Fort William SDA round 2

Turning up on Saturday morning after a night at Perth the weather looked mint and the sky was blue. Onto the first gondolas felt good as the thought of no cattle trucks made me happy as Larry. The track consisted of the world champs start with the corners being filled in to take away the ruts formed over the winter. As the weather had been so good over the past 3 weeks here, the whole track was dusty and this let everyone have some fun with their tyres. Over the last boardwalk and down the bus stop leads into the pinball section and the big famous berms, roosting the corners and having some fun in the dust. From here the second bus stop was slidy with new gravel being put down and then down to the deer gate with only major holes being filled over the weekend.

After the deer gate, the normal track was used down to the world champs woods section where a new line had been taped off. Down the wooden drop and round the tight corner and there was a new line into the big wall ride which had been painted in prep for the world cup. Over the jump and sprinting down through the red rock section and past the uphill bit leads you onto the motorway. Here the hip jump proved to be fun and fast in the dry and I actually managed to clear all 3 jumps along the flat bit! Launching the tissot jump with some added style and sprinting into the off beat wall. G-force came into play at the bottom with a final few pedals. Launching into the 4X lander and then hucking it big style off the triple finished a good run on an amazing track in the best conditions imaginable.

After practicing for a few runs on Sunday morning, racing came. On my first run it was cold at the top and nerves came which didn’t help. With a safe run to put in a safe time I came down in 6 mins 04 seconds which I wasn’t happy with.

On my second run, mum was at hand to keep me warm and take my coats down in the gondola. With plenty food and drinks this time I was prepared and put in a good time of 5 mins 46 seconds, securing a respectable 17th place out of 60 in the juniors and 65th overall.