Tall tales
National Round 4 DH - Mt Beauty VIC - 25th February 2007 |
| Posted by Badmin (badmin) on Feb 15 2009 |
| Tall tales >> DH |
>>>>Nick 'Flannie' Rudzki again provides a report for the National Round -Nice one Nick.
----->You Beauty
The SA crew again packed their bikes up and made the long drive over to the alpine town of Mount Beauty. Next to Falls Creek, it’s a picturesque compact little town at the base of Big Hill.
After the scorching sun, sandblasting and eternal roundabouts of
We discussed why it was called Big Hill and after a number of different ideas decided that as it took 8 minutes of high speed riding to get down it, this was as good a reason as any.
The track was not the full Big Hill, bit it was pure descending. You chucked in a few big ones at the start to get going and the final 50m – other than that gravity was doing the rest. Starting with a few flowy corners it crossed the fire road and then the fun really started. Singletrack tech descending littered with rocks and roots. The final 500m was epic. Picking your way through some rocks before dropping into a chute with a magnetic rock to remind you of who was boss. You then dropped onto a short man made grill – the cheese grater. Linking up to parts of the old 4x track it had people drifting, jumping, floating ,pig rooting and everything in between. Someone described it as a ‘world cup’ finish – I couldn’t think of a better description.
Friday’s practise brought dust, a fresh track and plenty of berms. Friday night however bought rain for killer runs first thing the next morning. But then it started p1ssing down and the whole world changed… The slippy slidey tobbagganing effort of many annihilated most of the benchcut sections removing all cambered bits on the exits to corners… The mud was a bit of fun though. Drifting through the last couple of corners kept me busy for well over half an hour…
The afternoon dried out though and it was game on again for Group B practise. Sunday bought a sturdy group of riders hell bent on removing any sign of the berms that were there on Friday and I guess that’s the real challenge of a national event – dealing with the changing track.
Racing…
For the lucky few, the Beauty experience began at the start of week after a competing at the Interschools championships at Thredbo (hopefully I don’t get charged $50 for merely mentioning the place). For the rest of us it began with hearing news about Julia Martin crashing heavily on Thursday breaking her ankle. While the rumour mill did its best to whip up a hurricane it was confirmed she crashed heavily on her first run broking her tib and fib at the ankle – compound style with the bones sticking out. A trip to a couple of hospitals, a couple of operations and a few pins, screws and other bits from the toolbox and things are back where they should be. It was nasty though and we wish her all the best for a speedy recovery. As I write this, Julia is still racked out in Albury hospital – it is by no means a simple injury.
Thanks to the Interschools champs the week before there were plenty of SA kids present and the extra practise had them well and truly up to speed and at one with the bike.
U15s – TB killed it. 3:39… second place was 13 seconds behind. He could have eaten lunch on the way down and still won. Good enough to qualify in Elite. Little man going downhill very fast. Henry Blake continues to get faster sneaking into 5th place and Tom Norton-Lahaney ignored his injuries to grab 10th spot.
In U17s Will Gower may be a WA local now but we still call him ‘our Will’ when we feel like it. He pinned his run on a new lead donkey with a 3:30 but just missed out on P1. Laurie Dinham made it in 7th just in front of Tommy Rowe in 9th, Will Giles had his hot pants on for 14th and Josh Blake was in the mix as well.
After conquering the technical parts of the track Em, Jaz and Beck got down the track to dominate the U15 girls podium. Each race just gives them more and more confidence.
Qualifying
In Elite Men – Dave West led the charge making the cut in the top 10. Also in with the fast boys were Yatesy and Ngari Jenkins with some good times. For the rest of us, after feeling confident with the track and where to push and where to be cautious – come race time all that got blown out like last nights curry. Frenchy rolled off his tyre, Trigger just missed the cut and the rest of us cracked the beers to watch.
U19s saw some blistering times with Maltman nudging Will Razorblade to second place. Dale Grixty didn’t hit a tree or nail himself in a creek, but like others (me) he put it down and missed out on qualifying.
Come the final runs, the sun was blistering and the track was dry as ghandi’s flip flop. The track had continue to blow out and it was getting harder and harder to ride on the limit as it had changed so much since qualifying.
Taking the final honours was Amiel Cavalier from hometown boy Liam Panozzo and Jared Rando. Craig Yates made up for his nationals disappointment with fantastic 9th spot. Dave West didn’t keep it upright in the final run but snuck in for 12th place and equal second in the overall championship. It was a tough weekend for Dave and he rightfully deserved his overall result.
I had an awesome weekend in Beauty and will definitely be back. Heading there for a race or just a weekend of riding – it’s an awesome place.
What rocked
• The track. Pure descending, technically demanding and had all you could want
• Transport – best ever without a chairlift. They had it sorted.
• The town of
• Every day for me finished with punching a Big Hill run. 10 minutes of fire road, single track, rock garden and sweeping turns. If you’re not smiling when you get to the bottom it might be time to find a new sport. Worth the 11 hour trip alone .
What blew
• The caravan park owner was a first class knob. Be careful your car tyres don’t make marks in the gravel…
• The music playing through the PA all weekend. Maybe someone thought it was Middle of the Road schlock… it wasn’t even on the road. Celine Dion has no place in the audio world – and definitely has no place being broadcast at a mountain bike event. Don’t get Marshy started on Rhinestone Cowboy…
Random
• Mental picture for you…. Girls hot pants, black bra, flower in teeth, Will Giles. Not every idea is a good one
• Super Ted has a new home in the Brosnan house.
• TB cleaned up at Sunday night pool against much older (and drunk) competition
• Will Rischbeith demolished 2 chicken parmies at the pub…arrgh come see the amazing eating machine.
• Marshy rolling around at the top of the hill singing Rhinestone Cowboy which managed to penetrate itself into the heads of the rest of us, not exactly Eye of the Tiger
• 11 hour mindless road trip home but the lap battery only lasts 1.5…
Last changed: Mar 20 2009 at 11:07 AM
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