FRENCH NATIONAL CHAMPS July 23, 2007
Posted by paulwalton in : Kona Factory Team , add a commentThe French National champs were held in Mongenevre last weekend. 21 and 22 July. As a contrast to the British champs the week before, it was dust, not mud that covered everything! It was a hot dry weekend and the track was loose and dusty, with some high speed sections, steep shoots and technical turns. This was not the type of terrain that suits Fabien’s riding, every corner was a lottery, there was very little grip and nothing solid to turn against. The track was short and physical which made it difficult for Fabien with his broken ribs and Injured foot. Training was difficult as it was very limited due to the different catagories that had to share the track, getting a full run was near impossible. Fabien had decided on an unorthodox tyre choice of wet screams and we setup his suspension pretty stiff to carry speed.
The seeding run was on Saturday and Fabien was the last man down due to his No1 plate, he managed a good clean run and posted the fastest time, however the top five were all very close, so he needed to make sure he could go quite a bit faster in the final to be sure of the victory. Sunday’s final was going to be tough for all the riders, the track had deteriorated and the wind had picked up, making hitting the last few big jumps like running the gauntlet!Fabien had regained his confidence after battling a bit in the training and having a crash that worsened his foot injury. He was ready to take the start!I watched him fly out of the gate and knew he meant business, he really attacked and started over jumping and blowing through turns, he was pushing hard for the top section and was already 2 sec up at the split. Shortly after the split he over shot a turn and lost traction, he went down! But in true Fabien style he stayed firmly attached to the bars and managed a quick recovery.He decided to attack the last section like his life depended on it and hit the last few turns like he was on rails. He crossed the line 0.7sec up and took the win! He was really pleased to retain the title. He commented after the run, that he did not ride very well, but that he passed a big step by being able to attack 100%, he also said that this was the first time since his injury that he was back in his race mind set. The preparations for the worlds are now well underway and with a few more races to come and some bike and component improvements, he is going to ready for another world champs title…..
BRITISH NAT CHAMPS - rheola forest - WALES July 16, 2007
Posted by paulwalton in : Uncategorized , add a commentHere is a summary of the very wet British National champs from 2007. My trip over was pretty easy this time, flight from Nice to
Bristol where I was welcomed by Tracy and a lot of rain! We drove east to the welsh coast near Swansea and then headed inland toRheola
Forest. It rained all day Friday and turned the track into a river. I walked the track with
Tracy, up and down (no chairlift here) and decided by the end that a canoe would have been better than my boots!!!
The tech site was a far cry from what we normally have at a high level race like this,
Tracy and I spent 2 hours scraping mud and digging a moat to try and get a dry patch to position ourselves for the weekend.
On a more positive note, the track was top class, with some high speed loose rocks at the start, then some technical slippery woods sections, jumps, north shore and a good gradient. We setup everything on Sat morning with the help of Ian Collins we had a pretty dry and organised pit to work from. A quick change of tyres and suspension settings and
Tracy was ready for practice, she went for Wet Scream’s to start with to make sure she could get down ok. As the day progressed, the rain eased up and the track started getting more slippery as the mud dried and turned to greasy clay. By the end of the day it was a tough call on tyres so
Tracy opted to go for the faster intermediate tyres as it looked like she would be using them for race day. This turned out to be a good choice as it forced her to take safe lines and conserve her energy on the pedalling sections. She had a good run and took the win in the seeding run 5sec ahead of Helen Gaskell.
Sunday brought lots more rain and the first hour of the day was spent trying to drain our pit area. Practice went well and the track had actually gotten faster due to the extremely wet conditions, the most difficult part was vision, plenty of tear-offs were going to be needed for the Final.
Tracy was the last girl down and the conditions were dismal, she managed a good run and attacked where she needed to, she managed to hit all her lines and avoid all the trees which littered the track. She commented that removing tear-offs was a really tough job on this track due to its technical nature so she had a few sketchy moments in the process. Overall it was a clean run and she posted the fastest time with Helen Gaskell in 2nd place. So a good weekend for us, well done to
Tracy and Thanks for all the help from Ian, especially his exceptional skills in jet was repair and hose-sucking!!!
WORLD CUP 4 schaladming AUT July 16, 2007
Posted by paulwalton in : Kona Factory Team , add a commentThis world cup started really badly for me, with a broken down vehicle on the way, the gearbox, clutch and flywheel all destroyed just before the Austrian border.I received a fine for having the wrong papers in the truck by the Italian police when they came to see what was going on, then they arranged a tow truck to take me to the border. I waited there for 6hours until the Austrian towing service to take me to the closest town about 6km away. I then spent the night in a hotel and went to see the garage where the truck was parked the next day. I wasted most of the morning waiting for them to make an assessment on the damage, they concluded that the flywheel had come loose and so damaged the clutch and Gearbox. They ordered the parts and promised the truck would be ready by Friday evening. Training started on Thursday so I had to get a rental Van, load all the stuff into that and continue the remaining 140km to the race (Thanks James and Tracy for help with the loading). I then set up the tech site with the rental on Friday morning. The Truck was ready on Friday evening so we went and got it, came back to the race, moved everything from one vehicle to the next and then all was ready for Saturday……. I took the rental back on Monday with the help of a friend.Just want to let you know that this was a major pain in the ass!!! And wasted lots of time and money. We really need to look at a new vehicle. This was a perfect example of where I really needed a helper, ended up having about 6 hours of sleep each night with a 1000km drive each side! If it was not for the Help of Tracy’s Boyfriend I would not have been possible for us to get everything done….. So, for the raceTraining went well on a really difficult track which was wet for the first day but dried out by the race. The riders were not very confident at first but as it dried and lines started to form, they got the speed.The seeding run went well for all 3 riders.
Tracy had a good run event hough she was not at full speed and managed to take first place ahead of Tracy Hannah.Fabien also went well, made some mistakes and was tired by the end, but managed to keep focussed and finished 3rd behind Sam hill 1st and G. Atherton 2nd. Kamil was not very happy with his run as he felt he had ridden really badly, however he was happy to see he qualified 47th.
The final was dry and rough, there were huge holes everywhere and hanging on to the bikes was going to be the biggest concern for all the riders, especially Tracy who was suffering with her grip after injuring her hand in Training.Her run went well in the top section and she was on the pace, however by the last minute of the nearly 5min track she was showing signs of fatigue and getting hung up on the rough sections, she was taking the safe option to avoid crashing as some of the other girls had and ended up being a bit off the pace at the finish. This put her in 4th place. She was not very pleased with her result as she had been riding well and it was not her skills that her let her down, but her hand strength instead. This track always tests
Tracy, so she was relieved have had a clean run in the final. For Fabien, it was a very close call with the rain, if the start had been another 20min later it would have been another wet race. As he prepared at the top, the clouds were building and there was a calm, still atmosphere. He was feeling good and confident before that start which was a big step for him as it was the first time since last season that he was feeling this.The run went really well for him and he was riding better than ever before in the technical sections, he was hitting his lines and avoiding the rough to keep his speed up. By the end of the technical section he was physically exhausted and started to make some mistakes, instead of slowing down to keep control, he stayed in full race mode and decided to try keep it wide open to the finish. Unfortunately for him a small mistake left him hitting a high speed jump unclipped, his foot blew of the pedal on the landing and that caused him to roll over his foot and loose grip, he did and amazing roll, refusing to let go of the bike and managed to get right back on, however he had lost time and that pushed him back into 11th place. He was disappointed but also pleased that he had finally found his race form and speed – just not the result this time.
Kamil had a solid run and improved his time by nearly 5sec and managed to get into the points in 48th place. He was really happy with his ride and was glad to have ridden to his potential in this race. 4XKamil had a good qualifying run and finished in 9th place on an extended track from 2006 where he won.He was confident and went through the first round easily. His second round saw him between Prokop and Longden on the gate, he had a good start and was in the thick of it on the first turn, Kamil and longden came together and lost speed, allowing 4th place to come through to third and Kamil slip into the opening. After 2 more turns, Kamil had clawed back to 3rd and was ready for the attack onto second, about half wat through the track he saw Longden hit a flag and was sure that he would be disqualified, so he decided to guard 3rd place and not risk making a pass and losing a place, he rolled down in third expecting to be pushed into second due to Longden’s mistake. Unfortunately the the
Marshall did not see what the cameras showed on the big screen so it was ruled in Longden’s Favour and Kamil was out! He was really disappointed with this and could not believe the attitude of the UCI commissare. He ended up 18th. There is now a break from world cups, and only the final remains.The good news for
Tracy and Fab is that they have both improved there overall position with 2nd and 5th respectively. Kamil is having a good DH season and standing 53rd overall.4X for Kamil is not going as well as last year and is 10th at the moment, however the gaps are not hat big so he could move up with a good result in the final.
WORLD CUP 3 - CANADA June 27, 2007
Posted by paulwalton in : Uncategorized , add a commentIt was a very successful weekend for the Kona Les Gets Factory Team, with all gravity riders making it onto the podium!
The trip went well and we all met in Montreal on Tuesday evening at the airport, squashed our luggage into the car and set out for the 3hr drive. After an hour into the drive, the clouds started appearing in the sky, the closer we got to Quebec the cooler it got and by the time We were 50km from the race it was really raining hard…looked like we were in for another wet race.
We (Tracy, Fabien, Kamil and me) went to walk the DH track on Wednesday. The track was wide open and fast for the most part, with 2 technical sections in the trees, All the riders were happy with the track, but knew it would be a hard race! The rain continued all day Wednesday.
Thursday was first day training, we were well prepared for the track and already had a good idea of what was going to be needed for the bike setup so just put the wet tyres on and the bikes were ready. Tracy and Fabien were also testing out some proto-type 2008 shimano XT components. The day went to plan for everybody and the new parts worked really well.
By Friday it had dried up and the riders were on dry tyres again, a few spots of rain in the morning threatened to change things, but fortunately never turned into much. The 4X training went well for Kamil and he was happy with the track layout.
Saturday was the XC race so the DH training was done on a slightly shorter track than the day before, Tracy and fab did some timed runs and were pleased to see that they were close to the fastest recorded times from the previous day. Kamil had a good qualifying run on Saturday and placed 5th in the 4X.
When I woke up on Sunday morning and looked out to see the bright blue sky, I was relieved that we were finally going to have a dry race!
The qualifying runs went well for Tracy and Fab and they placed 2nd and 4th respectively. Kamil did not do as well as the previous 2 races but he did qualify.
Tracy had a good start to her final and went 3 seconds faster at the split that her first run, but she made a mistake in one of the technical sections and ended lost some of this margin, to end up 1 sec faster than her semi final. The track had become much drier and the loose stones and dust had made the track slower, all the other top riders had gone slower by 3 or 4 sec, so Tracy was happy to have been able to pull her time down. Unfortunately it was not enough to take 1st. Sabrina took the honour.
Final results
Sabrina Jonnier 5:04.45
TRACY MOSELEY 5:06.77
Emiline Ragot 5:16.90
Tracey Hannah 5:16.92
Celine Gros 5:18.77
Men’s Final
By now the track had become really rough and loose, so we decided to make a tyre change at the top for a little more front wheel grip. The track was very physical and lots of high speed so Fabien knew he was in with a good chance, he also wanted to be sure of good finish to build his confidence so had decided to take some safe lines, he knew they were slower, but he did not want to puncture or take any risks. He rode really well and was strong all the way to the line. He did make a couple of small mistakes but still managed to beat his semi-final time and take 5th place. Fabien was really happy with his result as this is the first time in his career where he can say he is riding consistently, he is not yet back to full speed and has more to come by the end of the season.
Final results
Sam Hill 4:29.58
Greg Minnaar 4:31.27
Steve Peat 4:31.30
Matti Lehikonnen 4:33.00
FABIEN BAREL 4:34.64
59th KAMIL TATARKOVIC 4:58.31
FOUR – CROSS
This was the first world cup for Kamil this year where found his form, he was getting good starts and attacking well all through the rounds.
The second round 1/16th saw Kamil take the lead from the gate, but then he was crashed into by another rider, they both went down, but Kamil managed to get going again and make his way to 2nd place to advance to the 1/8th final.
He had some tough rounds but managed to steer clear of trouble and made it to the final.
The nights racing had shown that the race would be lost or won in the first turn. So, for Kamil it was going to be tough gate choice, he was against lopes, Polc and Scott Beamont. He was expecting Lopes to take a big lead off the gate and then pull in behind him at the first turn to close out the attack from 3rd and 4th. Things did not go exactly to plan for Kamil because he had an amazing gate and was along side Lopes until the first turn, this made him go really wide and left the gap open for Polc and Beamont. Kamil tried to attack again on the 2nd turn to get back a place but he had lost too much time and speed on the first turn so he had to sit out the rest of the run in 4th place. He managed to get back to the pack by the finish but it was not enough to improve his position.
Final Results
Brian Lopes
Scott Beamont
Filip Polc
KAMIL TATARKOVIC
Jared Graves
This was the first time at a world cup where we have had a podium in all the gravity disciplines, so well done guys!
Next Race World cup Schladming!
WC 2 CHAMPEREY - SWISS June 14, 2007
Posted by paulwalton in : Kona Factory Team , add a commentChamperey was challenging for all the riders, everyday brought changing weather conditions and the DH and 4X tracks were very technical. My travels started as always, with a little trouble. I got stuck on the swiss border for 5 hours because of 150kg overweight in the truck. I had to get somebody to drive up to the border and collect the excess from the truck before I was allowed to proceed! I got to the race half a day late late so I missed walking the track, that put me a at a bit of a disadvantage because this was probably the most technical track ever in World cup history, certainly the steepest! Tracy, Fab and Kamil all found it challenging just to make it down in the first days training. Brakes were of the utmost concern and we went through various combinations of the shimano components to get a system that worked well for each rider.
Saturday night brough a big storm to the valley and lots of water came down on the track, making the mornings training a nightmare for the riders. Also the chairlift was broken so it took a long time to get to the start using another lift.The qualification run did not not go well, Tracy crashed 3 times in her run and had a dual with emiline ragot who set off behind Tracy, but also crashed a couple of times.Fabien had similar problems, crashing twice due to the conditions. The final, saw a much drier track for Tracy and she was ready for a solid run, she had been riding amazingly all weekend and was disappointed with her qualification run. The result from the qualification had made her change strategy just before the start, she was going to try have a safe run and not push to make sure she got down ok and kept in the points. Unfortunately this did not work as she found herself hesitant and not getting her lines, she had a small crash at the start due to being off line, then it just snowballed for her, she had another 2 crashes which left her fighting to get her bike untangled from the crash netting and eventually crossing the line with a very disappointing 7th place. Marielle Saner had a home victory which was well deserved. Kamil was again riding a fine line in his qualification and managed to squeeze into the top 80, This was a very challenging track for him so he was very pleased to qualify! His race went well and he did not make may mistakes, no crashes for him so he was happy! He finished 28th, which is his 2nd best finish ever in a world cup. For once, it looks like luck was on Fabien’s side. As we were preparing at the top, we saw the clouds rolling in and air getting cooler. We had everything ready for wet or dry conditions, tyres, pedals, fenders… about 15min before the start we decided to take the risk and go for full dry setting, it had not started raining and the track was getting dry. About 10min before the start, it started to rain, just a few drops at first but then getting heavier as Fabien got into the staging tent. It was too late to make any changes so Fabien decided to run the same lines at the same speed, it was a risky decision as we could already see the track starting to shine with moisture. He had a very aggressive start and relised after few turns he would have to slow down to stay upright! He took it easy on the top section and lost 5sec to Matti. After the split, the track was dry so he managed to attack again and pull back a second to cross the line in 3rd.Then it really started to rain and with only 30 riders left it looked like he would stay in place. However, Sam Hill rode amazingly, and came down in a time that pushed Fabien back by 1 place. Overall resultsWomen DH1st - Marielle Saner
2nd – Emiline Ragot
3rd – Sabrina Jonnier
7th – Tracy Moseley Men1st – Matti Liehikoinen
2nd – Steve Peat
3rd – Sam Hil
l4th – Fabien Barel
28th – Kamil Tatarkovic Four CrossQualification did not go well for Kamil due to some mistakes and he ended up with a high number wich would give him bad gate choice all night. The race was stopped after the first round due the torrential downpour that soaked everything. We did a quick wheel change and Kamil was confident. He had decided to change his start technique a little which seemed to payoff as he had good start on his first round and proceeded to the second. In his next round he was up against Cedric Gracia and Michal Prokop so it would be tough! He had a good start and was along side Prokop after the first turn, then Cedric caught kamils back wheel which made him take his feet off the pedals just before the rock garden, Kamil lost 2 places and went back to 4th. He could not get back to the leaders so was out in that round. Prokop went on to 2nd place with Brian lopes taking the vitory. Kamil finished 17th. Next Stop SDA in fort William. RegardsPaul
WC No.1 DH/4X VIGO - SPAIN May 21, 2007
Posted by paulwalton in : Kona Factory Team , add a commentVigo, Spain The venue for the 1st world cup was the same as the previous 2 years, a small hill just behind the city on the west coast of Spain. I was due to depart on Monday to arrive by Tuesday Evening, then setup everything on Wednesday ready for Thursday morning Training. As I have now come to expect, it is very rare that things go to plan!I ended up leaving on Wednesday afternoon after finding the team truck had some electrical problems and with a public holiday in France, my delay was extended. Wednesday morning was spent collecting a back-up vehicle, unpacking the team truck and re-packing the other van. Obviously this was done in a rush so most of my 18hr drive was spent thinking about what I had forgotten and then what I was going to do to get around not having it….. The drive went surprisingly well and I made it here mid afternoon on Thursday. Too late for walking the track, but in time to setup with the help of Tracy and Fabien who had arrived the evening before. 4X training was on Thursday evening and I had plenty to keep me bust well into the night. Training went ok for Kamil and he decided to use his Cowan HT for the event, even though the track was rough and loose, the start was critical.DH training on Friday was going well with only some small setup changes needed on the bikes, until Fabien had a big crash and injured his leg. This put him out for the rest of the day. Thankfully it was not too serious and with some excellent work from Martin (therapist) he was able to ride again on Saturday. Due to a slightly different format the DH semi-final was to be on Saturday, this was to allow for an early finish on Sunday for the Spanish GP.
Tracy and Fab were both happy with their lines and ready for the semi final
Tracy was off first as she holds the No.1 plate from 2006 overall win. She took the start with serious aggression, and actually ended up over cooking it on the first section, fortunately she managed to get it back under control and ride the rest of the run to a safe 3rd place. Emiline Ragot and Sabrina Joinier took 2nd and 1st. The loose fast track suited Fabien but he was properly focussed during his run and ended up making a small mistake which sent him off track and put him well down the finishing list. When I spoke to him afterwards he was reallyu disappointed with his result but was happy that his split time was good and showed he had good speed.Kamil had an OK run but he was not really satisfied with his performance and knew it would be tough to qualify with such a large field of riders. Fortunately he managed to squeeze in by the narrowest of Margins and take 80th place! The DH final was on Sunday and it had rained lots over night, during the training it continued to rain in showers and then the sun would pop out and dry the track really quickly, so the weather was going to be a large factor in the results.The riders decided to go with intermediate tyres to play it safe. For Tracy this paid off as she went down in the dry with only some parts of the track still wet.She had good run and rode the technical sections well, however was well down on the pedalling and eventually loosing nearly 5sec to Sabrina all in the bottom of the track. Tracy knows she is not yet at 100% physically and now has a few weeks to really push her training. She finished second so was happy to get some good point at the first race.Kamil was the first rider down in the mens race, he had a good run but rode at 95% due to not knowing how dry the track was going to be and eventually did a safe clean run and ended up 32nd place. Fabien started 61st due to his placing from the previous day, unfortunately for him, the weather moved in after the first half of the field went down, it rained, hailed, and left us running for shelter. The track turned into a swamp and we did not have mud tyres so Fabien was left with an ice rink as a race track, some other riders like Nathan Rennie who started at the same period also suffered the conditions and ended up with a poor result. Fabien was happy with his ride and he made the best out of the bad conditions to finish 24th. As Fabien said “ the race was a lottery and I was not the winner”. The riders were overall disappointed with there results, but still happy to have finished where the did given the circumstances. Results DH WOMEN1st Sabrina Jonnier = 2:52.722nd Tracy Moseley = 2:59.99
3rd Emiline Ragot = 3:02.28
MEN 1st Marc Beaumont = 2:37.212nd David Vazquez = 2:38.57
3rd Greg Minnaar = 2:39.09
24th Fabien Barel = 2:45.95
32nd Kamil Tatarkovic = 2:48.00 4X Kamil finished the qualifying in 6th place event though he made a few mistakes which last him valuable time. It was tough track which was closer to DH than BMX and was a refreshing change, also the new random gate allowed for some interesting results. Kamil rode really well all through the heats, winning every race up to the quarter final, he hesitated on the gate and lost a pedal stroke which caused him to be squeezed out on the first turn and had to brake hard, this put him down to fourth in the heat with no way of getting back. Results 4X1st Gee Atherton2nd Brian Lopes
3rd Michael Prokop
4th Joost Wickman
9th Kamil Tatarkovic
SAN REMO DH CUP 22 APRIL 2007 April 22, 2007
Posted by paulwalton in : Kona Factory Team , add a commentJust Back from the 13th Annual SAN REMO DH CUP in
Italy.
At just over an hour from home it was one of the few races where I do not have any crazy travel stories, well other than the small roads and sketchy Italian Driving!
The weather made for a loose dusty track and the riders scrambling for grip on the fast and technical downhill. Day 1 was a lot of bike setup challenges with the fast track which grip and rolling were of equal importance and the suspension was crucial. The track is long and rough so we decided to go soft on the suspension to make sure the riders had control all the way down the track and keep the tyre pressure high for rolling and avoiding punctures on the rocky sections.The day ended up well with both riders content with there lines and confident for Race day.
Run 1 went well for
Tracy, (still nursing a finger injury she suffered a few weeks ago). She found it difficult to keep a good grip on the bars and really fought the pain to post a solid time, 8sec ahead of Emeline Ragot. Sabrina Jonnier was Tracy’s main opposition and she was down last in the girls, Tracy sat at the finish watching the clock, Sabrina was on form and on a track that she knows well so she managed a big lead over
Tracy. Tracy was surprised at the gap because she rode well and did not make many mistakes, however in the end it was her hands that let her down, this is always a tough track for
Tracy so she was content to have a solid second place…..
The men’s field was crammed with top names so Fabien needed a clean run to get a good position. This track is also the early season training ground for many teams so Fabien did not have any home ground advantage. During the previous few weeks we have worked extensively on the suspension and we had the right tools for this track! The grip was unpredictable due to the loose terrain, but it was not only a low tyre pressure that would get you down fast. There was talk in the pits of really fast times being set earlier in the week by teams testing so Fabien was a little concerned that he was going to have a tough race. He prepared really well and rode everything like he wanted, he pushed hard but not too hard, he wanted to have the flow of the track and not fight for grip. Everything worked out and he smoked the other riders by a big margin. He was the only rider to go Sub 4min.
Unfortunately, the second round was plagued with crashes and was eventually cancelled due to long delays caused by attending to the injured riders.So, as the race was to be decided by the faster of the 2 runs,
Tracy was placed second in women and Fabien first in men.Both Tracy and Fabien were disappointed to not have completed the second run as they knew they had more to give, but that’s Racing…..
Next Stop
Vigo!
RegardsPaul
Maxxis Cup 1 - Portugal March 19, 2007
Posted by paulwalton in : Uncategorized , add a commentMaxxis Cup round 1 – Gouveia
Portugal We all flew into Oporto, Tracy from England, Fab from Argentina, and me from
France.We arrived pretty late so stayed in a hotel nearby the airport and decided to get the bikes built up and ready that evening. I had my work cut out as Fabien had been filming with Freeride entertainment for new world disorder and
Tracy had been training in the mud! The drive to the race was easy because of the new super highway across
Portugal, this is 4th year we have attended the race and the road is now finally finished.Training started on Friday morning and the track was pretty rough and unridden so lots of loose rocks around. Tracy and Fabien were both a bit disappointed with the changes to the track as it was not as good as previous years.Lots of big hucks to flat landings and sketchy metal poles lining the track.The first days training went well and we got the suspension dialled for the big landings and flat pedalling sections. The second day was not so good, Both Tracy and Fabien had big crashes and had to stop training due to the injuries……..
Sunday was race day and both of the riders were sore and stiff, after a few practice runs it seemed like they would be able to race at near full pace.There were over 300 riders and some big names, like the Athertons, Matti and Brendon from Honda, Emiline Ragot, etc….. so training was difficult and the pace was fast! Semi -Final
Tracy had a good solid run and managed to pull a big lead over the rest of the girls, her time was 2:29 and only Emiline was close.The mens race was like a world cup with many of the top riders there, Fabien was not feeling very confident, so decided to ride within his limits and see how he could place, this paid off as he had a consistent run with few mistakes to take the win! His time was 2:09.9. This gave him a 2sec lead over Cedric Gracia.
Final
By now, both Tracy and Fab were suffering from the previous days injuries and generally tired.
Tracy had an average run, but she was not focussed and missed a few lines, this meant that she did not improve on her time from the morning. Emiline and Rachel did and they managed to put a few seconds into Tracy to bump her into 3rd spot.
Tracy was not really worried about her result as she said she is not yet at her optimum physically and on a track that was so demanding she was pleased to have finished how she did.
Fabien had to do a long warm up before the start to get his back and hips free enough to race. Before the start he was confident but knew he wasn’t physically strong enough to go 110% so he decided to stick to his previous run tactics and rode everything slightly conservatively. This allowed him to have a good clean run but a little low on power. He managed to do almost exactly the same time as his first run, but the others managed to go a bit faster. Fortunately Fabiens experience and skill kept his time on the top spot.Julien camellini made an amazing run to come within 0.1 second of Fabien and Cedric Gracia was close behind him in 3rd. Overall this was a great race for the team, and both riders were happy with there level at this point in the season. So well done Guys! They both know there is plenty more to come and once they are onboard the new 2008 Stab Supremes with all the great new products I have in store for them they will have even more ammunition to do the business!!! Next stop, San Remo Italian cup.
2007 season on its way (a week in the mud to get started) February 21, 2007
Posted by paulwalton in : Uncategorized , add a commentBy Paul Walton (team Mechanic)
13th to 20th Feb 2007British Midlands and Wales
After a long time off the bike due to injury, Fabien decided that he wanted to get some early season training done to improve his skills in the wet. I though this would be an ideal time to test some suspension changes and bike modifications for the upcoming season. We decided there would be no better place than the UK and with the very kind offer from Tracy for a place to stay, we packed up our stuff and headed for the airport.
Obviously, trying to travel on a tight budget with 80Kg of luggage is not so easy, so the sweating started early because we did not have any coins for the trolleys, it then continued well into the flight due to the heated discussions at check in. We got airborne on 13th and exchanged sunny Nice for Rainy Birmingham!
Tracy had a good schedule planned for the week so I got straight to work prepping the bikes as soon as we got to her place.
Day 1, we were heading for a well known Track in Wales, Rheola – luckily Steve Jones was there to help us get permission to ride the trails and use vehicles in the forest. I also had the opportunity to risk my life driving his van up and down the WRC track. Things went perfectly all day and even the sun was shining on us, we got plenty of testing done and the suspension modifications worked really well.
The second day was equally efficient as Tracy and Fab managed to tire themselves out on a short track just up the road from Steve Jones’ house. Fabien managed to be the first person to beat Jonesies record, so we had to go out and celebrate that evening. Chris Porter from Mojo came along to help with the drinking and turn the night into a very interesting one…..
Friday was a rest day for the riders, so we got a bit of a lie in and I managed to get the bikes prepped for weekend race. The UK mud really kills the bikes so it was a full service for both of them.
We headed over to the race in Ludlow and were welcomed by a very wet track, the melted snow and rain had really brought what we were looking for - thick, sticky mud. The days practice saw us changing between Wet Scream and Swampthings and playing around with the suspension to get optimum grip and rolling. The transport was well organised but the number of riders made it tough for Tracy and Fab to get lots of runs in so we had to make sure we got there early on Sunday to get some more practice time.
Sunday brought a little warmer weather and the tracked dried a little to make things very sticky indeed. Tracy did her first run and was a bit off her usual pace due to a late night at the BCF awards evening. She had a clean run but was slow on the power sections. Her aim was to be up with the boys and she did that by getting a 2:41 which was about 20sec off the fastest time. Fabien had a different goal, he wanted to ride consistently and cleanly testing his foot and skills against the track, not the other riders. Luckily this made for a good smooth run and posted the fastest time of the day.
Tracy managed to eek a few seconds off her first run and finish up with a 2:38, winning the ladies and being up with the men. Fab decided to take it easy in his second run and his main opposition, Marc Beaumont and Julien Cammelini improved on the first runs, so the gap was closed but Fabiens first run still stood on top. Marc was on the same second 2:17 but the splits were in Fabiens favour. Julien also put in a good effort and made a 2:21.
This was an awesome start to the season for Fabien and Tracy, Fab was really pleased to be ahead of such talented riders and especially Marc because of home track advantage.
Week over and back in France now, time to get some high speed testing done and hone the bikes for the world cups. This was the perfect start to the season and hopefully the success will continue throughout the season for Fab and Tracy.
Next stop Maxxis Cup in Gouveia (Portugal) 17 March
