Round 5, NSW Championships, Pacific Park, South Maroota
The NSW championship finished off with a bang at Pacific Park on Sunday. For me I couldn’t have finished it better than taking the win! This round of the NSW Championship was held at the bottom of Pacific Park in the damp gully and the north East ridge. Heavy down pours of rain in the days leading up to the final round made the course was very wet with some sections even having streams of water running through them creating an exiting day of riding.
Firstly I want to apologise for not being able to have my usual letter format, due to heading of to Europe in preparation for the Trials De Nations I am unable to do it.
My day was full of mixed feelings, on the first lap I was riding well but made many amateurish mistakes, highlighting to me that I have some large floors in my competitive riding that need to be addressed but I still came in with the best first lap. The second lap was a struggle for me with my fitness not quite back to its best after my recent Tonsillectomy and a severe case of food poisoning in the week leading up to the event. Even so I pushed on and managed to pull in a couple of good rides to secure myself the win at the end of the day.
The trial consisted of 12 sections, that for expert had to be eased off a little before the event due to the wet weather. The first two were held on the side of the hill out in the open before heading into the creek in the middle of the valley where section three was set. Sections four through to nine were held up on the track on the sunny side of the valley on the rock dirt hills near the Marchants’ house. Sections ten eleven and twelve were held on the dark shady side of the valley on some very damp hills.
The Fathers Day trial ran very smoothly with no issues or major accidents and all fathers looked to be having a great day.
A special mention to Robert Jones and Toby Coleman who stepped up to Expert from A-Grade so that Tom Scott, Jake Walker and I had a class to compete in. Huge thanks go out to you two!
Thankyou Mal and Jill Loone at Gas Gas Motos Australia for their great support and keeping me on the best bike possible, Dunlop Tyres for the grip that helped me out in the slippery conditions, Donaldson Coal for supporting me this year, the Howell Family and Tarp Hassinen for helping me out for whatever he can.
Kyle.