Well after a winters work and preparation, the main goal of the season was to qualify consistantly at the World Cup rounds that I attended... The first stop was Fort William, I love the track; flat out, rough and really rocky.
Having raced there since about 2005 I knew exactly what I was up against!
Practise went really well, the V10 was feeling great and the day before I left my new 2011 Nema race gear arrived, I was looking the part. There were a few new additions to the track this year; a new jump at the top of the motorway section which was well welcomed as it made the pedalling slightly easier and a new wooded section with a drop across the top fire road.
Qualifying came around and I was on a great run, coming through the top split in 47th position, I came into the wooded section missed my normal line and my front wheel was swallowed by a hole that had been growing throughout practise, I was aware of it but the line I was taking all of practise avoided it. I almost gave up but being on a good run I pushed hard through the bottom in the off chance I might be able to pull some time back. I crossed the line and narrowly missed out on qualifying.
Gutted, I left 12am Monday morning with Olie Burton, LeoGang bound. We arrived there late Wednesday night, the follwoing morning being sign on and track walk.
I had raced at LeoGang before but there had been some pretty big changes which I was pretty pleased about and they would suit my riding style.
Friday practise went really well I was loving the track, it was dry a little damp but hadn't ripped up too much. 6pm we got back to our accomodation (in the form of a castle) and the heavens opened and it didn't stop till the following morning, the track was going to be pretty different so the cut spikes were thrown on and I headed up for a few runs. Practise went pretty well, it was a little bit slower but still fun. I put two good runs down and felt I was ready for qualifying.
After 4 hours of hanging around it was time for qualifying I headed up to the start in good spirits and felt ready for my run. I put together an ok run, nothing special, a few mistakes but clean with no crashes. I crossed the line and again missed out on qualifying. Ended up finishing 119th a huge dissapointment.
I guess with World Cup racing, you can't make any mistakes and you have to put everything on the line if you want to qualify. I have learnt a lot from these two rounds and now have the two rounds in Mont Sainte Anne and Windham to look forward to.
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