Racing News |
SA reliability trials round 2 and SA Offroad Championship rounds 1&2
23rd May - SART Championship round 2 - Truro
An early start for the Expert field leading out the bikes with myself drawing bike number 6. These events can certainly be tricky when there is not a lot of wheel tracks to follow and you are only relying on track markers. I eased into the first couple of sections before fuel with some solid times. Section 3 was short and sweet, but section 4 my day started to unravel.
A small misjudgment jumping through a creek left me on the ground with a twisted front end and a sore body. I picked myself up and rode quite well for the rest of the lap sitting in 5th at the end of lap 1.
Lap 2 once again started really well pushing through the first 3 sections, but the crash in section 4 was still in my head on lap 2. This time I only had a silly tip over in section 4 but we made it through okay. Section 5 was a struggle with my body definitely feeling the pain from my crash.
Section 6 was where it really came undone. Right at the beginning of the section just past the start timing point I lost traction to my rear wheel and had a big highside crash, landing the same way I fell from my first crash. Getting up slowly with dirt pouring out of my helmet I knew I had to just make it to the finish. I cruised through the remainder of section 6 and 7, bringing it home back in 14th outright.
I am keen to have a smooth run at Robertstown for the two day reliability trial on the June long weekend.
30th/31st May - SAORC round 1&2 - Renmark
Finally, our first proper outing as a full team has been and gone! We have put a lot of effort and investment this year into our pit presence and making sure our riders have everything that they need to go racing. There is still some refining to do but we are stoked with how everything has come together.
We had Lachie, Tarja and Nathan competing last weekend for the offroads. I got to do a GoPro lap of the cross country loop on Friday before anyone else had touched the track and the conditions could not have been better. Riley was suited up in his Team Green Kawasaki gear supporting everyone while his broken wrist is still healing.
Saturday - 3 Hour Cross country
1 minute separated each class starting the 3 hour race on Saturday. Starting with the Pro's, Lachie was up next in the Expert Open class. Nathan near the back in Veterans class and Tarja in the Women's taking off last. We had come up with a fuel plan due to our limited fuel capacity with standard tanks on our bikes. Lachie would be the first to fuel after just 2 laps of the 14km sandy course to check exact fuel usage. Nathan and Tarja also came in after 2 laps but we knew now that we could make 3 laps on 1 tank of fuel.
The track was really fast, open flowing sand with a couple of quite boggy spots where some of the recent rains had been sitting. During the race we sent Riley out on film duties with our GoPro to catch some of the action. Lachie was leading a pack of Experts early on in the race and finished up 8th in class. Nathan started off slow and steady, easing into his usual pace which landed him in 1st in class. Tarja got off to a great start and never looked back, also bringing home 1st in class.
Sunday - Sprints
The sprint loop was quite short compared to what we are used to in the realm of 8-10 minute times, being only 4-5 minutes long. A combination of parts of Saturday's loop and some new track it was a physically demanding track but all of our riders pushed through for great results. Lachie 4th in class, Nathan 1st in class and Tarja 1st in class.
Overall, it was a really successful weekend of racing and we are all looking forward to SAORC rounds 3&4 where we can do it all again at Black Hill.
