National MTB Series, Rd 2 – Thredbo
By Cameron Ivory
ON THE GO RACING powered by DRIFT BIKES
Thredbo Alpine Village played host to the 2
nd round of the 2013 All Mountain Cup National Series. The racing format was a sprint eliminator on Friday, the main cross country race Saturday, and a point to point race on Sunday.
A hot lap was used on the eliminator course to determine where we were seeded. I had the fastest seeding time overall by just over 1 second for the 90 second loop. I won my first heat in the Elite, U23 and U19 Group and was through to the semis. The semi proved to be a tough race up against Elite rider Chris Jongewaard, and young gun Ben Bradley. I lost valuable time right at the start and was chasing for the rest of the lap. I’d moved into 3
rd by the final straight, but smart riding by Chris made it very difficult to come past him in the sprint.
I just missed making the final by a bike length, but still had the small final to go and a chance to claim 1
st in the U/23 category. I was racing fellow U/23 rider Ben Forbes and two Elite riders. Unfortunately I pulled a foot in the first few metres, and was again chasing from the start. I couldn’t quite manage to come back through the field, but I still came away with 2
nd in the U/23 category. For only my 2
nd attempt at an eliminator, I’m more than pleased with my performance and result.
Saturday was the main event; Cross Country. We had 6 laps to complete of the 5.3km course with 250m of vertical climbing each lap. I had missed Rd 1 at Mt Buller which meant I was the last rider called to the start line in 17
th position. Luckily for me, I found a gap up the side of the bunch in the first 100m and settled into 5
th for the first section of single track. A strong move on the climb by Michael Crosbie caused the field to start to split up, and I moved into 4
th and sat there for most of the race. Two laps to go I was slowly closing in on 2
nd and 3
rd, and by the last lap I was sitting in 2
nd. I managed to hold out a hard chasing Brendan Johnston and finished 2
nd, 2 minutes behind the mountain goat, Michael Crosbie.
The point to point on Sunday turned out to be a 3 lap race of a 9.5 km circuit with only 140m climbing each lap. This proved to be an extremely fast and aggressive race, with little overtaking opportunities. Most of the loop was fast single track, with a fast fire road towards the end of the lap. The fire road is where I made my winning move on the last lap. Brendan Johnston and I had chased down an early break from Ben Forbes and were together with one lap to go. I knew the fire road was one of the only places left to make a move before more single track took us to the short finishing straight so I went as hard as I could and opened up a small gap. I held this gap through the final section of single track and crossed the line in 1
st with a heart rate of 189.
Overall, I’m very pleased with my performances and results from the weekend. This was my first race with OnTheGo Racing powered by Drift Bikes and I’m looking forward to the rest of the year racing with them!
