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 3rd 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!
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