After round 2 at Val di Sole there was a 5 week gap in races. I took this time to head
back to Australia and dig into some training, eat a lot of Chicken Parmigianaa��s and
do heaps of Go Karting. By the time I flew back to Europe for Andorra world cup I
felt I was a lot stronger, fitter and ready to continue the season.
Nobody really knew what to expect of the track in Vallnord. There were rumours of it being steep, long, technical and also physical. After walking the track on the Wednesday it was apparent that the rumours where true. The course was very long, steep, rough, fast and technical. I liked the look of the track except the first section which was very flat and had you sprinting for the first 40 seconds of your run. When the first day of practice rolled around the track was pretty wet from the heavy rain it received leading up to the event. Some sections of track where so slippery you could hardly brake or steer down them.
Qualifying was on Friday and I had been feeling really good on the track. It hadna��t rained at all so the course was drying up and getting almost dusty which I preferred. In my qualifying run everything was working well until about halfway down when my hands where cramped so badly due to arm pump I was reduced to just crawling down the track. I didna��t have this problem in practice because I would stop 2 or 3 times a run. I qualified 63rd which is my worst qualifying result by far in the 3 seasons I have competed in.
On Saturday my mechanic and I worked on changes to help me down the track. We changed the settings on my suspension a lot to try and make it easier for my Hands! I walked the track on Saturday as well and scoped out some smoother lines which might be a little slower but in the long run would make me go faster. On Sunday my practice was good and the track was dry and dusty in sections which made for a really fast course. I knew if as long as I could hold on I could get a good result here.
My plan for my runs was to make as much time up at the top of the track before my hands got cramped. This seemed to work pretty well for me. My final run was fast, the track had changed quite a lot since my last practice run so I had to guess what to expect in some sections. I finished in 34th position, which was good considering my qualifying result and I didna��t lose to many points for the overall.
Next race is Mont St Anne which I have done well at in the past. At the moment Ia��m already in Bromont, QuebecA� spending a lot of time on my bike getting prepared to get a great result there in two weeks!