Belmont PNP - Davo, Davo & Whacko Report

Better late than never. Though best to get this in quick as the Wild Wellington Relay was on today and the BLR has Slacky, Angry, Whacko and Kah strutting their stuff. Reports will follow once they recover.

Teh Race of Mono
The fourth round of the PNP series at Belmont was an interesting one for me. I knew that a win would throw the series my way, so felt a tiny bit of pressure before the race, especially considering I didn’t really enjoy the course and haven’t done any training since August. I also had a new bike for the race which I’d only ridden once a couple of days before the race. Factor in that it was the first time I’d raced a hardtail since Karapoti ‘04 when I was a teenager. Nice one.

I had a decent climb from the start, at the front into Danzig with Rhys Musson close behind, and Hamish Collie on his tail. Along the 4wd and into the paddocks I only ever had about 50m on Rhys. Every time we got to a fence/gate he eyeballed me (Can’t blame him, he’s only human) as he got within spitting distance. I caught up with Marco just before the road section and gave him some shit for making everyone ride through acres of dung.
Rhys caught me on the Sweetacres climb and eased past. As he was doing so I introduced myself and he returned the favour. For the rest of the climb we were within 20m of each other, with Marco keeping us company. After a brief descent we headed along to the saddle again to head down the bridleway. Rhys was about 40m ahead of me, and he missed the turn off. I yelled out, and motioned for him to follow me. I cruised for a bit to let him get back past me. I would have felt shit if I’d won because everyone else got lost. Honest.
On one of the wee pinch climbs up towards the end of chopper he made some enquiries about Bushlove Racing. I suggested he ring our office during work hours and speak to Cindy, our receptionist (I gave him Kah’s home phone number). I followed Rhys down Big Weta, and possibly startled him when I started w00ting half way down. That was loose, and great fun. Turning back up Danzig I sat on his wheel and stayed put at a comfortable pace. At the rapist hut he found a slippery root (hur hur) and I snuck past. We ended up walking/jogging about 70% of Danzig this time up. God it was frustrating.
From the top when we popped out of the little dogleg bit I put a burst in and pulled a wee gap before hitting Chopper. I’d ridden Chopper earlier in the week with Davo with no dramas at all, but the rainfall had made it more exciting come race day. Only one minor spill for me, with Rhys close behind at the start of Big Weta. I managed a good run down this time, and extended the lead just enough to rule out the possibility of any kind of sprint finish. My chicken legs were feeling good though, so I just carried on and enjoyed splashing through the stream before steaming up the road to claim the win. Rhys finished close behind, about 20 seconds I think, so great stuff there to get such a close race. Unfortunately for Hamish Collie he took a wrong turn (Possibly the victim of botched marshalling) and arrived at the finish a little early.
As I’ve had 3 wins and a First Loser in the four rounds I’ve got the senior men title wrapped up, so will be steaming into Pro for the final round on my home trails for some pain and a good arse whipping.

Davo's Race....

Short report - I was riding a rigid singlespeed with v's. The course was fine for it and I really enjoyed the different challenge. The start went well and I hopped off and shouldered the bike to pull away from the M1 and Elite (who joined us at the base) I stayed away from everyone incl Wayne and Stu Houltham, till the top of Danzig. I was chuffed.

I faded out a little on the SS but good ole Bushlover Jase Goldie gave me a hand-sling and I was back in the game. I rode with Wayne for the first while and was chasing Tony the Tiger who was riding hard. I faded slightly heading towards the airstrip and Wayno gave me a little push which spurred me on to catch Tony. Sadly we had entered the 4wd section and Tiger revved the big ring and gave me the good news. Although I gave Tiger a shout when I saw him on Sweetacres (hoping to rattle him into making a mistake ;-) I never caught him and he romped on to a fine win, his first MTB win I believe. What legend. I held off Angry Clive to hang onto second.

An awesome race. The slippy singletrack was mint. I went off a bank on Big Weta and my bike went over my head and we landed in a tiny stream. I was back on in no time and not hurt. Phew! I enjoyed the old school racing in muddy fields, with the rigid and my rainbow gay pride polyprop.

Looking forward to Makara. After getting second at Belmont I am leading Slackboy Pincott on the point table. I think I have to finish close to him at Makara to take the series. Hard to do though. Slacky rules at Makara and built half the tracks!

Thanks to Nigel and Shane for pics. I would have been faster up Danzig if I had left my date at home (Tks Shane!).

A grand Bushlove day with many podium spots!

Cheers. DAvo.


Whacko Jacko's Report (Definitely written by him)

After cruising the paddocks for a date, I found Davo's goat and missed my start. Despite this I still smashed the field and got a tasty third. Bryn and Tom held me off, but I'm guessing they train and ride with gears, whereas I do neither. I chilled out on the way home listening to my mix tape of MC Hammer and Vanilla Ice. Those dudes rock me to the core.