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Two for two, Nelson Club DH Champs round 1

After a bit of a hiatus the downhill scene returned to Nelson today with the first round of the Club DH Championships series being held on the Maitai Face track under clear blue skies.

It was obvious on Saturday everyone had been keen for the races to return with a lot of people out shuttling the track to get some early practice in and we were no different with a full load of people on my truck getting about 7 runs in by the end of the day. With some heavy rain on Thursday the track was still pretty damp and with the top section being pretty fresh it didn't take long for some massive (awesome) ruts to appear! (which sadly got cut out on Sunday morning before practice)

Race day morning started out very frosty on what I would say has been Nelson's coldest morning all year but once the sun finally made its way over the hill it was an awesome day and after a couple of good quick practice runs in the morning I was feeling pretty happy with my lines and confident for a good result.

After a slight delay due to the organiser's radios going flat the race finally got underway and with the track dropping straight off the road and into the action it made for some good viewing while we waited for our runs. Some of the juniors were a bit worrying after watching the likes of Reuben Olorenshaw, Reece Potter and Tim Adams tearing apart the first few turns I knew there would be no time for messing around on the short track!

My good friend James Rennie made the trip up from Christchurch to represent for the Red Dog Racing/22 motor sports crew and after i gave him a bit too much cheering going into the first turn nearly lost it mere seconds into his run but managed to hold it together just!

After waiting for nearly the whole field I was 2nd to last down the hill and after a near off track excursion in the same place as James I managed to put together a solid run and take the win on the short track with a time of 1.35 min with a comfortable couple of seconds over 2nd place.

Iv'e got a five week break now until the next round of the Nelson Club Champs at the end of July but in the mean time Katie and I are off to Samoa for our honeymoon so it will be a good excuse to relax and have a break from training for a couple of weeks!

Descend Rotorua Winter DH Championships Race Report

With only a hand full of downhill races going on around the country over winter I decided to make the most of it and head up to Rotorua for the weekend to race the Rotorua Winter DH Championships to get some more racing in.

With the Descend Rotorua Mountain Bike Club running the event I knew it would be worth the trip and they didn't disappoint with a full day of practice on Saturday and then practice Sunday morning before two race runs with the top 10 riders going back up for a 3^rd run to battle it out for a cash prize.

After waking up several times on Friday night to sound of pouring rain I was expecting the worst but my first run down the track felt like a race run so I knew it was going to be a good weekend! By the end of the day the track had got extremely rough with some of the ruts up to your bottom bracket! After a bit of scoping on my last practice run on saturday though I had found some good lines and was feeling confident in the muddy conditions.

With more rain overnight I decided to just do one practice run before the race to check out the track and it was a good call with three race runs to come.

My Zerode G1 was feeling awesome in the muddy conditions and the new 2012 Fox suspension was eating up everything I threw at it so I was feeling confident heading into the race. With the whole field racing before the pro class the track had changed a little bit but my two race runs went smooth and after a bit of a wait I found out I had taken the race win by 14 seconds! The top 10 then went back up for a final shoot out for the cash which I managed to have another smooth run down and this time took the win by 20 seconds and the cash!

It was a tiring day after doing three full on race runs in the mud but I couldn't be happier with how the weekend went and I feel like im stronger than ever on my bike and really enjoying racing again.

Next up is the first round of the Nelson MTB Club DH championships this weekend so im looking forward to getting back on the bike!

Thanks again to all of my awesome sponsors keeping me on the podium!

Zerode all prepped up and ready to race

Matt Walker: Blue Steel

Jasen from Fenwicks was on hand to keep everyone's bikes clean!

All business in the race run's