World Champs - South Africa - Junior Timed Practice/Elite Practice -

Things are getting serious now, first off the big boys and girls of the Elite world came out to play for their practice session early this morning, 8am early! Sam Hill doing his thing.

Today the business end of the week started to kick into gear, Elite riders were out on course and Juniors had their timed practice runs. It is still going to be a bit unusual having the Junior Champs decided days before Elite but it potentially means more excitement! No change in the track conditions, the weather is still warm, wind whipping across the jumps is the biggest issue. 40 foot jumps and cross winds don’t mix… Many of the riders are checking this before they hit them because a crash hereA�could see you out for the weekend.

Talking about jumps riders are still getting plenty of height, we even got the ruler out to confirm!

Timed practice for the Juniors was where the attention was focused, no real surprises with the top riders all there, Australians were well represented with Dean Lucas 4th and Thomas Crimmins 7th. Tomorrow is the real important one though.

It is always hard to gauge timed practice as you don't quite know how hard each rider has gone and no one is going to talk up how hard they tried! It was French Junior - Loris Vergier who was on the top spot. — It is always hard to gauge timed practice as you don’t quite know how hard each rider has gone and no one is going to talk up how hard they tried! It was French Junior – Loris Vergier who was on the top spot.

It is still a little strange seeing single crowns on Jared Graves race bike! He has admitted the bike is costing him time in some places, proving it is not a full roadie track, but that he can make up for that in other areas with the bike. Interesting to see what happens race day, will the gamble pay off?

A lot of the action here in South Africa isn't taking place on the ground! Truth be told it is the jumps that are the big 'feature' of the track. — A lot of the action here in South Africa isn’t taking place on the ground! Truth be told it is the jumps that are the big ‘feature’ of the track.

Tomorrow is the day of the Juniors, check back as we fill you in with all the inside info!

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