Overnight we had some rain dampening the track and leaving it a little more tacky in some places, but also much more slippy in other areas, from the second the track was open we saw this slippery-ness catching out many riders. the dampness had aided slightly in the wooded sections though, with the track showing signs of much more rain than we were aware had fallen. A notable victim of the track today was Aiden Varley, who unfortunately has broken his wrist, fingers crossed it will heal up quick and in time for some of the North American races. He is in good spirits, getting inspiration from Sam Hill injury a few years ago where he raced one world cup post injury and won world champs.
The Sun was out today though, drying the track quite rapidly, and leaving the forested areas very loamy and loose, with some dust flying in the second woods, the first woods seemed to have a much more compressed dirt which ended up being very slippy with the moisture being draw in from the previous part of the track.
With the morning complete, timed practice begun, seeing riders come down quite spaced apart oddly, how ever as the sun beat down here in Leogang the rides began flowing. With only a short time to go in timed practice the dark clouds surrounded the track and the heavens opened, with light rain at first, but then much heavier rain, leaving the track slippery, muddy and very wet. With enough time left in practice many opted to do a wet run, to ensure they were practiced up in case race day was similar, however by the end of the timed practice the sun was back out and drying the track back out.
Images: Jason Stevens Photography (@jasonstevensphotography or on Facebook)
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