S.
ex offender
Two weeks after Round 4 at Buller, Round 3 of the Victorian State Series made its merry way to Mt Baw Baw, home to one of the most fun tracks around, and the first DH event hosted by newborn club Gippsland MTB. In stark contrast to the fog and mud of the previous season’s round at Baw Baw, this time racers were treated to blue skies and dusty braking bumps.
Saturday practice had the 220+ entrants cramming runs thanks to the superbly organised transport. It has to be said that Gippsland MTB have raised the bar when it comes to transport; at worst, riders were facing a 10 minute wait at the bottom. Unlike some venues, Baw Baw definitely has the turnaround space and the access road to accommodate the number of vehicles GMTB supplied, and it’s encouraging to see a brand new club get it so right on their first attempt. Blue skies and temperatures in the low 20s made for great riding conditions.
The Baw Baw track would best be described as “old school”. No big jumps, no steep deathly chutes of death, in fact a beginner could ride the whole track from top to bottom in complete safety. Riding the track fast proved to be quite another matter however, with big ruts, loose rocks, blind corners and a drifty layer of dust and small rocks over much of the track helping to sort the boys from the men, though some of the U19s boys had other ideas.
Saturday night was as loose as the jeep track for much of the field, and it showed on Sunday morning when the water truck was called in to hose a family-size lawn pizza off the road. After a couple of hours’ practice, the relatively small Elite field was treated to a seeding run with series points, meaning everyone qualified and even those who crashed got to race. Alex Swann qualified first, a comfortable 3 seconds ahead of 2nd qualifier Jeremy Hamilton, with crowd favourite Woody 0.02 seconds behind in 3rd. However, U19s pinner Aden Wyber decided it was time to disconnect his brakes entirely and smash the field, qualifying first by a massive 10 seconds, with a time 6 seconds faster than the fastest Elite time.
Expert men were looking as tight as ever after qualifying, with the top 10 separated by just 4 seconds. When the dust settled after race runs, Ben Rohloff took the win by just 0.65 of a second. Despite what looked like a number of near misses in practice, evidently nobody told Ricky Clarke that hardtails aren’t meant to go that fast, but a solid run saw him destroy the hardtail class by almost 15 seconds. Race organizer Nick King showed off his local knowledge, taking out Vets by a couple of seconds, and fellow Gippslander Leonie Picton beat off her only competition in the Elite Women – sister T-racey – by 30 seconds. Vic DH needs more girls, get into it!
As the sun got lower in the sky and the shadows drew out ever longer, the U19s and Elites strapped up for a second run. Fastest qualifier Aden Wyber couldn’t quite match his stellar qualifier, but again beat off serial podium offender Ben Barrett to take the win by two seconds, with Marcus Fairbanks a close 3rd. Once the quick little buggers had finished, the Elites began their runs on the ever more blown-out track, with the crowd down the sides of the Jeep track getting even more revved up, spurring riders on to acts of bravery, stupidity, and sometimes just crashes. At the bottom, stories of near-death experiences, lucky escapes and crash escapades began to circulate, with the central focus on the microwave-sized rock that had mysteriously appeared in the middle of the main line after a blind corner, halfway down the track. It soon arose that a number of the usual podium suspects had either crashed or made other mistakes, with Lincoln Verass taking a big tumble in the jeep track, Sam Hocken spinning out two corners from the finish, and Alex Swann making some mistakes on the track. Quiet achiever and 2nd place qualifier Jeremy Hamilton upped the ante from his qualifier, knocking 5 seconds off to take his first Elite win over Hocken and Swann.
All said and done- great track, great organization, great time and tons of fun. Thanks to Gippsland MTB and all the volunteers for running the show so smoothly, and of course congratulations again to Jeremy, as well as Aden Wyber for the fastest time of the day. If you didn’t go to Baw Baw this year, don’t be dumb enough to miss it again next year, there are rumours of a national round!
Results can be found HERE.
Saturday practice had the 220+ entrants cramming runs thanks to the superbly organised transport. It has to be said that Gippsland MTB have raised the bar when it comes to transport; at worst, riders were facing a 10 minute wait at the bottom. Unlike some venues, Baw Baw definitely has the turnaround space and the access road to accommodate the number of vehicles GMTB supplied, and it’s encouraging to see a brand new club get it so right on their first attempt. Blue skies and temperatures in the low 20s made for great riding conditions.
The Baw Baw track would best be described as “old school”. No big jumps, no steep deathly chutes of death, in fact a beginner could ride the whole track from top to bottom in complete safety. Riding the track fast proved to be quite another matter however, with big ruts, loose rocks, blind corners and a drifty layer of dust and small rocks over much of the track helping to sort the boys from the men, though some of the U19s boys had other ideas.
Saturday night was as loose as the jeep track for much of the field, and it showed on Sunday morning when the water truck was called in to hose a family-size lawn pizza off the road. After a couple of hours’ practice, the relatively small Elite field was treated to a seeding run with series points, meaning everyone qualified and even those who crashed got to race. Alex Swann qualified first, a comfortable 3 seconds ahead of 2nd qualifier Jeremy Hamilton, with crowd favourite Woody 0.02 seconds behind in 3rd. However, U19s pinner Aden Wyber decided it was time to disconnect his brakes entirely and smash the field, qualifying first by a massive 10 seconds, with a time 6 seconds faster than the fastest Elite time.
Expert men were looking as tight as ever after qualifying, with the top 10 separated by just 4 seconds. When the dust settled after race runs, Ben Rohloff took the win by just 0.65 of a second. Despite what looked like a number of near misses in practice, evidently nobody told Ricky Clarke that hardtails aren’t meant to go that fast, but a solid run saw him destroy the hardtail class by almost 15 seconds. Race organizer Nick King showed off his local knowledge, taking out Vets by a couple of seconds, and fellow Gippslander Leonie Picton beat off her only competition in the Elite Women – sister T-racey – by 30 seconds. Vic DH needs more girls, get into it!
As the sun got lower in the sky and the shadows drew out ever longer, the U19s and Elites strapped up for a second run. Fastest qualifier Aden Wyber couldn’t quite match his stellar qualifier, but again beat off serial podium offender Ben Barrett to take the win by two seconds, with Marcus Fairbanks a close 3rd. Once the quick little buggers had finished, the Elites began their runs on the ever more blown-out track, with the crowd down the sides of the Jeep track getting even more revved up, spurring riders on to acts of bravery, stupidity, and sometimes just crashes. At the bottom, stories of near-death experiences, lucky escapes and crash escapades began to circulate, with the central focus on the microwave-sized rock that had mysteriously appeared in the middle of the main line after a blind corner, halfway down the track. It soon arose that a number of the usual podium suspects had either crashed or made other mistakes, with Lincoln Verass taking a big tumble in the jeep track, Sam Hocken spinning out two corners from the finish, and Alex Swann making some mistakes on the track. Quiet achiever and 2nd place qualifier Jeremy Hamilton upped the ante from his qualifier, knocking 5 seconds off to take his first Elite win over Hocken and Swann.
All said and done- great track, great organization, great time and tons of fun. Thanks to Gippsland MTB and all the volunteers for running the show so smoothly, and of course congratulations again to Jeremy, as well as Aden Wyber for the fastest time of the day. If you didn’t go to Baw Baw this year, don’t be dumb enough to miss it again next year, there are rumours of a national round!
Results can be found HERE.
