The Final chapter of the 2012/13 Australian National Series was Oceaniaa��s, a standalone event but an important one for many riders trying to chalk up a big result. So off we headed to one of Australiaa��s most southerly points. This year the Oceaniaa��s were held in Glenorchy Tasmania, just a short drive from Hobart but one of Australiaa��s best downhill tracks.
Friday practice brought with it some awesome looking weather, from inside a car at least but when you stepped out you realised it was super cold, and very windy in some of the open sections of track. This wind caught many riders off guard through the lower jump section. The most notable off was Ben Power, not suffering any weekend ruining injuries, but a spectacular off all the same!
Riders continued to roll through the course and it began to get very dusty, ruts formed and some sections became super loose, many having rocks torn out of the ground due to the solid braking. By the end of Friday the track was beginning to change, this meant Saturdaya��s practice was almost like starting over again.
Saturday practice saw riders pushing that little bit too hard, which resulted in a lot more riders appearing into the open jump section at the bottom a little worse for wear. Many were covered in dust from little offs and mistakes through some of the looser sections back up the track. Due to the rather small turn out and the completely relaxed attitude of the event, many riders were having plenty of fun on the bottom set of jumps! Two riders of note to turn up the style were David McMillan and Ben Hill who were throwing sizable whips all day.
As seeding came around the track had grown some teeth and rocks had started appearing in some of the high speed sections, Troy Brosnan found out the hard way flatting in his seeding run. This sent him to the bottom of the pack, meaning he would have to do a run early Sunday, would this potentially be an advantage due to the ever changing track conditions? Troy wasn’t focused on that, he was clearly disappointed in flatting but looked forward to his race run Sunday. At the end of Saturdaya��s seeding Kovarik Racing had stolen the show, with top qualifying honours going to both Chris and Claire.
Sunday brought some excellent racing, even with the very minimal field. Danielle Beecroft claimed the win for Under 19 females, disappointingly being the only female rider in her age group and only one of two females racing downhill the entire weekend.
Thomas Crimmins also had an early start due to a fall in his seeding run, this didn’t faze him though as he crossed the line to take honours in the Under 19s mena��s class, could this be a prelude to a potential advantage for Troy Brosnan?
Claire Buchar claimed the win in the Elite females, again being the only female in her class. Ironically though, she was not actually able to claim the Oceania title as she is not from the Oceania region.
As the Elite men started rolling down the hill we Saw Troy Brosnan come through early and set a blistering pace topping Chris Kovarika��s qualifying time from the day before. Troy assumed the hot seat all the way through to the top 5 riders.
As the top 5 began descending the times became increasingly tight, Jack Moir came through less than half a second behind Troy. It was now essentially Troy vs. Chris, Chris is renowned for taking enormous chunks of time out race tracks the world over. Could he do it in this circumstance? He would have to top his qualifying time by a sizable margin to claim the win. As Chris appeared over the first jump in the open section he appeared to have the clock under control. He pedalled hard over the line to stop the clocks 3 seconds in the green and claim the win at Oceaniaa��s.
Chris Kovarik, Troy Brosnan, Jack Moir, Kaine Cannan & David McMillan.
For many of Australiaa��s top racers this was the final race in their Australian Campaign, we here at Downhill247.com would like to wish all of them the best of luck at the upcoming Sea Otter and for the rest of their International Seasons!
We have a bumper set of photos from this race so watch out for part 2 up soon!
Images: Andrew Palmer & Jason Stevens
Report: Jason Stevens