Maxxis Cup 1 - Portugal March 19, 2007
Posted by paulwalton in : Uncategorized , trackbackMaxxis 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.
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