Well it was actually yesterday afternoon, and we rolled in at first to race in the NSW team sprint championship, Alex having been called 4 hours before to replace Christian, who had been called in 12 hours before in order to replace kye. So maybe slightly under prepared, and maybe slightly wrongly geared we had the team sprint to hit out.
Me and simon were also entered in the kieran state title, which we were luck to have as a warm up for our team sprint, what we were unluck to have was a field of riders in the same heat as us whos slowest rider was friday night winter series WINNERGavin white. I started off slightly slower than ever one else, as me and alex took the rule that you cant push people off, as you cant push them off, but either way i was headed for thrd last wheel, but had to choose between fighting it out with one of the top three riders, for my spot, or to roll back a bit, i let him to it. so now in second last wheel, with simon on my wheel, from some where or other i heard a voice, that may have been in my head that told me to go around them with 2 to go, which i tried to do, but just as i was up to the second from the front, they all realised and went hard, simon who turned out to be on my wheel got slightly boxed by me, though went under me, and he chased them to the line, but neither of us made the final
We then came to our team sprint effort. Alex turns out was on his first time ever on 94, after being on 86 for the last few months. This may not sound like a big deal to a roadie, but this is a massive jump, so we didnt know where to put him, and decided to chuck him in first to give him some gate experience, and because i was on 92 and would maybe drop him and be no use to him. Me being on 92 was also a problem, though it would have suited first wheel, like id been training for, in second it left me spinning like crazy, and not performing at peak.
When it came to the go, the team we were up against didnt show, out of fear we assume (or maybe the fact that all three of them were Law's, and that their brother/son had just had a massive accident with a car). Either way we stood a good chance against them, but instead had the clock. Once the clock beeped and we were out of the blocks, alex went, though smoothly and slowly enough for me to sit right onto his wheel, and did his lap well, and slow enough for me to be able to accelerat a heap after he jumped off. For my lap i went well for the first half, but in the front strait after a bit over half i died a bit, which may be sbits to do with me training only my starts for a first start. Simon went brilliantly in third, and we reached a 54 seconds. We can see alot of improvement in our race, and are sure we could have had a medal if we had practiced at all, been on the right gears etc etc etc We are all happy with our effort though, it was heaps good!
The carnival
For the carnival, we were all warmed up, and pumped for some hardcore racing. We started off with some heats for the wheel race, which alex raced his way into the final through, followed by what i think was the repecharge for the kieran titles, in which i went off the back with two and a half to go, went up the banking, then hit them right as the bike dropped off, i thought it would have been a heaps good move if i was alot faster, and not on 92, but as they knew a long way from them in speed they let me go
it looked good though, and in future could work, though it requires a 2 lap sprint against guys that can ride a 200 in 10.7!In simons repecharge kieran he came second against a guy that i think was alex bird or one of the 10.7 riders, an amazing effort.
This was then followed by a missing out, as in the next race or so i think. In this i beat both simon and alex
(crazy hey!)Then there was the repecharge for the wheel race, in which i had simon in my heat
and i had another guy with a number similar to simons, and he was in road runner clothes i think a law? Either way, they were on the back of the pack, and i jumped on both their wheels. We went from the back to the front, the three of us in order, then simon sat on the front for a couple of laps, the a guy in orange flew past us trying to make a break away, it didnt work, still looking totally relaxed we cought him, and every one that was following him, and went away from him, im not sure what happened after that, but some how we ditched the whole lot of them, simon doing all the work (reaching about 65 km an hour) and we dropped the feild, with stewy a few metres off me, i still had done nothing but sit on the guy behind simon, hardly having done any thing! crazy! us plus stewy made the final?! it was like a dream race?!The final, i dont know what actually happened in this, but it was heaps packed up around me and alex, and we all got a bit boxed etc, nothing amazing, but we all were in it
It turns out my winning my heat plus coming 5th in last weeks wheel race put me back 40 metres?! Im ranked with that popowell guy from bisci sport now.Then there was a B and c grade thing, that simon was in again with me
I cant remember what happened in this, but simon ended up on the front, slowed the whole thing down, and alex was on my hip, and quite wide at some times... would have been alot of effort for the other guys to get around... But yeah, simon came top three, cant remember where it was.
rap up
All in all it was one of the best nights and days ive had at the track, as in just having fun, as we were there for the team sprint, the kieran was for the fun of it and the open was just because we could
it was more than 6 races i think, and its a total pity that kye and christian couldnt make it, with the amount we were getting mentioned on the micraphone by the guy that wasnt even crafty, youd think there was 10 of us?! we did every thing! Alex had a heaps good riding night, and will improve out of sight as he goes. [/u]