Lets review the final round of the Australian National Series in Awaba. Whilst Troy Brosnan and Connor Fearon have been the two standout riders in Elite and Under 19 men respectively, nothing in racing is guaranteed. Especially when you consider the riders snapping at their heels behind them, make no mistake these two riders didn’t come into the event with a ‘I will just cruise’ kind of attitude.
With the track conditions changing rapidly on Sunday the last practice session was going to be critical for riders. The track was drying out in many places and riders were gaining extra speed they hadn’t had all weekend. With the track featuring some big, high speed jumps this extra speed could actually cause issues, as riders were jumping further then they had been all week during practice. A quick poll of riders’ tyre choices was inconclusive, some running mud tyres for the wet mud holes on the track, whereas others were using a more traditional dry tyre for extra speed/grip inA�different areas of the track.
With the length of the track and the conditions experienced, a lot of riders didn’t get to do as many runs of the track as they would have liked, which was a shame from their point of view, as every rider we spoke to said it was great track to ride! ForA�a race even though this meant that riders who could get up to speed quickly or knew the track had an advantage. Troy Brosnan admitted after seeding he still didn’t know the whole track even after a few days of practicing. The fact someone of Troy’s ability and experience admitted this, made us think a lot of riders would not have been fairing too well remembering the track and their lines.
A large crowd formed along the track to enjoy the racing and the fine weather, Under 19 Men were first to race. On such a technical track having a clean run, was obviously, super important but combined with its length a hard task for many. In the end it came down to a battle between series leader Connor Fearon and local hope Jack Moir. Connor came through and posted a scorching time, the crowd cheered for Jack, who has spent plenty of time riding this track, as he came down the hill. In the end it was close but Connor walked away with the victory by 0.20 and the series as well.
Under 19 Men:
1. Connor Fearon 4.06.94
2. Jack Moir 4.07.14 + 0.20
3. Luke Ellison 4.09.63 + 2.69
4. Dave McMillan 4.11.18 + 4.24
5. Peter Knott 4.11.26 + 4.32
After nail-biting racing in Under 19’s the crowd was revved up for the Elite racers to come down the hill and they didn’t disappoint. After qualifying in third it was another local rider, Graham Mudd, who had the crowd’s support. With Mitch Delfs in the hot seat, Graeme came down the track with the crowd going nuts, it wasn’t to be and he came in just behind Mitch. Two riders were left to come down the hill, Sam Hill came past in his usual effortless style appearing totally un-phased by the slippery mud at the bottom of the track. Sam took the hot seat with a 3.57.32, the first rider to go under four minutes. Troy Brosnan came down the hill looking good, it wasn’t until he approached a left hander, which had been catching out plenty of other riders, that it started to unravel for Troy. His front wheel appeared to slip/unweigh and as he regained control he was too close to a tree and gave it a decent shoulder. Troy didn’t hit the deck but did lose all his speed for the next section, unfortunately for him, it also looked like it lost him the race, with his 3.59.32 being 2.00 seconds behind Sam’s time.
Elite Men:
1. Sam Hill 3.57.32
2. Troy Brosnan 3.59.32 + 2.00
3. Mitch Delfs 4.02.55 + 3.23
4. Graeme Mudd 4.02.66 + 5.34
5. Rhys Willemse 4.03.97 + 6.65
That wraps up the racing side of the 2011/12 Australian National series, stay tuned though as we have some more pictures from this race and the series in general for you.
Photo 7 in sequence is Ben Power – Elite Men – no idea why he did not have his race plate (11) on in this session? Probably water on the brain!!
Yes thanks Harvey, this was during practice, we noticed that too! There was water everywhere!