After both boys placing first in the State Series, the Team headed off to Lithgow hoping to continue the good form. We arrived at Lithgow just after lunch on the Friday (thanks Glen for the dodgy directions, haha). We headed straight to the bottom to drop off the boys and Mum so they could walk the track and see what changes had been made since last year. Not many according to the boys but they said the track still looks like fun. To the top, kitted up and off to do some runs. After about 7 runs, Mum & Dad had had enough so we all headed to our nice little cottage Mum had rented in Mt Victoria, about 20 mins drive away. No camping for us at Lithgow in the middle of winter!
Saturday saw us all up early and headed to the track to get in some runs. A bit of rain overnight saw the track quite damp and slippery in the middle section but still pretty dry and tacky at the top and bottom. Shuttles as usual were pretty slow with over 200 riders keen to get in as many practice runs as possible so it always pays to do runs on the Friday. Mum & Dad spent most of the day walking up and down the track watching the action, especially in Bumble Bee where it was quite slippery. Practice finished about 4:30 so we headed back 'home' and went to the pub for a nice dinner with the Evans's who were staying with us.
An early start again on race day Sunday. With a bit of rain overnight and clouds threatening in the sky, we were hoping the rain would hold off for the day (well some of us, Thomas loves riding in the rain and mud :\). However, it was not to be, whoever was doing the rain dance, it was working and it started drizzling rain in the morning and continued to do so throughout the day and it was freezing but lucky we had the trusty Morewood tent to hang out in. This made the track even more muddy and slippery in parts. Practice over at 11:30 and Thomas headed to the top for his seeding run. As Thomas was ranked #1 in U19's, he was the first to start for seeding, crossing the line in a 3:03.29 eventually putting him in 4th place for seeding. He didn't push himself in seeding and just wanted to post a reasonable time so was happy with that.
Eventually Andrew's race time came around so he headed to the top to get ready for his race run. Andrew was first off in the U15's and came over the finish line in a very fast time of 3:11.93. After all 16 riders had crossed the finish line, it turned out Andrew had come 2nd by about 2 seconds. Andrew had a good run and managed to stay on track through the very slippery Bumble Bee section so although he wasn't happy not to have won, he did extremely well to finish in the time he did considering that 3rd place was more than 10 seconds behind him. Props to Matt who won the U15's, he's been trying to beat Andrew for ages!!
Back to the top for Thomas to get ready for his race run. After all other divisions had raced on the track, and more rain, we could only imagine what condition it was in for the U19's and Elite's race runs. Thomas came flying out of the scrub and as we looked at the time, we could tell he was going to post a very fast time, which he did finishing in a time of 2:57.82. Sitting in the hot seat after 35 riders and with only 3 riders yet to finish, Thomas had a nervous wait. David came over first, not quite fast enough, Phil next, also not fast enough leaving only Deano to finish, we could see him coming and looking at the time, knew he wouldn't post a faster time. Yes, it was confirmed, just 2 weeks after turning 15 Thomas had become Under 19 NSW/ACT State DH Champion. We were all absolutely Stoked.
All said and done it was a very successful weekend. We have a bit of respite now until the National Series starts in November.
