We’ve had a few communication problems with the crew out at the Master’s Worlds in Pra Loup, but here is their latest installment:

The DIRT team has finally been assembled and consists of the following members (or weapons as Rodders likes to call us): 30-34: Designer Jon + Snap Jock Grant, 35-39: Rodders, 40-44: Stevie Davidson, 45-49: ‘Naked’ Chris Roberts, 50-54: Mr. Malloy, 55-59: The invisible superhero, 60+: Defector Derek (poached from the Chain Reaction team).

The journey here was 24hrs long and the ‘ol DIRT van needed to be zip tied together, but 8 zip ties later and she’s held 400 miles and looks good for another 1200. Given the amount of flies around the only option is to go fast to get away from the buggers…they are everywhere. I thought they only hung around dead things, but then we are at the Masters Worlds where everyone is decaying anyways, so maybe that’s the answer.

The track is a high-speed, wide open, off camber, and sandy as f**k affair with only a few technical sections. Day one of training went relatively smoothly, with only Designer Jon tasting Pra Loup’s finest earth sandwich, until the last run of the day when the heavens opened and the off camber sections of the track turned into an ice rink. Snap Jock Grant binned it x3 in 300 meters trying to do his best Hill drifting impression.

Day 2 (yesterday) and the track had changed drastically with ginormous  braking bumps appearing amongst the 2 feet of dust that covers the entire length of the course…it’s more like trying to go fast down a sand dune. Again Snap Jock Grant had a massive off as well as Mr. Malloy, but thanks to the dust both got up unscathed. Today was morning practice which we’ve just finished with qualifying this afternoon. Designer Jon and Rodders ate the arid earth but are unharmed and ready to pin it later today. Stevie Davidson looks like our best chance of a podium and Mr. Malloy is confident he can improve on his 8th place finish last year. We’ll put up the qualifying results later this afternoon but for now here is a random selection of snaps for your leisurely perusal…

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It’s day three of the Masters World Champs here in Pra Loup.