Here we are in the land of freedom, upstate New York in the U.S of A. Straight off the back off Mont Sainte Anne, the boys were keen to better their Canadian results and get into the American life. MURICA!
After qualifying first at Mont Sainte Anne but then making a mistake in his race run, Jacob was keen to climb his way back onto the box. Here in Windham he qualified 1st, a second up on his competitors. Check out the word from him and see how his race run went –
“My run went really good – I got 2nd, 0.7 off the win, which I’m happy about but I’m also a bit annoyed about. I was supposedly up at the first split, but I lost time in the middle. I know where I lost time though, which is a bonus. I think I now know what I have to do for Val Di Sol and Worlds now, hopefully getting the win soon! The problem with my run is that there was a section before the rock garden where I was hopping a stump, I went to hop it and my front wheel slid out, insided the next corner and had to pedal to get into the rock garden, probably lost half a second or so there.”
It wasn’t to be for Phil however, after looking pinned in practice, he was getting some good comments from the media. His qualifying run was going smooth until a pretty bad crash halfway down the track. Next time Phil, next time..
“It’s raceday and I didn’t race today, which wasn’t good. I had a big over the bars in qualifying on a high speed bit of the track, and I’m just glad I’m in one piece. Clipped a pedal and went straight into a pile of logs. Carried on, but I missed the cut, as there is no chance qualifying here with a crash. Pretty happy for Jacob and Isak though – they both rode sweet! Anyway, off to Val di Sol so Jacob can win a world cup and his Dad can buy him a CRF 100.”
Isak however has another good week – building upon his assault to get back into the top 20, ending up 32nd this week. Sending gaps and triples galore all weekend, the Norwegian powerhouse held his own in the outrageously dry and dusty conditions, avoiding sliding out or puncturing like a lot of other riders here in Windham. Check the word from him –
“A good day for me, I was riding a little timid though, not sure if I found the limit – had some real angry music on up top, and managed to pull together a pretty good run. I ended up 32nd, so I’m pretty happy eh. I would consistently like to be a bit higher, but I mean its good enough. It’s not horrible and times were so tight that I’m so close to where I wanna be, so yeah, pretty damn good.”
Mixed emotions from the team at Windham, from the podium to crashing the boys tackled the bone dry track full on, riding through every dust cloud along the way. We’re just about to depart for the airport now, with Isak onward to Crankworx Whistler (Keep an eye out in Whip Off Worlds, wink wink), Jacob going home to train and Phil off to Morzine, we’ll see you in Val di Sol for World Cup Finals. Peace out from the land of the free!
