[Editor’s note: Neil’s far too modest to mention the fact that he managed to find his balls this weekend and take the Masters win, and with it the NZ Southern Island Masters title. In fact he was claiming that someone stopped in front of him on his race run, and if they hadn’t he’d have been up with “them young whippersnappers.” He then asked for his slippers and some Werthers Originals, so we’re not sure how seriously to take him. Either way, congratulations mate and good luck on the overall next month!]

Words: Neil White and Matt Wragg
Photos: Max Carter-Smith

NZ Nationals Rnd 3, Nelson, 23-24 January 2010

Another week, another NZ National – they don’t let up with their schedule, with three races in three weeks. We’re now into the mid season break where racers get a whole two weeks off, before the series shifts up to the North Island for another three races in as many weeks... Along with no let off on the dates, there was no let up on the track this week either, with arguably the best track yet.

Nelson offered a track of one gradient and two halves - it was steep all the way through, barely letting up until you crossed the finish line. The first half was really rocky, not as boulder-like as Dunedin last week, but smaller rocks that were really loose and sketchy. Lower down the rocks got fewer and you got into the fast, fun moto-style berms. And then there was the monster double near the end that definitely needed big boy balls to hit. With rain both nights, Welsh riders would have felt at home in the thick mud at the start! As the days went on the track dried out and the rocks got less sketchy and you could carry more speed through the berms.

St Johns’ Ambulance (over here they get real medicine and training, not just paracetamol and bandages) weren’t quite as busy this weekend, although horror stories of one rider with two dislocated elbows and another with a back injury were going around the pits. Best wishes to them if either story is true.

In the Elites, Justin Leov had an off-weekend managing to only seed 6th and finish 7th on race day – this didn’t stop him taking the South Island title though, by a comfortable 18 points. In seeding Nathan Rankin took the hot seat, but couldn’t follow it up on race day, dropping five seconds on his seeding time. In the end Matt Scoles put in the fastest time of the weekend (although only a second faster than Rankin’s seeding) to take the win by just 1.8 seconds from Fabien Pedemanaud. Brook Macdonald came back from a huge stack trying to whip the last double in practice to finish 0.2 seconds behind and round out the top three. That was also enough to see himself take second in the South Island overalls.

Shock of the weekend came in the womens, with Kiwi Harriet Harper putting in the fastest time in seeding. Sabrina Jonnier has comfortably dominated the series so far and she had to beat her seeding time by more than fifteen seconds to win on race day. In the end Harper ended up 3.74 seconds behind Jonnier, seriously impressive when you think that Jonnier has been around twenty seconds ahead of the field in the two earlier races.

 
Harriet Harper rode a blinder this weekend.

For the Brits it was a mixed weekend again. Matt Ineson missed the race when he snapped his bars landing a drop in practice and went flying over the bars off the track. He was complaining of a sore arse after, but some things are better when you know less about them. Joe Flanagan managed to keep it together in Senior Men and landed a solid 8th. Sam Shucksmith seemed to have no luck, with his tyre rolling off his rim in both his seeding and race runs.

A big thanks to Max Carter-Smith for the photos.