Mount Baw Baw, home of cold weather, fog, and the 4th round of the Victorian Downhill Series. Upon arrival all we could see was fog, we were lucky to see 5m in front of us! In the morning we poked our heads around the top part of the track and the neat new berm that the team at Baw Baw have freshly installed for the VDHS round (but as a permanent structure). We were very impressed, as we walked further down the track we spotted all the work down in the infamous jeep track area, made somewhat famous by Jackson Davis last year. We could see the work put in to turning the track away from the classic lines, however for this race the classic jeep track line was in use, bunted slightly different but still very much the classic configuration, we were sure this would impress both riders and spectators.
As riders began to flow down through the fog, we were jumping off the track, relying more on bike sound over actual visuals! As the track snaked its way down the hill the fog began to thin and the trees opened up, we found ourselves in the switchback section with plenty of berms. The berms had also recently been worked on, there were plenty of riders feeling more than confident to dip some bars and get super low through these, this section was looking much faster this year, was it the sticky dirt due to conditions or was it the work on the berms? Time would tell!
The wet fresh dirt was being picked up by tires and spread all down the track, this made the following sections much more treacherous, with the already slippery shale rocks being coated with fresh mud, to stray off line meant lots of seconds wasted and a very sketchy re-entry. The fog had cleared by now and we entered the high speed fire road section. This was very fast as usual, but with the sun coming through the trees it was drying out rapidly, but in a very patchy manner making it a very un-predictable surface to travel across at high speed.
The track closed and riding was done for Saturday and there was time to ponder tomorrows conditions. Fog rolled in for the night, would it hang around Sunday morning or would it be like Saturday? Again time would tell.
The sun rose over the mountain awakening the hill for racing, with no fog in sight, just blue sky, this would dry the track up much more than Saturdays practice, would it be too much or would it stay tacky? Throughout practice the consensus was, it was definitely staying very tacky and grippy.
Racing started and the crowds flocked down the hill, some were side attracted by the new berm, choosing to sit up the top and bask in the sunlight and enjoy the riders hitting the berm at high speed. However, but most couldna��t resist the potential for carnage and heckling at jeep track. As the spectators filled the section it got louder and louder and more rowdy, some riders revelled under these conditions and some felt the pressure to perform, pushing too hard and making mistakes. At the end of the day there were no really serious offs through the jeep track and Dean Lucas walked away with the win, again showing us just why he enjoyed the success of racing the World Cup circuit last year.
Elite Men:
1. Dean Lucas
2. Rhys Atkinson
3. Liam Panozo
4. Oliver Zwar
5. Max Kreuzer
Elite Women:
1. Tegan Molloy
2. Sarah Booth
3. Madeline Taylor
4. Carrie McLachlan
5. Ellie Wale
That wraps up this round but the series continues to roll on.
Images and report: Jason Stephens Photography (Facebook.com/Jasonstephensphotography)
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