Archive for July, 2008
Canterbury Champs
Written by Shaun:
Well if I thought it was cold last weekend at the Flat Tracks round 3& 4, I soon had to think again. It was that cold this weekend I even think I felt some snow fall on my hands. As everyone would have felt & seen the bad weather happening during the week you could image the track was muddy & wet which it was. This weekend the track was in reverse to what it was at the Michael Godfrey & it hadn’t been groomed, so it was a little rough. I was second up for practice so the track was still a little wet & fresh. Practice went well & I came in round the top 10. During the practice I got a good feel & look for the track. Race one was not the best, on the first hill I came off & by the time I got going again I was last. I then fought my way back up the pack to 18th. Race two I got an average start & had an ok ride & came in 18th. Race three was a lot better, I was 10th around the wholeshot corner, I had a very fast race & came 13th which I was stoked with. For the day I was in 18th place. That night I went home & it rained & rained & rained some more & when we got up the next morning it was still raining. I rung the info line & they said that the pits had flooded over & the racing had been cancelled. That was it for the Canterbury Champs so I finished 18th overall, which was not too bad for the day.
Until next time, catch ya later Shaun
MAN ! LOOK AT THAT MUDDY TRACK
On Friday night we went to the Stackhouse property to look at the track. Man ! it was really muddy. We stayed at Greta Valley with some of the other team members. Saturday dawned with clear skies & a big frost.
At practise I was almost last off the gates, as I wanted to practise a proper start. On the first hill a heap of riders came off, so I bypassed it, by the time I came around on the 2nd lap more riders were down, I missed it again, on the 3rd lap I went up it with a bit of trouble (but I did get up).
My 1st race: I got a reasonable start & raced as hard as I could in those slippery muddy conditions. I got 15th place.
The 2nd race: The track had rutted up & the traction were quite good. I had a good little mini-battle with the boy in front of me. I was 15th, just missing out on the 14th place.
The 3rd race: It was a freezing cold wind & raining. The track was really greasy with some massive ruts in it by now. I had a really bad start being last into the holeshot corner. Six riders were down on the hill & I ran into one of them, causing me to fall off, I took quite a while to get back up & on my way again. I finished last but was proud I made it around in those miserable conditions.
The second day was cancelled because you couldn’t get to the track due to the river flooding the pit area. Overall I placed 18th.
I would like to say a huge thank you to my family & friends for your encouragement & support.
MUD MUD & MORE MUD
Well it was really muddy & I found it really hard to get up the hills. On the practice lap I went over the handle bars & hurt myself. I was to sore to ride the first race but I did try to do the next one but I couldn’t make it up the first hill, I then decided that I wouldn’t race any more races that day. I had a good time watching which ruts everyone took & how they were positioned on the bike on different areas of the track. I was pretty drugged up with panadol on the ride home. When we got home I was really sore & we got out the movie super cross, which I watched twice. Even though I didn’t have much riding I still learnt alot just from watching.
ICE ICE BABY
Written by: Gracie
Well I fell off, fell off again fell off a few more times except for the corner where the ambulance was. I think the people at the corners that helped people pick up there bikes really got to know me. It was a really great weekend, the tracks condition changed basically every race which was good apart from one of my race starts where I did a 360 & it took me a while to get back on the track again. The team were really helpful & encouraging. It was pretty cold & it felt alot like concrete when I fell off. I came 5th overall in the Flat Track series, which I was glad to get because I didn’t come last.
