World Championships

World Championships

I flew out of Monterey on 18th with Jerry Bradford to San Fran. We had a few hours to spare once we got there so just went to get some grub and then boarded the plane. We then flew to Auckland, New Zealand. The flight was ok the food on Air New Zealand I gotta say is awesome! I’m not really a fan of plane food but it was really good. We landed in Auckland and then met up with Denzel Stein and a few others that came in from L.A

The flight some Auckland to Adelaide was 5 hours so it went by fast. I slept most of the way so I watched a few movies and it was time to land. Australia is super strict on bikes that are dirty coming into customs so I made sure all my bikes were scrubbed! I was the last person off the plane which meant I had to stand in the long customs line. It went by fast and I went through and had to un pack both my cruiser and 20” for the customs official to see that it had no dirt on it haha crazy!

The plan was to meet Kane at the airport and get a taxi to the hotel. Well Kane missed his connection flight in Sydney, So I waited a few hours and tried to find out if he was in fact on the plane and the guy wasn’t allowed to tell me so I just left. Took the trip through Adelaide and reminded me a lot of South Africa! I got to the hotel got some grub and hopped in the jucoozi/hot tub bath we had in our room! I was pumped on that haha.

A few hours later Kanebook arrived after missing his flight in Sydney. I tried staying up all day so I could sleep the whole first night and be in the sleeping patter which worked out good! We had a team meeting down stairs the first night to get number plates and everything and then headed out to dinner.

It was good catching up with all my old friends from S.A I get to see them once maybe twice a year so its always a good time. It was a early wake up call for Kanebook as he had practice first thing in the morning.
The track looked good really big start hill and some decent sized jumps. Our elite practice was only on Friday after the racing so it was a long wait just had to sit around and watch and help the fellow team mates, which was good I enjoy helping out.

Kanebook’s racing day came and I was excited to see him ride since he trained suuuuper hard for it. He had Cory Cook in his motos and they pretty much rode away from the field. Kane breezed thorough motos. ¼s Kanebook had a terrible gate and almost lost it but ended up winning it! Semi he rolled out getting the win. I told him that he could win it for sure. He had a decent gate and a clean lap taking the W2 spot. So was really pumped for him!

Elite practice came and there were abunch of people blowing themselves up on the pro section. The first one was a decent gap nothing to crazy and the 2nd one was a giant step-up with a super steep backside, so you couldn’t tuck it you kinda had to boost it and nose it in. I was having trouble with the gate and first straight so I just focused on riding the track and would knock out the gates the next day. I got the track good and was amped.

Practice day 2 was even better I got the gate and first straight dialed and was ready for racing. SA had 3 Elites, Myself Jordan O’keeffe, and Dean Holdstock and 3 Jr elites, Wayne Gerber, Lloyd Dodd and Paolo Selicato. The Jr’s rode the best they could of and didn’t make it out of motos.
My first Moto I had 4th lane choice so picked lane 4. I had a good snap and got 2nd behind Luke Madill. 2nd Round I messed up on the pro set a bit and got 3rd. 3rd round I knew was gonna be the important one cause they use ur 3rd round time to seed you for the 1/8ths. I had a awesome gate and won that moto.
Jordan was battling a ankle injury but still rode good missing just missing the cut off. Dean had an easy moto and got 3rd 3rd 6th.

1/8s staged up and I had 2nd lane pick and chose gate 2. Martijn Scherpen was on in gate 1 and Luke in 3. I had an average gate and moved into 3rd in the first corner behind Luke and Martijn. I was on the inside of the 2nd straight and it was a really sharp turn if you were on the inside going into corner 2. So I tried moving over but the more I moved over the more Luke moved my way. I tried staying kinda low in turn 2 but ended sliding out. I was really bummed as I was in qualifying position. All things happen for a reason so you just gotta roll on. Dean rode his 1/8 and didn’t make it out either.

All in all it was a good experience and am looking forward to training and the races to come!

I will add some pics in the next update of Worlds and Adelaide.

All for now,
GLUBBEco