UCI cat C Oceania Champ Cameron Coles

With two races to choose from last weekend one being a French cup and the other being the Spanish Maxxis open we (Skinner, Xmas, Rankin and myself) decided to head to Spain to see another part of the world, for a new track and some different competition. The race was held at Port Aine close to Andorra in the north of Spain . With some good organization, a good bike and a good weeks riding in the lead up to the event we were all confident of a worth while weekends riding. The track was good with lots of flat turns some tight at the top, a steep rocky section in the middle and a fast open last third of the course to the finish at 2000m. Practice day was dry and dusty with the track burning in nicely, blowing out in places and getting rougher. With some over night rain on the eve of race day the track conditions were no longer dusty but slick in places and grippy moist in others.

For the first race run the track had dried nicely and we all had clean runs down the hill. I was one of the first juniors down the hill on my Lahar DHVM9 and set a 3.07:5. There was then a nervous wait in the hot seat until the pinners came down the hill. I ended up winning the first race run by a second but needed a good second run to make sure I held the buffer knowing we would all go faster second time down. I was eventually kicked off the hot seat by Nathan Rankin who set a 3.07:3. Spanish Maxxis MSC rider David Vasquez won the first run on a 3.00. Second Race run was seeded from the first and I was last junior down a clean fast run gave me a 3.02 winning junior and eventually placing 6^th overall. Xmas and Skinner put in good second race runs in Elite both striking some good form on the bike. Once again I was kicked off the hot seat by Rankin who set a 3.00 good for 2^nd, Vasquez eventually won it with a 2.57. Can’t wait to race again in a couple of weeks and looking forward to the Mont Genevre Maxxis international in a month’s time.

Cameron "frodo" Cole

Race Report 1 Willingen world cup and Scoul Swiss cup

Round 3 of the World Cup series saw the circus head to Willingen, Germany. The course was flat at the top with lots of big jumps meaning being smooth would pay off. The middle of the course steepened up and had rock sections on most straight-away's built with large rocks. The end of the course opened back up again in the finish area with more jumps and fast turns. The four cross track was tight with flat and off camber turns at the top good for the non BMXers. Further down the track opened up big jumps more big jumps and a tight rhythm straight.

Four cross on Saturday night saw a big crowd in for the night’s action. Cameron Cole the only kiwi entered in the event qualified 21st. First round Cole meets Euro BMXers and Dave Wardell. Euro BMXer and Cole go through. Second round Cole meets more Euro riders and Mick Hannah. Hannah and Euro go through Cole crashes last jump whilst in 3rd. Graves takes the win as if the Aussies aren’t dominating the gravity events already.

The second day of DH practice saw much of the top 80 to be hucking a massive hip in the middle tree section. The lahar loved the straight lines through the large rock sections, the bike just sticks to lines remarkably well. Xmas hurts his wrist hucking his metal at the top of the course making a difficult weekend even harder. The Honda boys, Kovarik and Peaty looked fast in top 80 practice. The race on Sunday saw Cole, Rankin, Holland and Leov out of the kiwis make the final. Pattle, Holland and Skinner all had bikes stolen on the eve of the race so had to borrow bikes for race day. Finals time and the kiwis weekend didn’t get any better Rankin first down the hill and a crash on the last jump left him with a hole in his elbow and a tweaked body. Holland next down clean on Hannah’s borrowed cannondale not a bad effort. Cole crashes on the hip in the mid tree section ending a not so good weekend for the NZ stormers, dented prides and sore limbs leaving Germanslochen. Peaty took a smooth win by one second on an otherwise tight time sheet from Minnaar and Atherton G.

The first round of the Swiss cup series in Scoul saw a battered kiwi trio drive 8hrs deep into the heart of Switzerland in a roached out hatch back. The course was steep, rocky, dusty and rough by the last run of the weekend fully blown out. Claudio Calouri set the pace all weekend and eventually took the win from Allan Beggin and Sam from Switzerland. Rankin ended up 6th after some bad luck and a still sore body. Cole 13th and Xmas 24th the weekend saw some good riding and some not so good. The Lahar m9 was working brilliantly over the whooped out rocky track and tracked through rough corners with ease. Let’s hope it gets better for all of us over a weekend off to recoup and we see some new bikes arrive within the next week too keep everyone happy.