A weekend of good results for NORA CRS Development rider Mitch Conway at Landrake Moto Parc in Cornwall for the 2024 NORA Motorsport Team Event representing Cotswold Youth and AMX Club.
Here is how the weekend went for Mitch!
The weekend didn`t start well, with a 6 hour journey down to Cornwall and not arriving until after 9.00pm. This caused an issue for Mitch, because he didn’t get to eat until way after 9.30pm. He was representing the Cotswold Youth and Amateur MX Club and was hoping to improve on his 7th individual overall and help Cotswolds retain the Youth Class title from 2023.
Saturday – Practice was a little tricky, due to the Youth group being first out and several riders crashing on the steep jump take-offs. It became very sticky, which wasn’t Mitch’s preferred conditions, as the ruts hadn’t had chance to form, but he did manage to qualify in 16th place, for the gate pick for whole weekend.
Race 1 – He managed to get a reasonable start and moved up and around the outside of the first corner and down the hill towards the S bend in around 7th place. Everything was fine until he tweaked his right knee again, in a deep rut and made the injury that he sustained in a crash at the NORA CRS Boot Camp even worse. He later mentioned that it was so bad, that he almost pulled out of the race, but managed to keep it going and only losing 2 places, for a 9th place finish.
Race 2 – After the track conditions improving and dosing up on Paracetamol and Ibuprofen, it followed a similar pattern to Race 1, with a 9th place finish. After the racing, the CYMX team kindly put on a BBQ for the team members, which was superb.
Sunday, Race 1 – Mitch was riding in some pain and struggled with a bad start and couldn’t find any flow with the sticky track conditions again, the less said about this race, the better as he had his lowest finish of the weekend, in 13th place.
Race 2 – A mediocre start, was gain turned into a positive, with tactical passing around the outside and he managed to come around in 7th place. This was consequently halted by a rider slipping and crashing on the face of the second table top jump and Mitch having no where to go, other than fall off the side. He remounted and came around in 13th place. This was a wake-up call to him and he rode like he knows he’s able to, catching and passing other riders, to cross the line in 8th place. We think that if he hadn’t of crashed, he would`ve been easily challenging for a top six place.
This meant that Cotswolds finished in 3rd place for the Youth category and Mitch frustratingly finished in 10th overall for the individual standings, but it should be remembered that most of the top 15 are all national standard riders and the closeness of their lap times, reflected this.
Lessons learnt for the weekend – proper nutrition and sleep is crucial, leading up to the weekend and that maybe it’s time to visit a health specialist, for Mitch’s knee injury, as we feel it could be a ligament issue.
Many thanks to the NORA CRS Development Team and all associate sponsors and our personal supporters www.factorymotocrossgraphics.com @nataliebolton11 www.missionmx.co.uk www.jamesesmithtimberproducts.co.uk
