National Champs - Bright - Day 4 Finals -

The morning of finals always has a different feel... and we don't just mean it is because the alarms go off a few hours earlier! — The morning of finals always has a different feel… and we don’t just mean it is because the alarms go off a few hours earlier than practice days!

Wow, another National Championships done and dusted (literally!), the record books look very similar to 2014 but more on that later. Rain actually fell over night Saturday but it was so minimal there was no real evidence of it come morning, it certainly didn’t alter the state of the track.

Nice place for a race, the town of Bright is great and very welcoming.

A final couple of practice sessions on Sunday allowed riders to see what state the course was in, really if you didn’t have your lines sorted by now you were in trouble!

There were plenty of crashes on race day before and during finals.

Matt Taylor was one of the unfortunate riders to succumb to crashing, get well soon!

Of course healing vibes to those riders that did crash, there were a few that were more severe than others but from what we have heard most people have been checked out of hospital and are just looking at a few days on the couch!

This crash initially looked harmless but was one over the weekend that had the rider missing the event, get well soon!

There was plenty of good riding exhibited though, not just crashes!

One comment from riders with the early practice session was the sun beaming into their eyes!

This did make for some nice photos though! Joel Willis navigates the sun and the rocks!

Another comment from riders was how much lines were changing as each run the track seemed to change.

Team Brosnan arriving for finals, we would like to show you more of Troy's bike but can't as it is featuring a few sneaky changes Specialized don't want released yet! — Team Brosnan arriving for finals, we would like to show you more of Troy’s bike but can’t as it is featuring a few sneaky changes Specialized don’t want released yet!

For those who survived practice there was racing, group B raced first and they were just after lunch, it was group A (the premier classes) who kicked off racing at about 3 O’clock. By now there were spectators lining many parts of the course, some mountain bike fanatics and some were locals who came to support the event!

The finale to the whole event was the downhill finals and it was one fantastic show!

Starting off with the Junior Women there were two finalists and much of that could be put down tot he track, it was very intimidating but it is national championships and it should test the skills of the riders. In the end Ellie Wale who has been riding well all season prevailed over Sian A’hern.

Next up was Junior Men and at the risk of sounding mellow dramatic as each rider came down the times dropped, this just kept happening, no rider was really holding the hot seat for too long before their time was beaten. Put this down to seeding that sorted out the majority of the pack, to be fair as well the riders that were in their last year as a junior rider and who have spent time overseas (hence have more high pressure racing experience) fared better but this was to be expected! Some notable exemptions were Jackson Frew and first year Junior rider Remy Morton (who admittedly has had plenty of overseas experience!). In the end it was Andrew Crimmins who took first ahead of Remy and then Max Warshawsky who had a slight bobble in third.

Second place for Remy Morton in his first Junior (Under 19 year).

Keeping with our theme of results as per seeding Elite Women was much the same with rider after rider beating the previous time, with such a dominating performance last year it was going to be difficult for anyone to beat Tracey Hannah and she prevailed just (even with a crash on the first corner of the track) showing she is currently Australia’s fastest female on a bike!

Wearing the evidence of a crash Tracey takes the win by 3 seconds. The flannelette on her left arm is to hide the Australian flag sleeve she won last year, an interesting rule means she wasn't allowed to display it could be fined $2000. — Wearing the evidence of a crash Tracey takes the win by 3 seconds. The flannelette on her left arm is to hide the Australian flag sleeve she won last year, an interesting rule means she wasn’t allowed to display it or could have been fined $2000.

Tegan Molloy grabbed third in her first senior year!

Elite Men racing and there was much debate around the pits about who would make the podium, there was any number of riders who could make the top 10, it was going to be tight. Would it be A�one of the locals such as the Pannozzos or would it be an experienced world cup rider like Chris Kovarik or one of the new age of talent like Lucas, Moir, Fearon or Brosnan claiming the win?

As we saw all day times dropped as riders kept coming, despite the deteriorating track, riders would inch further ahead by a couple of hundreds of a second before a new group would come through and drop the time by a few seconds. This went on all race. The top five was Mick Hannah who had sustained an injury during practice, Jack Moir on his new bike in fourth, a confident Dean Lucas who excels on this type of track, a fast looking Connor Fearon in second and none other than reigning champion A�Troy Brosnan in first place. It was late in the day when champagne was sprayed and riders headed home after a great weekend.