Video: Josh Clark's 2015 NSW State Series

Over the last few years, I have grown up alongside Josh as we raced and filmed together. It quickly got to the stage where he was constantly at the top of his category and eventually raced up this State Series. The last year has seen great things for himself, getting the top results at both State and National level, getting picked for the Australian Development Team, as well as being picked up by Mondraker Australia's team support.


These advancements in his riding and support have significantly affected his results in a good way. This has led to his Overall win of the 2014/15 National U17 series, and second place at the 2015 Oceana Championships. This confidence achieved from these wins and podiums has led to him stepping up category (from Where he should be in U17's to U19's) in the State Series to have some harder competition.


This year has seen amazing results in the junior category alongside great friend Harry Parsons. It has been a constant battle between the two, seeing them be the only two in first place over the four races. Starting off the season in April, we headed to Thredbo for the ultimate race track in Australia. This seems to be a favourite for many riders, especially Josh who has done well here before. He took the win and got a good head start on the overall.


Before the next race, there was a long break. Eventually, July came around and we had State Championships show up. Del Rio is a very short and fast track where a minor mistake can cost you multiple seconds, and ultimately the win. Josh wanted to stay safe and conservative because of the lack of room for error. A few minor mistakes had him come in slightly off the pace in second place, still a great effort.


Early September brought the second round, down in the coastal region of Wollongong, home of Green Valleys Mountain Bike Park. This trail is relatively smooth and only houses a rare supply of rock, it runs really fast but isn't too technical. In previous years, Harry has had great results here which have given him a time to compete with the top dogs, it has to be his most favoured track. Similar to Del Rio, it's very short and leaves no room for error, so he tried the same format of taking it cautious. In the end, it didn't work out leaving him in second place again.


Onto the final round a few weeks later, Josh knew there was a long, flat pedal at the end so put in the effort during training to pull in the result he wanted. Lithgow, in the Blue Mountains, West of Sydney hosted the last race for the year on the trail named Pony Express, a trail that Josh was a fan of, but hadn't previously got the win on before. After the fourth year of racing this trail, Josh took the win and was very happy with his result. This final win ended up giving him the edge he needed to finish the series as the leader, taking out first place.


Sponsors - Mondraker Australia, DHaRCO Clothing and Gloryfy Eyewear.

---

MENTIONS: @MattStaggs / @DHaRCO / @mondraker

---