It was a good feeling to land back into Europe and know the next two races were going to be World Cups. I really enjoyed my time racing in the US, great tracks and good team mates to hang out with. Aaron and I landed into Glasgow airport pretty early and picked up our rental car. It wasn’t a bad drive up to Fort William but the jet lag was lurking around and I was glad to get there and have the day to chill out at our hotel.
First impressions of the Fort William course was that they had built a new main jump on the final section (motorway) and a new wood section leading into a road gap which feed into some new berms. Good to see some changes but this course is a classic and will always be special the way it is. I had really good motivation this year to do well in Scotland. Its a course in the past that has been hard to figure out for me and my results the last few years have been average. I was determinated to change that this year.
Training with my team mates Aaron and Neko we sorted out our lines soon on and started to get up to speed. Our Suspension this year has taken another jump up in preformance and in the past I’ve had arm pump, well this year none! Feeling good, qualifying came around and I was ready. 6th place and my team mate Aaron posted fastest time. Good feeling and motivation to throw down in the final.
Finals day and it was time to get into it. I started my race and hit the first section really well, but as I hopped some rocks into the middle section my front tire felt like it was going flat. I started to worry and as I hit the next few corners could feel it folding a little. I slowed just a little to feel it out but then noticed it didn’t seem to be getting worse so got back into my run. I hit all my sections after that pretty solid and came into the finish on a good time. Three kiwis were sitting in the hot seat and we were all around the same time. I ended up with 8th overall, pretty stoked to be back in the top 10. When I returned to the pits I checked my tire and I was correct my pressure was sitting at a low 22psi.
With a storming run Aaron was looking good for the win, nearly 5 and half seconds up at the split time. Then without notice washed his front wheel on an inside line and lost his margin. It was an impressive ride and one that still gave him a podium in 5th.
Tracy had also done the business and taken out the Woman’s field, in doing so her 5th win at Fort William. This meant we were top team of the weekend and all got to go up on the podium. Its been a while since I’ve been up there so I was excited. A good finish to a great weekend!
I now have moved from 26th in the Overall to 10th going into Austria.
