NZ DH Nationals, Round 2 - Napier
Connor going full style on his race run, with a T-Bog to finish it off.
The morning light greeted riders with a track that was in the same condition as it was in practice the day before. This meant that everyone could quickly pick up where they left off and focus on the smaller details, which could put them on the podium.
Practice started early today, so the golden light was still shining as the first riders came down the hill.
Lines were still being discussed up until seeding.
Oscar Perks crossing the 4x4 track and into the last section.
Double stepping across.
Louis Hamilton following the light.
Cole Lucas cruising during morning practice.
Somehow he managed to ride out of this...
Ride within the tape, but when the course is taped wide, you can make your own lines. That's exactly what riders did, a high line formed that would bring them into the berm below at a better angle.
Craig Tomsett taking the high line.
Lunch.
Connor Hamilton exploding out of the berm.
Brook dropping low through the off-camber.
Connor Hamilton giving us a wave.
Peter Bethel tailing of Bryn
The pits were busy as riders were anxiously waiting for seeding to commence.
Lisa Horlor was looking focused throughout the day, and would seed second in Elite Woman.
Finn Parsons was solid today, seeding first in U15, 7-seconds up.
The Bulldog, cutting the landing on his seeding run to seed seventh, 3-seconds back from Wyn.
Avoiding the off-camber altogether, Blenki bounced to a fourth place seeding.
Keegan pumping hard into the last feature, seeding third
Wyn flying out of the berm to seed first, just 0.3 seconds up on Louis Hamilton.
Rider #CAM. Local rider Cam Barrett was the sweeper for the event, and was up there with the fastest on his trail bike.
Finals
While Leonard Sonntag didn't make the podium, he did come away as the winner of the Big Bri Huck Comp, that took place earlier in the day.
Cameron Mackenzie taking the high line.
The reinforced catch berm proving very useful as riders slammed into it hard.
Shania Rawson may have been the only Junior Girl racing, but her time was fast enough for her to have podiumed with the Elite Women.
Jason Gurr rolling through to take second place in Masters 1.
Nathan Rankin pulled out a stunning run for finals in Masters 1, putting more more than 19-seconds on second place, and finishing in the top 10 overall.
Finn continued to stay ahead of the rest of the U15s, finishing up with a 7-second win.
Charlie Makea riding out the catch berm to take third in the U17s.
Oscar Perks railing the corner, finishing 3rd in the U19s.
Cole Lucas was consistently fast throughout the weekend. He took first in the U19s, by 8-seconds.
Jonathan Kennett coming through to take the win in the Senior Men, 3-seconds ahead.
Lisa Horlor going all in, but wasn't able to hold on to second place, dropping back to third in Elite Women.
Ronja Hill-Wright popping into the final jump. A big improvement from her seeding run, she finished up second in Elite Women.
Sarah Atkin came super close to losing the race after casing the last jump, fishtailing to the side of the sensor and into the bush. Luckily it was soon confirmed that she was picked up, and took the Elite Women's win by half a second.
Keegan Wright didn't gain as much over his seeding time as some of the others did, dropping him back to fifth.
Louis Hamilton about to launch, taking third place.
Even with his sprinting finish, Blenki wasn't able to back up his win at 440, having to settle for second.
The crowd watched on as the last rider down the hill sent it. Wyn couldn't manage to keep the fastest time though, falling back to fourth.
It seems that the home track advantage paid off for Brook, knocking 5-seconds off his seeding time and taking the win today.
Elite Women's Podium.
Fist Bump.
Elite Men's Podium.
Until next time, Napier.
That was the last of the North Island races, the next round is Nelson on the 29th January, which is being run as part of the Giant Top Gun Event.
MENTIONS: @DemoB
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NZ nationals are competitive eh?! What a line up
Massive legs though!!