After a long and eventful weekend of racing, I am finally back on the grid chilling at Jacko’s house again. Here’s how the weekend went down.
Last Thursday we arrived at the scout camp where we would be staying during the race. It is located up in the deep jungles of Mt. Keira, just outside the city of Wollongong. A group of us stayed in a small room with six bunks, right next door to where the party would be (not a good choice as we would soon find out). One this we found out quick was that there were lots of leeches around. You couldn’t walk through the grass without getting them on you. It was nasty to say the least.
The next morning was the first of two days of practice, and as the trip had been so far, it was raining. After a few practice runs in the wet, we went straight into qualifying. Even though I had a crash on my run, I still managed to rank 26th. I called it a day after that, and went back to camp hoping to do better the next day.
Fortunately I did, and with a dry day for the second qualifying run, I claimed the number one position. I headed back to camp confident and ready to race the next day.
Race Day! The day started on with a couple of practice runs then went straight into racing. It was dry and I was feeling confidant, a good recipe for racing. After several heats of racing, I was in the semi-finals. I was racing against James Kelly, Duke Deegan, and Jayden Mitchell. We pushed of the starts and were immediately in a tight pack. After some drafting and passing, I made my way to the front just before the finish line. Jayden and I made it through to the finals. As we lined up the finals, with Dalua, Patrick Switzer, Jayden, and I, it began to rain. I pushed off into third and while Pat and Dalua went full speed into a corner, I held back. As they slide off the road thanks to the wet, I pulled a drift and railed the corner. From then on I had a giant lead and cruised down for the win.
That night the party happened. Due to our poor decision to sleep next to the party room, we couldn’t sleep till the party died (4:00AM). As per usual, everyone got pretty rowdy. I got drenched with a fire hose, and my buddy Curtis fell down some stairs going through the jungle. The next morning we woke up and headed back to Jacko’s place in Sydney where I am now.
