NZ Nationals Round One, Dunedin 16-17 January 2010.

Anybody hoping for the NZ Nationals to mellow out after round one’s savagery was in for a huge disappointment when round two rolled into Dunedin. Standing over the city, Signal Hill is home to some of the toughest tracks on the island. And some very big rocks. If you think the rock garden at Gethin is big, wait until you see the three here – they look like boulders and feel like they go on forever.

NSMB?s Trev Scott didn?t really get on with the rocks...

Brook MacDonald on his way to the podium.

Starting from the monument at the top of the hill, the track had everything in it. It has a good mix of savage rocky sections, roots and flat out open parts. Being Dunedin it drizzled both mornings, making the rock gardens sketchy as hell. The casualty list was pretty steep again too, and one guy even hit the Red Cross pickup. Luckily first aid was on hand for him...

Wyn Masters, still on board a Lapierre.

The pressure was on Justin Leov this weekend. Having moved to Dunedin recently and set up his shop, Bike Otago, this is now his home track and all eyes were on him. That pressure was eased when his main rival, Sam Blenkinsop, went down on Saturday and broke his wrist. Word is that it isn’t too bad a break, but it’s got to be a real setback for his World Cup preparations.

Leov showing everyone how to tame the rocks.

With Blenkinsop out of the picture Cameron Cole made it onto the second step of the podium, just two seconds back. Brook MacDonald was hard on his heels another half second back. It will be worth looking to see if Matt Scoles makes it onto the WC circuit this year, as he claimed fourth ahead of both Fabien Pedemanaud and Wyn Masters. In the women’s field Sabrina Jonnier continued her dominance, taking the win by a comfortable 16 seconds.

Jonnier was looking dominant again this weekend.

It wasn’t such a good weekend for the British riders. On Saturday Ali Parkin hooked up the big stepdown near the end and cracked both his frame and his wrist. Joe Flanagan was going well on race day, but went down and wound up near the back of the field. Sam Shucksmith fared better taking sixth in open men.

Ali, before everything went wrong.

Joe still on it, despite taking a fall.

A big thanks to Neil at NZSnaps for the photos again.

Words: Neil White and Matt Wragg
Photos: Neil Gardner (www.nzsnaps.com)