Welcome to Granton, the location of the second round of the VDHS. Nestled in some Australian bushland the track was partially destroyed by bushfires in 2009. The conditions for the weekend seemed less than optimal with a forecast predicting rain all weekend, and upon arrival it was evident that, for Saturday at least the weather man was spot on.
The air was damp, the track was saturated and very slippy! As riders began to make their way down the track the clay beneath the top soil started to rear its head, making clogged tires grip even less!
That didnt stop the smiles through the mud caked faces though! Saturday practice was full of carnage with riders sliding off line and off track from top to bottom.
The concept of practicing became more like an active game of avoidance with riders sprawled out everywhere. The sun did eventually show its head Saturday, but only momentarily, but the fleeting sunlight did aid in the drying of the track and improving the conditions. Although, saying that itA�may of slowed the tracks running time down by making it very sticky.
Sunday arrived and suprisingly so did some sunshine, the rain appeared to of moved on and the track was in great condition, riders began flowing down track in a much more consitant ride and the weather conditions now made it favourable to ride.
More and more of the bigger lines were being hit and soon enough all the top riders were taking enormous slabs of time off the previous days efforts with riders coming past noticably quicker. By the time qualifying began the track had almost dried out enough that there were areas of loose top soil forming.
With Qualifying wrapped up Trent Piribaer took the top quali spot. With racing beginning the only change to the track was the amount of riding happening on it, there was no rain and no altering of conditions making for fair racing and tight times. At the end of the day Dean Lucas walked away with honour’s in Elite Men and Sarah Booth took the top spot in Elite Women.
Elite Men’s Podium
1 Dean Lucas
2 Jesse Beare
3 Oli Zwar
4 Trent Piribauer
5 Joel Panozzo
That wraps up round 2, plenty more action on it’s way soon though!
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