Round 2 of the National Series was held at some small dodgy ski resort in Victoria, 2.5 hrs from Melbourne. After 9 hrs on the road (with stops and stocking up on groceries) we arrived to be told we couldn't enter the ski resort, we would have to lug all our gear from the car park. Not likely. There was no way we were going to make fifteen trips in the rain. Turns out it was pretty easy to move the bollard and drive right through, empty the gear and drive back out again, no harm done.
The weather on Thursday night was horrendous. The wind was howling and the rain was coming in sideways. Turns out it was just the same on Friday morning so practice was postponed until they did a re-assessment at 12:30. The boys ended up getting on the track at 1pm. It continued to rain all afternoon but the wind eased up a bit. The track ended up looking like a river but the boys loved it. After being stuck in the lodge all morning, Mum and Dad decided to walk the track even though it was raining. Trying to stay upright was an effort it was so slippery. The boys managed to get in some good (although wet and muddy) practice. Spent the evening drying off shoes, helmets and goggles in front of the fire (yes, we lit the slow combustion fire in the lodge in the middle of Summer).
Saturday was open practice from 8am till 1pm. The weather had fined up a lot although the track was still very wet. The boys got in some good practice runs and then we watched the U19's seeding runs. Bikes all clean and time to relax for the evening.
We woke Sunday morning to another fine day. The boys had practice from 8am till 10am so they only did a couple of practice runs to see what condition the track was in. Still a bit wet with a few puddles hanging around. The boys had start time of 10:47am for andrew and 10:53am for Thomas so they had a bit of a re-group and then headed to the start line. Mum and Dad decided to watch the race from the technical 'Jeep Track' section which is where most people seemed to be watching from. We couldn't hear any commentary from there but we'd find out the results later. Andrew came through looking very fast and smooth and made it through there safe. The rest of the U15's through and then it was Thomas' turn. Thomas also got safely through the Jeep Track section looking very fast and smooth. Once both boys were through safe, Mum headed up to see if she could find out some results. Next thing, over the speaker, "Andrew Crimmins has taken the win in the U15's". Yay, he's down safe and also took the win by a massive 11.31 seconds.
Thomas was currently sitting in the hot seat waiting for the rest of the U17's to come over the line. Finally all riders over the line and over the loud speaker was that Thomas had also taken the win by nearly 4 seconds again. Pretty consistent time gaps for the first 2 rounds between 1st, 2nd & 3rd.
Overall, another successful National trip and now looking forward to Mt Buller in early Feb.
