Rnd 1 Eastern States Cup.

Rnd 1 Eastern States Cup/Pro GRT.

Thursday Practice.

Feeling absolutely wrecked from 22 hrs of flight time and ending up with a bad experience as soon as I touched down in New York. It was of to the Mountain creek bike park situated in Vernom, New Jersey for Round 1 of the Eastern States Cups

After having some runs on the bike on Thursday i was feeling pretty awful. Jet lag was kicking in real bad and I was running on empty. I still managed to get in a few runs runs just to have a look at the track and the local bike park.

Fridays Practice

Arriving at the track for day 2 of practice was good for me as i got to meet all the people who have helped me over the last few weeks.

A massive thanks must go to George and his son Geoff Ulmer for returning countless emails with all the right information and for also taking me in and giving me pit space with there sponsor POC and putting me up at there house till i get sorted and Jessie Bears gets over here.
Also a big thanks to the guys at Cutting Edge Gravity racing for there support.

As Jeff and i punched out runs on Friday the track was bedding in and becoming quit quick. After a quick track walk on Friday and sorted out a few lines it was of the camp site for the night.

The guys took me to Wall Mart so see the people in all the Wall Mart emails that float around and i dare do say they are true.

Saturdays Qualifying.

After Fridays runs and the track walk i was confident for qualifying. Practice runs were getting more and more up to speed and was feeling comfortable on my V10. 

With dropping in, I put in a smooth run hitting all my lines and not exhausting myself as i was starting get fatigued from 2 days on the bike with next to no sleep.

I crossed the line with a time of 2:23:81which put me in 7th place.

Happy with this i knew i had some room to improve come finals time.

Sundays Finals.

Early start as we had practice at 9:30 till 11am then i would not drop in for my final till 4:11pm. Jumping in the gondola heading towards to the top for the first practice run of the day and I was feeling second hand to say the least. I have done more riding here in 3 days leading into the finals then i have done in nearly a month of riding back home.

Rolling into the first corner sitting down I hit a rock and high sided of the track, crash 1 out the way.

Rolled the rest of the track trying to just get into focus.

Second run was coming along better then i washed out on a rooted off canvas section, Second Crash out the way.

Third run was feeling better as I was warming up then washing my front wheel out on right hand berm, 3rd crash out the way i rolled down into the pits and just chilled out.

Not a good way to start a Finals day.

I did 1 warm up run on a jump line then headed up for finals run. 

Dropping in I felt focused and composed and hit all my lines i needed to and probably focusing on the areas i had crashed earlier to much I hit these areas conservative and then hit the wide open finish section to cross the line in a time of 2:20:89 which finished me in 9th position.

Stoked on this result for my first race here in America.

Now just hanging out in Albany relaxing and waiting for Jessie Bear to arrive on Wednesday night then its off to Plattekill for Rnd 2.