Tim takes another convincing win at the KZN regional. Here is what he had to say…

On the 29th of May the 6th round of the Greg Minnaar/mongoose downhill series took place at Giba Gorge mountain bike Park. This was probably going to be my last provincial as I might be overseas for the 7th round, This means I felt a lot of pressure to pull of a win and finish of the series well.

Practise went well and the track was very dry and loose, the sand was like pebbles and was hard to get good grip on. There were quite a few falls during the day but luckily I managed to stay on the bike the whole day.

Racing started off at one, and I was the last man down the hill. My first run went well making a few mistakes here and there, but it felt pretty fast. I managed to get the fastest time, 3 seconds ahead of Mongoose rider Hayden Brown.

I was hoping to go faster on my second run, but I made a few mistakes and didn’t get my lines as good as I wanted to. I ended up getting the same time as my first run and I still kept my 3 second lead over Hayden.

Overall I was very happy and it was a good day. I was stoked with the win and was also stoked that both my dad and brother podiumed in their age groups.

I would just like to thank my sponsors, GT bicycles, Omnico and Greg Minnaar cycles.

Overall results

Tim Bentley        1:37
Hayden Brown            1:40
Justin Cope        1:40

My next race is on the 13th of June at Mankele mountain bike park Nelspruit.

Keep it pinned!

Regards,
Tim Bentley.

]]> http://www.nsrmtb.co.za/tim-bentley-race-report-giba-gorge/feed/ 0 http://www.nsrmtb.co.za/matt-smith-race-report-final-gp-regional-at-mankele/ http://www.nsrmtb.co.za/matt-smith-race-report-final-gp-regional-at-mankele/#comments Mon, 31 May 2010 08:59:54 +0000 Lloyd http://www.nsrmtb.co.za/?p=4162

Matt’s back with another race report from the final regional of the GP series at Mankele…

The Final of the Regional Pints Championship Series seems to have come round within a blink of an eye. A short season due to the World Cup in South Africa has crammed and entire season into almost just under 6 months.

No rest has been hard on rider’s bodies and pockets as it has meant sometimes two away races a month leaving little time to adjust training or recover from injuries and make some more money to get to the races.

The last Round of the National Series in George seems like just the other day and it was time to load up the cars, vans and trucks to hit Nelspruit. This is one of the most fun and technically challenging tracks on the circuit. The Central Gauteng Organizers had arranged for the Final of the Regional Series to be held up at Menkele Bike Park just outside Nelspruit to add a new flavor for the predominantly Joburg and Pretoria based riders. It would also be a benefit as in just two weeks the Final of the National Series hits the same venue.

Historically this venue has been raced very early on in the season or later which has often thrown some strange weather into the mix. The Low Velt was looking decidedly wintery when the riders arrived on Friday and Saturday to start practice. Dry and dusty was the order of the day but the track had been ravaged by erosion and the Menkele Bike Park Crew had made changes to the exposed top section to deal with this.

The super fast top section had been turned into a meander across the open section, forcing riders to power down and pedal hard to hold speed. Wooden berms were placed at the end of each straight to fire the riders back and forth across the slope. Towards the bottom of the open section it became more familiar with a super fast ski jump before dropping anchors and dropping across the access road and then straight down into the forest.

As dark and steep as always, this is the part the riders like the most. A true test of bike handling, braking and physical dexterity to make it through one of the steepest and challenging sections of downhill in South Africa. “This is our Champery!!”

Once again this was bone dry and running faster than ever before. The sting in the tail of this track as always was the final rock garden that promises to throw you off as your arms have been worked to death through the hard braking corners and by the time rider reach the rocks they can barely hang on. Make it through the rocks clean and it’s a last few power strokes and the line.

Matt Smith was in good spirits before the racing. “I always like coming here. I’ve taken some big wins and even nabbed the All African Continentals Champs here last year so me and this old hill are mates. That said I’ve also taken some of my biggest dives here. At the Champs last year I just about blew myself up and barely made it through the race with some huge injuries to my leg and neck. Even here today (Saturday), I was taking James Moreland down his first run to show him some lines and came into the bottom rocks super hot, threw and extra crank and bottomed my pedal on a stump. I got thrown sideways and into a tree before I knew what had happened. I remember three big bangs as I bounced off  trees and rocks and then black. When James rolled in behind me I was upside down with my head wedged under a tress in the fetal position crying for my Mum….HaHa!! Still I managed to get up with just a badly bruised hip, ass, arm and pretty bad whiplash. Leatt brace, Giro helmet and Thor gear saved my skin again…Thanks, and thanks to Jammer for removing the tree from my head”

“Since George I’ve been hammering the road bike with BMX Brad and throwing interval sessions on the wind trainer as well. I felt that I was down on Power on the George track so took the few weeks to really focus my training on that aspect. The bike is perfect so I’m just building in the horse power now. My pre season prep was spot on so the base is dialed in but with the short season it’s almost impossible to change the tempo with enough time for it to be a benefit. George did make me feel much more positive about my skills though and I felt the speed come back to be for sure. I think I had a smile on my face the whole weekend and I’m feeling the same I Menkele, even cleaned it through the nasty switchback drop three quarters of the way down on my first run. Still remember Brad loosing his mind on the side of the track s I popped it onto the front wheel and endo’d in”.

Race Sunday and the picture of Menkele Bike park was very different indeed. It had rained the night before from midnight the whole way through. What was dust was now mud, rocks were ice and it was still raining. Kit choice changed, race strategy, tyres, set up, everything needed revising.

“I woke up and looked out the window….Bloody Rain! Was my first reaction. Then I just went and robotically changed my tyres to wets, went digging in my kit bag for rain jackets and pants and threw on some tear offs on my Von Zipper Goggles.

When you’ve raced as long as I have you don’t really get fazed by the rain. For me rain and mud racing is a mind set and there is a procedure to follow. Firstly you must pack the right gear and be prepared with wet tyres, rain gear etc. Then you just deal with it. To win a mud race is simple….don’t crash!!.., cos you can pretty much guarantee everyone else will. Ride within the conditions and your own capabilities and try where possible to not change lines to much otherwise all the pre race prep is out the window and you’ll ride a line you haven’t practiced”

“I did a practice run on the morning of the race and was happy with how my wet tyres were hooking up and felt comfortable straight away. I was confident I could pull a run out. I watched as everyone else tried in vain to get it together on dry tyres and I just got myself ready to race. That’s the win almost done straight away for me. The mental win”.

We all loaded up and got to the top to start in the clouds and it was freezing cold and misty and still raining a little. I had taken a brand new pair of Von Zipper Bushwick goggles, loaded them with four tear offs and torn out the top foam so they wouldn’t steam up on me. I wore my practice gloves on the way up and zipped a fresh dry pair in my pocket so I knew I’ve had warm and clean hands for my run. In this weather hands is almost the most important thing, it they’re cold they just down work, simple as.

Racing

Starting order was based on Regional points accrued so far which had Matt as one of the last riders down. Only Dirk Lourens was after him making it a very lonely start in the eerie fog at the top of the hill.

News was filtering up the hill that riders were crashing all over the place and being caught by other riders. The track was chewed up and running very slow in the forest.

Matt Smith lined up in the gate to battle the hill.

“I was ready for this run, really ready. Nicely warmed up and knew I had won the Mental battle and had the perfect set up. Ripped of a tear off with 10 seconds to go and stared into the first corner. I shredded it out of the gate, smooth of the first drop, gently over the first berm and composed for the second. This was where I was gonna unleash the dogs and let the power training come out of my legs. I was still cranked over coming out of the berm and threw down the power through my pedals…BANG, CRASH, WHALLOPP!! I hit my inside pedal on a rock and before I could recover I was over the bars and man down. I sat there for a while just thinking… Can I ever get a good first run in…Please? I pulled off the side of the track and watch as Dirk Lorens came past looking confused to hit his run.

No way I was going to just roll down the hill knowing I had a crap time, so I pushed back up to the top and asked François the starter to let me do my second run straight away. He agreed and I had two minutes to get back in the zone. Now it was on. Gently does it through the berms, well clear of them before I powered and the legs were warn and laced with adrenaline so I was flying now. Good top section, shouting as I crossed the road as there was no marshal cos they thought that was all riders down after Dirk. Came hot into the forest, cleaned the first few drops, ragged around the big sweeping left before the track drops. Then clean through all switch backs. The track was like riding in mash potatoe, Legs were burning out of every corner as the bike got heavier and heavier with mud. I was still on it though, into the rocks and smoothly though, no drama, power cranks and hit the line. Felt like a fair run. I’d tried hard and stayed up…it had to be a good time. It was. Fourth fast. Now I wait. You see I had done my second run when everyone else still had to go up and do theirs.

My good friend and training partner BMX Brad had thrown down a stonker and was in the hot seat. He’d asked me about tyres in the morning and I told him to put the wets on and they hooked up. I was sitting comfortably ahead of the rest of the sub veterans who were all running dry tyres and running about 30 seconds down.

There was nothing else do but wait. I got cleaned up and packed the Bantam ready for the cruise home and even got to go up the track and watch my warrior downhill mates attack the rock garden on their second runs.

It was obvious from watching that everyone had learnt their lessons in the first runs and were smoothing it out for run number two and staying upright. I wasn’t out of the woods yet. My closest competitor in the Sub Veteran Category had crashed his first run and called it a day. That left Damien Van Tromp and Antonio“Quicksilver”Da Silva to play catch up. Both looked focused and strong in the rocks and I had to wait till times were worked out to see if I had it”.

Matt Smith did what he had trained for and set out to do. He took the Sub Veteran Win by a huge margin and capped off a Regional Championship season with a victory.

“I think experience played a big part in my win today and I’m super stoked to take the win at the final. The best feeling is knowing I’ve got what it takes to win here in any conditions and with the Nationals just two weeks away I’m more focused and positive than ever”.

The other great thing to come out of today was my Good friend, Mikes Bikes team mate and training parnter BMX Brad Illingworth taking a convincing victory in the Pro Elites. It’s his first win in that class and it’s great to see all out hard work in training pay off. Congrats Shorty”.

Results:
1st Matt Smith 3.24
2nd Robin Rumbelow
3rd Antonio Da Silva

Matt Smith holds 2nd place in the MTN National Points rankings going into the Final Round which will be held at Menkele Bike Park on the 13th of June. Mathematically first place is out of reach but a strong top 4 result will see him retain the second place overall for the 2010 season.

Matt’s next race will on Sunday the 13th of June at Menkele Bike Park in Nelspruit for Round 4 and the Final of the MTN National Downhill series.

With the race season being packed into the early part of the season to accommodate the World Cup of Football the National Champs will be held at the Fort Klapperkop track in Pretoria on the 18th of July. This is a one off event to name South African Champions from this race.

Matt has won several races there over the last few seasons on the super-tech rocky and dusty track and will be looking to claim a Championship Jersey to end off a hard season.

Big Thanks to all my Sponsors for giving me the equipment to hold it wide open!

Mongoose Bikes, Match Insurance, Thor MX, Von Zipper, Liqui Moly, Mikes Bikes in Greenside, Frerichs Customs, DC Shoes, Kenda Tyres and tubes, RedBull, Giro Helmets

Here is Tim’s race report…On the weekend of the 15^th and 16^th of may the 3^rd round of the south African national cup series took place in George, Western Cape. The drive down was extremely long and tiring but I arrived very excited to get on my bike and ride. The track in George has to be one of the most fun tracks, but it is definitely one of the most tiring and rough.

In past years I hadn’t done to well in George so I was quite nervous coming into the race as the overall leader of the series. I was feeling the pressure but I knew I could pull off a better result there than in recent years.

Friday practise went well and the track was very dry and loose. Luckily that night it rained so the track become very tacky and hard pack. Practise went very well on the Saturday and I felt supper pinned and smooth.

Sunday finally came and I was full of nerves, I knew it was going to be hard to pull off a win. After 2 practise runs in the morning it was time to race! I set off on my first run feeling really good and peddling as much as I could. I was having a good run till right at the bottom where I clipped a stump and went over the bars. I landed quite hard on my shoulder and got some nice roasties. I got back on the bike and finished my run, I managed to clock the fastest time in the juniors and I was 9^th overall with my crash, so I wasn’t too unhappy.

It was time for my second run and I was feeling quite sore from my crash, but I knew I could make up time. This run went much better but I took it a bit more cautious than the first. I improve my time by 8 seconds and ended up placing fastest junior and 4^th overall, only a fraction of a second off 3^rd.

I was happy with my result but knew I could have done better if I didn’t crash, which irritated me. But I guess that’s racing! I would just like to thank all my sponsors: Gt Bicycles, Omnico and Greg Minnaar racing, they have all been such a great help to me this year.

Next race is In Nulspruit on the 13^th of June.

Keep well!

Cheers

This is a segment filmed for YO TV by Jeremy Martin that aired a few weeks ago. There was a song that I removed for copyright reasons and the audio only plays out of one channel.

Tim is making it happen this year with his riding and his media friendly approach. Here is his latest race report…

On Sunday the 25th of April the 5th round of the Greg Minnaar, Mongoose KZN downhill series took place at fern cliff forest. The weather was looking good and the track was a little dry but it was super fun. The track used the top part of the national track and finished with a long steep twisty road, which non of us were really used to, never the less practice went really well. Race runs kicked off at 1:30 pm and I was feeling pretty confident. My first run went alright, making a few mistakes at the top but I still felt really fast. I ended up placing the fastest time, 3 seconds ahead of Hayden who was in second.

The second run went a little better than my first, going about 1 and a half seconds faster. Hayden managed to also go a second faster, but I still kept my 3 second gap on him. Overall I was pleased with my result and it was good to be back on the top again after not winning the last two provincials. The bike held really well and I had no problems at all, feeling as good as ever.

I would just like to thank all my sponsors: GT bikes, Mr price, Omnico, and Greg Minnaar racing.

My next race is in George on the 16^th of May and it is the 3^rd round of the nationals national.

Regards,

Tim

Overall results

——————

1 – Tim Bentley 2:41
2 – Hayden Brown 2:44
3 – Travis Browning 2:48

Tim sent in his race report talking about his first ever overall national victory…

Photos: supplied / Mike Hannah

On the weekend on the 11 and 12 of April, the second round of the South African Downhill Nationals took place in Pietermaritzburg, KZN. Coming into the race I was lying second in the series behind Greg Minnaar, but unfortunately he wasn’t at the race this time round.

The pressure coming into the race was high and I was very nervous, as I had to try follow up my last result, nevertheless I was feeling good and strong. I felt fit and ready to try and get a good result.

The track was really good, with a tight, twisty and technical top section, which then led into a very long peddling section and finally finished with a super fast section with some big jumps.

Practice started on the Friday and the track was super dry and loose, nevertheless I felt really good on the track and had a great practise session. Saturday was the next day of practice and the weather wasn’t looking too good, as it was very wet and misty. The drizzle eventually cleared up leaving the track nice and moist at the top and very slippery in the forest sections. The day’s practise went well as I got all my lines dialled and the track slowly dried up to become very grippy.

Sunday finally came, which was race day. I was feeling the pressure, but was also confident as I felt good on the track. After one last practise run before the race started I was all ready to race.

Next thing I knew I was in the start gate ready to go and I was the last man down the hill. My run started off really well as I got all my lines super pinned, I then entered the peddling section and I knew it was going to be hard. I peddled all that I could, I’ve never peddled so hard in my life. I finally reached they bottom and was anxious to hear my time, at the same time I was half collapsing with tiredness. I managed get the fastest time down the hill, 3 seconds ahead of Johann Potgieter. I couldn’t believe it as I didn’t think my time was that fast.

I went into the second run with a 3 second gap to second place and a 4 second gap to third. Unfortunately my second run didn’t go as well as my first as I washed out in a few places, so I had to rely on my first run time.

Luckily when I reached the bottom I was relieved to hear no one had beat my time. Johan had bettered his time, but I managed to beat him by a second. This was my first proper overall national win, as Greg Minnaar beat me in the first round. I was extremely happy with my result.

The race was very close and I had a really good time. I also got to meet my team mates in the GT Mr Price cross country team which was really cool. Overall the weekend went really well and I had one of my best races up to date. I had no problems on the weekend and the bike felt super good as normal.

I would just like to thank Erik (team manager) for the support and for lending me a GT Mr Price gazebo, which helped out a lot on the day. I would also like to thank all my sponsors, Gt/Mr Price, Omnico and Greg Minnaar racing, and thanks to Neil and Lance (Omnico) for the constant support.

The next race is on the 16th of May in George.

Regards,

Tim

That guy walking down the track after the racing is finished that nobody notices. That guys point of view you all know from the DVD player. This guy is Clay Porter and after reading his interview will discover his best work is yet to come…

You can visit Clays official site clicking here

NSRMTB: Your last video was the Tipping Point. What are you working on now?

Clay: Well, right now I’m focusing on the Atherton Project which is a bi-weekly, fly-on-the-wall reality TV show starring the Atherton family. So that finishes out, theres 2 more episodes so I when Im down with this I go back to the UK for 2 weeks and do the last episode of that and then really I focus on…I’ve kinda started…I haven’t publicly released information yet but I’ve started a new production company with John Lawler who used to work for MTBcut last year. This year he did the Specialized and Santa Cruz web videos and my other friend John Reynolds who took over my job at Yeti. So basically all three of us are starting a new production company together  with me kinda directing the films, so we are gonna do…a couple project in the works but nothing that really I can quite say yet. A few sponsors are in the works. Basically new things are coming. Its going to be a different kind of, you know in the past with the Tipping Point and F1rst its all been me really. So now I have 2 filmmakers who are good friends of mine and who I think are two of the best kind of race filmmakers out there. So we’re all kinda working under one production company and it should be pretty cool.

NSRMTB: So its like a Collective sort of deal?

Clay: Yeah a little bit, cause you know I kinda reached the capacity with what I can do by myself, like the Tipping Point was a lot of work you know. So, I just, ah, decided it was a time for a change you know. So I think its gonna be good like change it good creatively too you know, now we have 3 heads are stronger than 1.

NSRMTB: Just so folks know, with all the footage you got from the Tipping Point, how many hours of editing was that?

Clay: Oh, it was…it was actually edited, the whole film was probably edited…I was editing the night before I flew to South Africa so it was super down to the wire but it was probably about a hundred hours of footage maybe edited down to an hour long film. So, yeah, editing time was about a month but that was literally like, that month all I did was edit you know. Like Saturday night I’d be in there editing so, yeah.

NSRMTB: With a lot of piracy around some folks will look for your video online way before they think of buying it. Do you think maybe the way forward is releasing stuff digitally only like on iTunes or something similar?

Clay: Yeah I mean definitely iTunes is a great resource for not just for films but obviously music you know, its changed changed the way people buy music and its doing the same with films. So I think there’s always going to be people that want to hold something also like with the Tipping Point I prided myself with doing some pretty cool packaging so theres always people that are going to want that. But at the same time like iTunes is a great way to get your films out to a lot of people, you know.

NSRMTB: When I reviewed the Tipping Point that was something I noted was the packaging was cool

Clay: Oh was that, I think I read that review

NSRMTB: Yeah I liked the way you opened it up and it had kind of an egg box carton insert to hold the disc. The booklet was very cool as well. Etnies did the same thing with their Grounded video, their last BMX DVD they did.

Clay: Yeah its kinda like, I definitely get inspired by all the kind of other action sports films.

NSRMTB: Speaking of BMX’ers will you be working with Harrison Boyce from Defgrip on any of your packaging in the future?

Clay: Um, yeah Harrison is a good friend of mine and he didn’t actually do the packaging for the Tipping Point, someone else did, but Harrisons the kinda guy that you know, will always be in the rolodex. He’s such an amazing designer. Definitely he is the guy to turn to if you want to do something outside the box and really good.

NSRMTB: Is there one particular rider thats fun to work with or easiest to work with?

Clay: Its weird cause its like, doing this for quite a lot of years a lot of these riders have become, like my good friends so its not really one. Once youre actually in the field shooting its…but to answer your question I’d say, in terms of like a guy like say Brendan Fairclough is pretty hard to beat in terms of like style on the on the bike. But all the top guys, I mean, Gee and Sam and Peaty they’re all good to work with you know.

NSRMTB: Is it just Mountain bikes that you shoot? You ever shot any Moto or BMX, anything like that?

Clay: I’ve done a bit of kind of Moto, bit of BMX but right now the MTB stuff just takes up all my time all year round. Its definitely something I would like to get into and with the kinda two other guys I have working for me now hopefully that will allow me to do some Moto stuff and some BMX stuff.

NSRMTB: Have you ever been hit by a bike while filming?

Clay: Um, have I…I’ve had some injuries on the zip line, cable cam stuff but nothing too serious.

NSRMTB: When I reviewed the Tipping Point I mentioned it felt like the MTB version of the Great Outdoors Motocross videos by Troy Adamitis. How far off was I?

Clay: Pretty close. I was definitely pretty inspired by those films. Thats something you know like before there was always like the Earthed series and before that Sprung that kind of documented the racing but there was never a filmmaker that really, you know did the documentary style with the interviews and dramatic music and all that. So Great Outdoors was definitely a huge inspiration for what I do and I think, its pretty easy to tell if you watch both.

NSRMTB: Who do you think will the man to beat in 2010?

Clay: Ummm oh I think you gotta look at Sam Hill, I mean he just won the World Cup series. The cool thing about this sport right now is that its not like, a couple of years ago I think everybody was looking at Sam as, you know he’s almost unstoppable on some tracks which I still think, and Sam proved he’s the best in the world, he won the WC series. But I think its a very level playing field right now we’re in an exciting time for the sport you know we got guys like Sam and Gee and Peatys world champ now. Those are the top guys and you also have this kind of new talent like Brendan Fairclough and Sam Blenkinsop and these guys really putting the pressure on the top 4, top 5 guys. I’m more next year excited to see what a guy like Brendan Fairclough can do you know, he’s proved he can have a few podiums. Who knows you know.

NSRMTB: So Steve Peats win was pretty crazy and you were obviously there filming it. Ever thought of maybe making a documentary about how long it took him and the path leading up to his amazing win?

Clay: Thats kinda one of the projects thats in the pipe work with this new company.

NSRMTB: I’m pretty on the ball here!

Clay: Yeah you pretty much called it so expect it. Expect it next year sometime. We’ve actually been working with Steve on it for…maybe 6 months to a year now. So it should be pretty cool.

NSRMTB: You have shot all around the world, different locations from South Africa to Brazil. You must have some pretty shady stories?

Clay: Tryin to think of…its usually we’re, I dunno in terms of shady stories.

NSRMTB: A friend of mine was just filming in Barcelona and he just got all his camera stuff jacked, he turned his head for a second and it was gone.

Clay: Its more like just camera stuff. I’ve gone through 3 cameras this year alone. I get em repaired but 3 kinda, they get dropped. Its like when you shoot everyday and your always traveling they’re gonna break. So I dunno, shady in that way I guess. But everyone around the scene is super cool we tend to, I dunno…doesn’t get too shady.

NSRMTB: What are some websites that hit up on daily basis? Anything for inspiration or news, design stuff like that?

Clay: I think in terms of Mountain bike world right now VitalMTB is kinda a step ahead of everybody else which, Shawn Spomer and Swen Martin. In terms of design stuff like Defgrip like you said is really good, thats cool cause its kinda BMX and the design thing. Crailtap, Skateboard website. Um I’m trying to think of a..its I dunno I tend to just look at all sorts of stuff. But a lot of like where I get…I’m the biggest fan of action sports. I bet I watch more action sports than anybody else in the world, you know so. Definitely um, to all the aspiring filmmakers out there you know, watch stuff outside of Mountain biking and not stuff outside the sports. Watch other documentaries and feature films.

NSRMTB: Coming back to the Great Outdoors and Troy Adamitis I don’t think he can even ride a dirt bike so he has an outside perspective, yet that one that works.

Clay: Yeah I mean its definitely, its good like too you say Troy Adamitis doesn’t ride and its good to step back you know and I’ve realized that now. You get so involved in this sport and it just becomes your life and its good to step back and check out other sports, other films and its good for the head, good creatively.

NSRMTB: Have you ever seen Yeah Right the Spike Jones skate video?

Clay: Yeah its awesome! Spike Jones is coming out with Where The Wild Things, his latest feature so I cant wait to check that out.

NSRMTB: I don’t think he has done anything since Being John Malkevich?

Clay: Adaptation? Was that his last movie? I think his last feature was like 2003 which was when Yeah Right came out. Even skate videos like Fully Flared, thats amazing. I definitely respect Spike Jones. I think if you talk to any action sports, anyone, you know the dudes just a creative genius. I’m sure Where The Wild Things are will be different.

NSRMTB: Most people don’t know he started out on a bicycle as well (BMX) and most people think he is a skater.

Clay: Yeah its rad. Specially the way the sport is going if you look at, I don’t know any kids that grow up and say “I want to play Baseball or soccer”. They want to ride BMX and they want to Skateboard or Mountain Bike. Action sports are, well it is the future and its only going to grow and grow and grow. I guess its a good place to be in.

NSRMTB: So for the videographers out there can you breakdown what equipment you use and editing software?

Clay: I use a Sony PMW-EX1 camera, used that for the Tipping Point and then all the new stuff. Final Cut Pro to edit. I don’t really mess around with lens adaptors or anything like that just cause I am always, you know when you are at a race you don’t want to be messing around. So the camera is good cause its relatively small and the image is pretty nuts.

NSRMTB: Its kind of a corny question, but what is one thing that nobody knows about Clay Porter?

Clay: That no one knows about Clay Porter…one thing that very few people know when I was 17 I got arrested for building a dual slalom course by my house.