Date: 14^th September

Weather: Cloudy, breezes

Pre Race expectations: This was the first race back from a well needed break. After a short build up for the race due to weather stopping me from being on the bike I didn’t really know what to expect in a result and my performance.... I felt good in practice also we had 3 gates of us.

Moto #1: We had a feely packed heat with some of our top riders. I got a very average gate at best, (first one back I think, just a little nervous). I pulled it back straight away and gained a good lead by the first jump. I held a tight line through the s-bends. I looked back at the last corner and I had a straight lead. (Took some pressure off)

Motto#2: Got a much better gate this time, concentrating on my form because I have been working on my gate/ start allot for the new season. I tried a few different things down the second straight to see what’s faster for finals time, but another easy motto win.

Motto#3: With a big focus on the gate I made sure it was a good one so I was not stuck in the pack. It went fine pulling the rest of the pack to the tight first corner. Caught a bit of wind of the 2^nd straight so I had to Manuel instead of jump a few things, no worries thought another motto win.

Final#1: I chose my lanes, Lane 5. I felt confident to do the job in the finals after some comfortable wins in the mottos. I slightly hit the gate (Hamilton drops very slowly) but quickly picked that back up and pulled away early. The wind was picking up but rode a smooth race for a final #1 win!

Final#2: Lane 3 this time, so a nice inside start, it soon ended after the first few pedals I started fading in my fitness towards the last straight so something to work on in the next few weeks.

Final#3: Lane 1 final race for the day and there were a few people over from Tauranga with their kids to see if they were interested in starting racing so didn’t want to slack off and look bad so 100% to the finish and won by most of the last straight, which I’m super stoked about.

Final race summary: Overall stoked to win all races by most of the last straight and come home with some extra cash and max points for the series overall. Bummer Marc Willers didn’t race (he didn’t want to because he knew I would have made him work hard for it, he wanted to have a break after Olympics). Thanks to Ross for the Fly tent it was great and Maxxis I had your banner up (see photos).  Also found out that Bike NZ will be taking me to a few super cross World cup rounds next year so build for 2012, London is starting now.

Thanks to:

Gary...     Avent/Bombshell