First Race of 2024 – Let’s jump in at the deep end.
With all the recent wet weather, lots of racing had been cancelled, including 4 rounds of our club champs with Cotswold. But that hadn’t stopped us getting bike time with the awesome Thornbury MX at their various practice tracks. Saturday we headed to a private track for some bike time and to practice starts, just after lunch we headed to Oakhanger, the social media of the track build had excited us a lot! Seeing the track in real life, it was spectacular. The team at NORA Pro Championship had pulled out all of the stops, it felt and looked like a GP Event.
The NORA CRS Development team parked together and supported one another throughout the day, which helped Rafe a lot with his nerves, the team pulled together to fit Rafe a sand tyre and we were all set for Sunday.
10 minutes free practice + 15 minutes timed practice and we qualified 20th!
Race 1 – Time to get the head down, not the greatest of starts and a few tumbles during the race, Rafe finished 23rd. Lap times were similar to the top 15, so something to aim towards.
Race 2 – Track conditions were getting deep, which added an extra 10 seconds to lap times. Rafe got caught up with some fallen riders at the start, which made it difficult to progress through the pack. A few more tumbles, he crossed the line 26th.
Race 3 – Lets do this! Cracking start, Rafe managed to stay on the bike for most of the race and was running 16th, a mistake in a corner cost him 2 places and he crossed the line 18th!
The track was both physically and mentally tiring, more practice in deep sand needed. The event was amazing, it was awesome to watch and meet some of the Pro’s and ride against the top Supermini’s in the Country. The whole event was Live Streamed, which meant friends and family from around the globe could tune it and watch.
Our Motoloko Kit and Monster of Dirt Graphics were a real headturner and definitely set us apart from the pack. Dad kept on top of the bike cleaning with the always amazing Motoverde cleaning products.
Special thanks to Coach Robb, for his professional advice on fitness and on this occasion he helped us plan out what to eat and drink to ensure we were able to fire on all cylinders.
