Video: Tracey Hannah Racing And Sliding At Home

Eighteen years after having hosted the World Champs, Cairns was home to the 2nd round of the 2014 World Cup. With both Mick and Tracey Hannah being Cairns locals, this race was really important for the team as this is their home track. Track conditions were made unbearable due to the torrential rain that struck the course Thursday and Friday, making the greasy mud and roots even slipperier than they are in the dry.


For her qualifying run Tracey crashed but made it into a solid 7th place. After such a difficult day, the team got together to analyze what had happened and make ambitious plans for race day.


Saturday race day started under the sun. The track dried out in some spots, but overall remained very greasy and tricky. The drying mud was even harder to ride than in torrential rain as it made it more physical. Such track conditions lead to more than half the field crashing at least once in their race run: something no World Cup track had ever witnessed before!


Tracey had a solid run, a few times on the edge of crashing, but she kept it rubber side down and scored her first World Cup podium since 2012. Tracey is progressively regaining her strength and confidence in her ability to ride really fast.