Friday, April 22, 2011

Vic State Round 5 - Yackandandah 17 April 2011




Team Crimmins had a pretty successful trip to Yack for Round 5 of the Vic Series. Mum took the boys as Dad had a fishing trip on with some mates down the coast (mind you he came home without any fish:) but hey, I'm sure he had fun).

We arrived at the track on Friday arvo and did a walk of the track. The boys decided it looked much better in real life than it did on the headcam on facebook. We set up the Morewood tent in prime position then headed out to find our accommodation in Beechworth.

As we had already walked the track on Friday, we had a bit of a sleep in on Saturday morning as practice didn't start until 10am. Easy 1/2 hour drive back to the track and practice was underway. Boys ended up getting a good day of practice in even though there was a big interruption when a young kid axed himself on one of the rock drops. Mum decided to help out with some marshaling on the track. Might as well be sitting on the track as sitting in the tent.

Sunday was an early start with practice at 8am. We arrived at the track on time and the boys got straight into some practice runs doing the usual few but conserving enough energy for qualifying and race. Quali came round and Andrew ended up qualifying 1st in U17's even though he got stuck behind a slower rider for the last part of the track. Thomas qualied 2nd in U19's so both boys pretty happy with that.

Andrew started his race run and on the very first corner snapped his gear cable, stuck in top gear. Knowing there were a couple of real pedally bits on the track, he knew he couldn't lose any momentum coming into the pedals so was on the gas the whole time. This may have helped him to take out the U17's by 14 seconds. Wow, what a margin.

Thomas hit a tree in race run but still ended up 2nd in U19's by less than 2 seconds. And only 1 second ahead of his brother. Look out Thomas!!! Thanks to the race organisers, we love attending Vic races and will continue to do so whenever we can. Your races Rock!!!

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Vic State Champs - Mt Beauty 3 April 2011

Andrew decided to attend the Vic State Champs this weekend instead of the NSW State Champs which was held on the same weekend. With Thomas' cast due to come off last Wednesday, we weren't sure if he would be racing so the decision was all Andrew's. The biggest clincher for the Vic Champs was that they qualify their U17's so Andrew would get 2 runs, plus he had never ridden Mt Beauty before (and entry was cheaper, yay). It was pretty much the same distance from here to Beauty as it was to NSW Champs at Awaba also.

As Thomas decided to cut his plaster off last Friday (5 days early), he decided that he would be right to ride so the boys headed off on Friday afternoon to make the 5 hr trek to Mt Beauty. We had only booked a room with 2 beds so Thomas would have to sleep in the swag as he was a late inclusion. Oh well, he was just happy to be able to ride again.

Saturday morning was the usual track walk before heading up for practice runs. After a couple of runs, Thomas' arm was feeling really good, although the thumb was cramping up a bit but that's probably just due to not using it for a while. Practice went well and the boys were loving the long track. With both boys racing above their age division, there sure seemed to be quite a bit of competition out there but that's what they relish.

Sunday morning practice also went well. Andrew headed up for his qualifying run and came down into 3rd place which he was pretty happy with. Next was Thomas' turn but it ended up that the timing messed up during Thomas' run so he had to do another one. Not the ideal preparation but these things happen. After Thomas' fairly cruisy 2nd qualifying run, he ended up 6th fastest so still pretty happy with that.

Race runs were delayed a bit due to the timing messing up but eventually got it over with and the end result was: Thomas 2nd in U19's and Andrew 2nd in U17's. Great effort again as both boys are racing above their age category. Also especially as this was Thomas' first race back after injury. Well done again boys.