National Champs Dunedin

National championships Forrester park Dunedin.  Flying in on the plane from Welly it was plain to see that Dunedin had had plenty of moisture in the previous week as surface water was easily spotted.  I thought to myself this could be great, as Forrester park is known for its muddy surface when wet.  After arriving and talking to other riders the usual panic over what tires to run had started already.  With myself happy to run my Kenda small block 8’s which are designed for dry hard pack conditions.  But I have no problem running these in the mud.  After myself and team mate Josh had assembled our bikes we were off to the track to tap a few laps. The course was in its usual format, a real riders track. Having had several national rounds and championships held on this course before.   With a good mix of single track up and down, gravel climbs and open riding.  This course has a good flow to it.  After discovering that the best section of course was only for the elite riders and the age groups would miss out this year I was guttered.  This section due to the rain was a slippery winding single track up and a hang on tight muddy slalom down which was a hell of a lot of fun.  So we rode this section on our practice lap just for kicks. 

Race day dawns fine with a cool southern wind with no chance of over heating today.  With the age groupers set to start at 10am and the elites at 2pm.  With Martyn, Sadie and myself  racing in the morning and Josh Sasha and Karen racing in the afternoon.  I was having a good race although I missed the starting jump, and it took a lap for my legs to warm up, I enjoyed the slippery, sliding conditions. I was having a ball my Spark 20 wasn’t missing a beat.  Feeing better with every lap I managed to move up the field and finished in 2^nd  place a minute down on the Master 1 Winner. 

With team mate Sadie showing she still has it becoming National Master 1 Champion.  Martyn having a strong ride and gaining 4^th. 

After been retired from elite level racing for 5 odd years it was time to sit back and watch a highly competitive field from the feed zone where I would be feeding Peak Fuel to team mate Josh and mate Cabin. I was looking forward to a very tight race but unusual for a elite men’s race the field was blown apart from lap one due the intensity and pace of Carl Jones. He managed to establish a gap on lap one and hold on to become national Champion. While in the women’s elite race with one of the best fields in years team mate Karen had a blinder of a ride mixing it up with National Champion Rosara and eventually finishing a strong 2^nd.  And team mate Sasha also having a strong ride and finishing 7^th.  A fantastic weekend for Team Avanti Plus at National champs.