes but it wasn’t from lack of trying. I pushed myself and my bike as much as I could and sometimes my jumps and railing corners worked and other times the sand crumbled under my bike. I went 5-9-5-12-3-3-8 over the three days for 6th overall. I am so proud of myself for not giving up at any point and to walk away as 6NZ in the first Pro65 championship at Junior Nationals. I was aiming for a Top 5 finish and only just missed my goal, battling with some really amazing riders on a foreign track. I’m now going to take a little break – long enough for Dad to be able to rebuild my bikes – and then go back to hunting down my next goal. Watch this space… I’m going to be doing some pretty cool stuff.

Today was an unexpected ride day. My bike’s were set up ready for sand track but after having friend’s staying over last night I was excited to go to Harrisville this morning. Dad was able to do a quick suspension and tyre swap so I could go ride the clay and continue my points lead at Pukekohe Club.  It wasn’t as busy as usual today with it being Easter and Junior Nationals coming up next weekend but it was a really nice day at the track, the clay was a little bit tacky and I battled hard with the 85s sending it over the big jumps and getting a new personal best lap time. After a good 1-1-1 for the day we headed home to relax and enjoy a few Easter eggs. I’m feeling pretty good leading into Nationals and even though it’s on sand which is not my strength I know all the training and race prep we have been doing will help me towards reaching my goal.

 

Today was the last round of Patetonga’s summer series and I had one of my best days here yet. The track was tacky and hard and fast. For Race 1 and 2 we rode the full track but in Race 3 because there was a vet stuck out the back so we rode the cut off Twilight track so the day didn’t get held up. I picked really good lines and held my speed through the corners and in Race 2 achieved a new personal best lap time.  1- 1-1 for today and end of season prize giving was held at Tahuna Tavern. I took out first for Pro65 and also was the highest points scorer in the Juniors having only not one 3 or 4 races this season. I was pretty proud of myself when my name got called out again for “Most Promising Junior”. I am so honoured to be awarded this, the trophy is huge and there are some names on there of people who have gone on to do some awesome things. I really appreciate all the support I get from my sponsors and from Patetonga Club and I am looking forward to having a great year and taking some big steps towards my goals.

It was good to be back at Tokoroa. The track has had a couple of off season changes and was in fine sandy form for Round 1 of South Waikato MXs winter series. With Junior Nationals coming up at the end of the month I rode in with the 85s for some more aggressive racing and I had a great time. I really had to hold my lines and commit to the first few corners or I was pushed out of the way into the super soft sand. I had a couple of wash outs in Race 2 but I kept picking myself up and kept pushing to the end. I finished today at 7th overall which I am happy with. All 65s ride big track now here since the new mini track has been built and I was the only one riding up a class which I am glad I did because it was a hard day and lots was gained.

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.