For the time the guys had to design and build the course, I thought they did an awesome job. It took a few runs to get used to but turned out to be loads of fun. The fast flowing first section was littered with rocks and sweeping turns that lead into a road gap and fast off camber section. The next forest section had a 180 degree corner that caught a lot of guys out, this was a real momentum killer so it took a bit of practice to get right. The next few turns you could either lose a lot of time or make it up as it was quite flat and rocky so if you got through smooth you were on a good run. From there you went down a fast straight with a few ski jumps into a blown out corner that lead into a slight uphill with a few rocks to manoeuvre around. The next section was a spectator hotspot, there were two consecutive rock drops that lead into a right hand rock turn, left hand dry and dusty turn, and then a sprint to the finish around a few more sweeping turns and ski jumps.
The KZN guys were there in full force, Team Maverick were rolling in style with a couch under their tent for the riders to chillax between runs. The Greg Minnaar team were relaxed as usual, fresh from a night of XBOX and ready to ride. If that were a national sport Dave “rico” Dinkelman would be team captain for sure. According to Greg team Fox/Morewood had moved the whole of Howick city hall to the track because of the size of our pits…but that’s how we role in Howick. People need to know this. There’s always such good camaraderie between the KZN downhillers on and off the track. I think that’s what attracts a lot of people to come back after their first event. Everyone is keen to get involved and help out where they can, just look at some of the parents who help make our local Downhill series such a huge success. As for the riders, there’s respect between everyone no matter what skill level or what bike you ride, we all there because we share the same passion for cycling and are just looking to have a good time on the bike. If someone needs help during practice there will always be guys willing to show the fastest line or show them down the track, really awesome to be part of such a great bunch of people.
Race day arrived and it was go time. All the riders would now see weather the time spent practicing and training was going to pay off, weather they would be disappointed, or stoked with the final result. The Sub junior boys kicked off the days racing, Chris Rigbey rode extremely well to finish 1st in his class, he has been getting faster every ride. Youth men were next down the hill, this class was littered with KZN riders. Tiaan Odendaal shocked a lot of guys, his first run was slow due to a crash in the end section of the track, next run he came freewheeling past us with a broken derailleur, this didn’t stop him from posting a time that would place him 10th overall and 1st youth men, he has upped the pace big time this year and shows loads of potential for the future. Pinner Kyle David’s finished 2nd to Tiaan, followed by “Cooba” Peaty Bently in 3rd. Shane Martin and Raymond Acutt did well for their first national and finished 4th and 5th respectively. Tim “Ginga” Bentley by far had the best ride of the day, he rode super smooth and consistent and showed what hard work, determination and training can do for your racing. He smashed the competition and finished 1st in the junior men and an impressive 2nd overall. Alasdair Fey has stepped it up a notch this year and had a good ride, he finished 2nd behind Tim. Simon “hovercraft” Dinkelman rounded off the KZN guys in the junior category finishing 3rd for the day. It’s really cool to see our elite ladies class getting bigger, Tayla “toto” Brown looked pro on her new bike and finished 2nd with Vicky Philips following closely behind to take 3rd. Greg “G-unit” Minnaar had two clean and fast runs as expected to finish 1st elite men, really awesome to see Greg coming back to his routes and riding some SA races. Coolest dude on the circuit Hayds Brown had an awesome ride as usual to finish 4th with Ex Moto-star Justin “guru” Cope finishing 7th. I finished 11th with Doug “big ring” Do Plessis in 15th. Mark “veld fire” malherba rode with an injured shoulder from the 2nd round of the GregMinnaar/Mongoose series, he finished 23rd closely followed by XBOX enthusiast Dave “rico” Dinkelman in 24th. There was some fierce compo in the Sub-vet class with Norman “thunder calves” Hatherly finishing 6th, Devlin Fogg in a close 7th, Conrad “C-rad” Davies in 12th and Mark “trout” Sydney bringing up the rear in 14th.
What an awesome weekend of riding we had, thanks to all the guys for making the effort to attend. We are hoping to see our regional races grow from strength to strength in the future, the next event is on the 28th February at Cascades so bring your friends. Thanks to Steph Davies for taking all the awesome photos, they can be seen on my blog, which is http://www.travisbrowning.blogspot.com/ or Stephs facebook page, here’s the link to that: http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Falbum.php%3Faid%3D145788%26id%3D104470867534%26ref%3Dmf&h=4f8575e814d84d8da2feb7d80494f2b6... you can email her if you would like any of the photos, her address is stephanie@radiate.co.za... hope we got everyone!
Ride safe,
TB
