CORC Round 1 8 May 2011 (Mothers Day) - Kowen

Round 1 of the 2011/12 CORC Series was held at Kowen Forrest on Mothers Day. With Andrew back into the football, we had to split ourselves between the two events. Ian taking Thomas to David's and then come back to Kambah to watch Andrew play footy, then back out to Kowen to watch Thomas race and help with the timing.

Thomas was looking forward to this race as he hasn't race a Clubbie for a while as they've clashed with other races. He was also feeling that he had got back his confidence again after Adelaide so was keen to see how he'd go.

After his first run, Thomas was sitting on 3rd fastest time of the day so was pretty pleased with that and looking to improve a bit on his second run. When all was done and dusted, Thomas had improved on his first run by nearly 1.5 seconds to claim third fastest time of the day overall out of 68 riders, just behind Timmy and Jezza. Also pretty pleased with beating 2 of the junior worlds boys.

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!!!

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.

National Series Round 4 - Shepparton, Vic 20 March 2011

The fourth and final round of the 2010/11 National Series was held in Shepparton on the weekend of 18-20 March 2011. With Thomas still out because of his broken arm, Dad and Andrew headed to Shepp on the Thursday afternoon, driving to Albury to stay overnight and then to Shepp on the Friday morning. Thomas ended up going to Sydney to see his girlfriend for the weekend so he wasn't overly distraught.

Dad and Andrew arrived at the track Friday morning, set up the tent and headed up the track to check it out and get in some practice. There were a few changes to the track from the one we used last year with lots of jumps put in, which Andrew looooves! Andrew was happy with his first day of practice, enjoying the track a lot more than last year.

Saturday was an early start with practice starting at 8am. Another good morning of practice and then Andrew headed to the pool with Brent while Dad went back to the motel to do some washing and bike maintenance before heading back to the track to watch Group A seeding. That over with, back to the motel, dinner and an early night in prep for race day tomorrow. Dad reckons Andrew was looking really fast in practice and nailing all of the jumps, which a lot of other riders couldn't master.

Sunday saw another early start with practice from 8am and racing starting at 10:30. As there was a pretty small field in Group B, racing was over with pretty quickly. Mum rang Dad at 11am "What's Andrews start time?" Dad: "They've just finished". As I had the internet open on the laptop, I went to the online results site and there it was in black and white, Andrew had smoked it woohoo, winning by another huge margin of over 12 seconds. It ended up that Andrew time of 2:20.10 would have seen him place 2nd in U17's and 8th in U19's. Bloody amazing effort mate. Thomas had want to hurry up and make a come back or Andrew might just beat him lol (I won't be coming home that day).

With the Series now over, Andrew made a clean sweep by winning all 4 rounds so has now earned the title "2010/11 U15 National Series Champion". Even though Thomas only raced 3 out of 4 rounds, having won all 3, he still had enough points to place 2nd overall in the Series in the U17's division, which is a fantastic effort. Till next time. Go Team!!!

NSW/ACT State Round 1 - Thredbo 12 March 2011

Even before the National Series has finished, we are already into the State Series! Great. Anyway, the first round was held at Thredbo on the weekend of 12 & 13 March. As Thomas is still incapacitated, Andrew was the sole Team member racing this weekend, however Thomas did accompany us on the trip (but I'm sure after the first day he wished he hadn't as watching everyone else ride their bikes was killing him).

As Dad was on his way home from working in Murwillumbah, Mum and the boys headed to Thredbo on Saturday morning, set up the tent, settled into the lodge and Andrew had a good day of practice. Andrew decided to race in the Under 17 division for State this year as he said "I've accomplished everything I want to in the Under 15's". He has been U15 State Series winner and also U15 State Champ and at 13 years old feels he's been in the U15's for long enough. Racing up in the 17's isn't about winning for him, it's about having more competition, which in turn helps improve his racing.

Yet again on race day we awake to rain coming down on the lodge roof. What would race day be without rain and mud? Bloody fantastic I say. Anyway, the rain cleared but it left the track really slippery but at least not too muddy. Dad arrived mid morning so Mum headed up to Marshall on the track for race.

Race arrived and Andrew headed to the start but as usual, race never starts on time so he had a bit of a wait at the top. As he was waiting, the weather closed in and just before he was due to race, the wind and rain started. Mum was half way up the mountain thinking, "no, please don't start the U7's now" and it was probably a good thing they were running late so by the time they started, the rain had pretty much cleared.

Andrew was the first rider to come through in the U17's with Porky hot on his tail. He made it safely to the finish in a time of 6.58:59. With 36 riders in the U17's it seemed to take forever to get through them but finally they all finished and Andrew had placed 2nd. We were stoked with his podium finish and are now looking forward to the State Champs (NSW or Vic, not sure yet). Till next time, catch ya!!!

AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS - Adelaide 26 Feb 2011

For the second year in a row, the Aus National Champs were held at Eagle Mountain bike park not far from Adelaide City. Mum & Dad drove over and arrived by lunch time on Monday, settled in then picked the boys up from the airport Monday evening.

Practice started on Tuesday with open practice all day, same on Wednesday. The weather was pretty good early in the week with tops of around 26 degrees but it certainly warmed up by Thursday afternoon reaching 33/34 degrees. Both boys got in some really good practice on Tuesday and Wednesday with split practice starting on Thursday. This meant we didn't have to spend the whole day at the track so we headed to the 'beach' for a bit of a swim.

Friday morning back to the track for a few hours practice before we would head home for a few hours before the boys went back to the track to watch Group A Seeding runs. All was going well until the bus stopped on the way back to the top and Porky told me to meet Thomas in the parking bowl as he'd hurt his wrist. Oh no!

I got to the bowl with Rick, Porky's Dad, Thomas was getting off the bus. We headed straight to the St John's guys for a (sort of) diagnosis. Seems he may have broken something so off to the hospital for an x-ray. Couple of hours later and the diagnosis was a fractured radius. Doc put on a half cast and we headed back to the track to pick up Dad & Andrew. Thomas was still convinced he would be racing tomorrow. We would have to wait and see.

Saturday morning came round and Ian took off Thomas cast as he wanted to see how bad it was. One lap around the caravan park and there was no way Thomas would be racing today. Cast and strapping back on and off to the track. Absolutely Devo!!!

By Saturday Andrew had the track so dialed that he didn't need much practice so he did the usual 2 runs before having a bit of a rest. Andrew's race start time was around 11:15am so he headed to the top to get ready. For some reason Andrew was ranked number 1 in Under 15's so he was the first off in his category. Usually they go off last years Champs rankings (which was 3rd for Andrew) but for some reason this year they went off the Series rankings.

Anyway, Mum and Dad headed to the bottom part of the track (not far from where he crashed last year) to see Andrew cross the finish line and make sure he got down safe. We could see him coming through the trees and with crossed fingers we were hoping he would have a clean run to the finish. And so he did, finishing in a time of 2:16.36 which was a really good time comparing it to Group A Seeding runs on Friday afternoon. Watching Joel, the second U15 rider come through the trees, and watching the time, we knew it was going to be close and that it was. After Joel crossed the line Mum saw that they were both on the same minute and second. Oh no, it was down to the hundredth of a second. The timing screen went blank for what seemed like minutes (it was probably only seconds) but when it came back up, it had a number 2 next to Joel's name which meant that Andrew was still in the lead. After what happened last year, I can't believe Andrew put us through that stress.

All Under 15 riders over the line and Andrew had won by 0.5 of a second from Joel. This is the closest Joel has ever been to Andrew's time. What a relief. Andrew was officially 2011 Under 15 National Champion. Yay and big Congrats mate.

Andrew ended up telling us that he held back quite a bit in his race run as he didn't want to crash again but now realises that he nearly held back a bit too much and nearly lost it. All comes with experience really.

Roll on the Final round of the Series in Shepparton in a couple of weeks. Will be touch and go if Thomas can race, however if he can't race, there's a fair chance he won't win the Series so positive thoughts everyone. In the mean time Andrew will be racing the first round of the State Series in Thredbo.

National Series Round 3 - Mt Buller, Vic 6 Feb 2011

What would a National Round be without a bit of rain? Well, Buller really put it on for us this weekend. Not only did it rain, but blew gale force winds and even threw in a bit of snow for good measure - in the middle of Summer- what the? We managed a top of 5 degrees on Sunday for race.

Anyway, after driving through 38 degree heat on Thursday, we arrived at the Lodge and settled into our room. Thanks to Jeff Hughes for organising all the Canberra crew to stay in the Aeski Lodge, we had a great time. Lucky the Lodge was quite big, most of the time you wouldn't have known there were 42 of us staying there.

Thursday night saw a change in the weather with the rain and wind starting. Friday morning we headed to the top of the track to see what the go was. Low cloud meant you could barely see 2 metres in front of you and it was cold. Word at the top was to get in as many practice runs as you could today as the weather was expected to get worse for Saturday and the lifts could be closed. The boys managed to get a few runs in on the increasingly wet and slippery track.

Saturday morning the weather was even worse so with the lifts closed there was to be no practice on Saturday. With 42 of us in the Lodge, we managed to fill in most of the day but cabin fever started setting in by mid afternoon so some of us Mum's decided to walk to town in the rain. The boys who were too young or decided not to go to the pub thought it would be a good idea to take "Fluff's" toboggan's and go do some runs down the grass slopes. As a parent it's best not to know what they're up to sometimes. All good and no-one got hurt (at least badly enough for us to find out anyway).

With no practice on Saturday, Sunday's schedule was amended. For a change, Group A had the early practice start at 8am. Woo hoo, we got an extra 1/2 hr in bed (except Ian who went and set up the CORC tent so we could have a bit of shelter and storage space). Not much encouragement to get to the track with minus God know what temperature but we made it by start of practice so the boys could get in a couple of practice runs before race. With a few showers of rain the track was still quite wet and very slippery in parts.

Andrew was first of the boys to head to the start for his race run. Having done a total of 6 practice runs over the weekend (and nursing 9 stitches in his arm from a stack at Thredbo the previous Monday) he wasn't overly confident but thought if he could at least get to the bottom with a clean run, he might pull off a good result. With Mum and Dad watching the timer inside the Cafe, Andrew's time stopped on 4.02:21 which we knew from the previous seeding times that this was a good time. After all 9 riders in U15's crossed the line, Andrew had the win by just over 9 seconds. Andrew said after race that he didn't have a really good run, just trying to keep upright, but obviously a better run than anyone else. Well done Andrew, 3 from 3 so far.

Thomas' race time arrived so off he went to the start line. Thomas knew that this would be a tough race against close rival Dean Lucas as this is one of Dean's local tracks. Dean has come 2nd to Thomas at the first 2 rounds and we knew he would put it to Thomas for this round. Ahh well, with the track in the condition it was in after the rain and all, we knew that would open it up as Thomas loves the wet and rides really well in these conditions.

Thomas' time stopped on 3.42:15 which again we knew was a really good time from this mornings seeding runs. Next we saw Dean's time stop on 3.47:08. Thomas had Dean by nearly 5 seconds. We just then had to wait till the rest of the 26 riders finished as you never know who might come out of the woodworks. Anyway, all riders finished and Yes, Thomas has got the win. Sooooo stoked for him. His time would have seen him 4th in U19 and 6th in Elite. Not bad for a 15 year old.

Great result overall again. Next we are off to the Champs at the end of this month.
Catch Ya.

PS: Ya know what! One day I'm going on a holiday where I can sleep in and just do whatever I feel like for a whole week. Until then, we'll continue to do what we do :) but we love it.