Team Crimmins hadn't had a big race for a while so 3/4 of the team decided to head to Eildon in Victoria for Round 1 of the 2010/11 VIC State Series. Although we were keeping an eye on the weather and it looked like it was going to be pretty damp, that was not enough deterent for the boys. "The more rain the better" was Thomas' response. After heading off early Friday morning to make the long trek to Eildon, it rained all the way with a few landslides and flooded roads along the way. It also took a bit longer as Googlemaps sent us on a bit of a goose chase, but eventually pulling into the motel around 4pm.
Unpacked and the boys went and found the track to do the obligatory track walk then off to the pub for a drink and a feed. Walking into the Pub and the publican said "two beers?" to Ian and Thomas. Haha, I don't think so!! Rego was also open at the Pub so got the boys registered after much perplexing by the lady a rego as to why Thomas was only 15 but entering U19's and also Andrew being 13 entering U17's. Didn't help much when Timmy Eaton walked in and told Thomas he was Sandbagging in U19's lol.
Practice on Saturday went well with Thomas managing to stay on the bike all day and Andrew only having about 4 crashes. One in particular into a massive mud puddle, head first, hmmm, clothes and helmet full of mud. The track was soooo muddy and slippery there was people running off the track everywhere. Including the cars trying to get to the race village on the road.
Sunday race day and luckily it had stopped raining but the track was still really wet and muddy. Couple of practice runs and Andrew headed up for his qualifying run. Yes, they qualify the U17's as well in Vic and only take the top 50% through to their race run. Same as U19's. Andrew was up first for his qualifying run and came down the hill first as he was number 701 cos he was the first to register in U17's. All 44 riders down and turns out Andrew qualified 2nd in a time of 3:41.812. Pretty good effort for his first ever qualifying experience. Next was Thomas' turn and he had a pretty cruisy run and come down in a time of 3:13.627 which was the fastest time out of all 57 riders in U19's.
Bit of a spell and watching some of the other categories race and it was time for Andrew to head up again for his race run. He ended up having a clean race run with no major stacks and posted a time of 3:26.119, 15 seconds better than his qualifying run and ended up in 2nd place. Stoked on that great effort especially in U17's. Only beaten by a 16 year old!!!
Thomas then headed up for his race run. Hoping for a clean run also. As Thomas qualified fastest, he was the last to start his race run. He ended up posting a time of 3:01.338, 12 seconds faster than qualifying which also put him into 1st place. Well done mate, great effort also.
Another successful road trip for Team Crimmins with the boys coming home with cash and a big stash of prizes and trophies. Thanks to the organisers and sponsors for running a great race and handing out excellent prizes. There were over 370 riders at the event, especially considering the weather, it was an unreal turnout and most of them hung around for presso's too which makes for a great atmosphere. Hopefully we'll be back for Round 2 at Barjarg.
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
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