As I said before there was also a National in Dunedin on the same day. Hugely talented Kiwi rider Jed Rooney was kind enough to do us a race report, so without further ado, here’s what went down in Dunners.
“After what seemed like a bloody long week at work I was stoked to see the weekend roll around once again and hit dunners for the 2nd round of the NZ Mtb cup. Having been told the weather was crap all week in Dunedin I was prepared for the worst. The track on signal hill is sick with a bit of everything and is always keeping you on your toes. Especially the big rock garden at the top of the course which would prove to be wild over the weekend in the wet conditions, A few big crashes and plenty of sketchy moments had in there Im sure! Signal is my local and I know the hill pretty well so I was pumped to try and bag another good result.
Photos: James Allan
My hometown of Oamaru is only a 1-hour drive to Dunedin so I decided I would just make day trips down on practice and race day. Up bright and early Saturday morning I fueled up the Trusty old transit and headed south to dunners. With registration out of the way vans started shuttling everyone up the hill and the general vibe was everyone loved the track although a bit loose in the rocks. The shuttle turn around was short so blasting out heaps of laps wasn’t a problem at all, Not doing too many was the key. Over the course of the day the track proved fairly unforgiving with a few riders being claimed including myself, I took a nasty digger towards the end of practice which left me with a tweaked wrist and a mild concussion. I iced up my wrist pretty quick and headed home unsure if I would be able to ride the next day.
Sunday morning I arrived in Dunedin to wet roads and low misty rain covering the hill. I was there super early keen to get up for first runs to see if my wrist would hold up. Sure enough the car park filled up pretty quick and transport got underway. Course was super slick and the weather looked set in, my wrist was holding up all right but im sure the painkillers where helping a lot. Morning practice went quick from 9 am to 10.30 and one run extra for the pro boys. Following a rider briefing they got straight into it with seeding runs. Most of the course had dried out by now but the rocks in the trees where still wet and wild. My plan for the run was to take it easy and save my wrist for the final, I ended up crashing and bending my rotor pretty bad cruising in out the ass in about 9th. Which wasn’t to good for points. Putting that behind me I got myself sorted and felt confident about putting down a good race run. I started off well but went down in a heap in the rocks, don’t know how I didn’t get injured but I got up quick and rode the rest of the course all right. I ended up 3rd in Junior which I was still pretty happy with. In the big boys class local man Justin leov Took it out with a fast 2 min 43. Cam Cole in second and current junior world champ Brook McDonald in 3rd.
Dunedin put on a great race and the track made for some awesome racing. Also MC for the day Eddie Masters was good for a few laughs. For me its Back to work for a few days then I will be headed north to the top of the south island for round 3 in nelson. Cheers to Everyone who put on the Event in Dunedin and my sponsor Tomac bikes.”
So there you have it. Happy riding and see you next week.
