Travelled to Hobart with members of Team Banshee Australia, Ryan Hunt and Lachlan McLaren last weekend to contest the opening round of the Aussie Downhill Nationals. Weather was all over the place, 4 seasons in an hour with plenty of gale force wind, driving rain and the odd sun shower. Practice commenced Friday and the track was much the same as last Nationals being fast and technical however; there were plenty of crashes with riders getting carted off to hospital with various injuries (a couple of them quite serious - get well guy's). Saturday came and again practice went off without any drama but with the weather changing constantly I was not sure of tire selection - had the whole range of Maxxis available but could not make the decision so I decided to run the trusted Minion Slow Rezay (F) all round. Seeding race was held late Saturday afternoon and I qualified 5th behind Troy Brosnan, Brandon Yrttiaho, Phil Piazza and Connor Fearon however; I was not entirely happy with my run - just kept making little mistakes which cost time.
Sunday practice did not start until early afternoon with racing due to commence at 3pm but was delayed an hour after a bad crash towards the end of practice. I finally got over the start line at 4.20pm and had a really good race run and took over the Hot Seat with a time of 3:14:15 which was 4 seconds faster than my Seeding Race run. I eventually finished in 4th place behind current World Junior Champ - Troy Brosnan, Brandon Yrttiaho and Phil Piazza with Henry Blake rounding out the Top 5. I am happy with a great start to the National season and now look forward to the next round at Mount Baw Baw, Victoria followed by Mount Buller, Victoria.
I would like to extend a huge shout of thanks and appreciation to my Sponsors - Banshee Bikes, NS Dynamics.com.au, Chunked.com.au, KWT-Maxxis, Elka Suspension and Summer Harvest. I would also like to acknowledge Darren Boman - Barspin Imports and Team Banshee Australia for his continuing support and assistance with my riding and racing.
