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| Oceana championships –
Rotorua, New Zealand, 5th March 2006 |
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With the Jetlag finally gone, we arrived in Rotorua feeling pretty
good again.
The drive from Napier was awesome with some beautiful scenery and
crazy roads, leading us to our new home for the week at Kiwi DH
racer Craig Pattle’s house.
We spent the first 2 days riding and checking out the town in preparation
for the world championships in August. We did some amazing singletracks
in the Redwood forest and some BMX on the local track. As a bit
of cross training we decided to help Craig sort out his mothers
garden. These acts of charity got Fabien a spot in the local newspaper….
Back to racing – we met up with the track designer Alden on
Wednesday and had a look at the track, it was completely different
to what we had expected. It was very technical, steep, and not much
pedalling. The soil was very soft and it looked like the track was
going to churn up pretty easily so the suspension settings and tyre
choice would be critical.
By Friday, Tracy and Fabien were both excited about riding the track.
They both decided to run Maxxis High rollers for the training, but
soon felt that the ground was soft enough to go to Mud tyres, so
wet scream and swampthings were out for race day.
Sunday morning came around very quickly and we had the suspension
Dialled on the Stab Supremes, Fox DHX5.0 was set active for all
the loose off camber, and we stiffened the Marzocchi 888’s
for taking the big hits on the steep sections.
Practice was cut short on Sunday so Tracy did not get a run in and
Fabien only managed one.
Seeding runs went well and Tacy and Fabien both ended up 2nd. Which
was a good position considering the level of competition, the field
was filled with Top pro racers, like Mick Hanna, Sam Hill, Cedric
Gracia, Sabrina Jonier, Vanessa Quinn……..
By the race run, the track was pretty wrecked but Tracy manged to
hold on to a convincing third place on the same second as Sabrina,
with Vanessa taking the win.
Fabiens run went exactly as he planned, in control and smooth on
the tight technical sections and then carry his speed through the
grass and flat sections. He smashed Sams time by 2 seconds to take
the victory.
RESULTS
Women:
1st - Vanessa Quin, 3:38
2nd – Sabrina Joiner 3:40
3rd – Tracy Moseley 3:4
Men:
1st – Fabien Barel 3:08
2nd – Sam Hill 3:10
3rd – Cedric Gracia 3:12
4th - Mick Hannah 3:12
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