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

Tags: Matt Smith

This entry was posted on Monday, May 31st, 2010 at 10:59 am and is filed under Interviews, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.