Last weekend saw the second round of the NZ National Downhill series head back to Dunedin which has always been one of my favourite races over the years!
With the weather forecast looking marginal for the weekend and after walking the track after it had rained I decided to go straight to cut down Maxxis Wet Scream's the night before practice started and it was a good choice because that night the skies opened up and it didn't stop all night!
Trying to survive during practice!
Practice day started off dry but before long the rain was falling again and trying to practice was a nightmare with people littered all over the track just trying to make it down, I don't think I even had one run without a crash in Friday's practice!
The rain finally stopped on Friday evening and with wind all night the track was beginning to dry out by the time practice started on Saturday morning, although it really only made things worse because the mud got even stickier and heavier without the rain to wash it away!
By the time practice ended things had got better though and the open section at the top of the track had dried out completely speeding things up dramatically.
My seeding run went pretty good until a small crash out of a corner in the bottom section slowed things down but even so I still crossed the line in 7th which I was happy with because I knew I had a lot of time that I could make up. But with Dunedin being Dunedin, just as everyone was getting comfortable with the drying track the rain came back again heavier than ever about half way through racing! Luckily I hadn't changed anything on my set up from practice so I was still set to go which allowed me to relax and get my goggles organised before my race run.
With all the rain before race runs I decided to really try and push down the top section to keep my time consistent with qualifying but that decision almost ruined my run about 30 seconds in when my front wheel washed in a berm sending me off the track into the tape to a complete stop! I thought that would be my run over but I got going again and tried to keep my speed steady and clear all the jumps before heading into the technical trees. Sticking with all of the lines I had practiced worked out well for me and I was riding good until a slippery root pushed my front wheel off a berm to make it stall out number two for the run! The rest of the run went well and I managed to hit all of the high lines over the roots that I needed to before the finish and was extremely surprised to come through the line in 2nd at the time!
With a hand full of fast guys left to come down I wasn't sure how well my time would fare but it was good enough to put me back on the podium for the first time in a couple of years with a 3rd!
Brook McDonald put together a solid run to take the win and my good friend Matt Scoles in 2nd.
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