Greg Minnaar/Mongoose DH Series #1-Cascades 30 January 2011

The first event on the DH calender for us KZN riders took place at Cascades in Pietermaritzburg. I always look forward to the first race of the season, and this race was no exception. I had been riding the course with my mates the weekend before, and this just increased my excitement fot the race. This was also my first race on the new Morewood.

Race day started of well, due to the fact that Grant from Adrenaline Cycles and Andre from Rush Sports had already set up the big Morewood gazebo. This provided us with some shade and a great place to view the track. I was eager to get the day going and I made my way to the shuttles for my first practise run. The track was far better than the weekend before because the rain had settled the dust and made it much tackier. I did 3 practise runs, and I had no problems with those except for the short moment when I contemplated gapping the rock garden at the end. My common sense got in the way, and I decided risks like that were for later in the season. The bike was running better than ever and I managed to get my lines dialled in. I then relaxed under the gazebo and waited for racing to begin.

My first race run went well for me. I felt that my lines were right, the bike performed faultlessly, and my time at the bottom was good enough to put me into 3rd place in Juniors. I did however feel that I should have pushed a little bit harder which would have hopefully got me a better time. I was pleased with it though.

My second race run went pretty much the same as my first. Once again I managed to get my lines done and the bike performed very well. I put everything I had into this run, and at the bottom I was sure that i had improved on my first runs time. The clock agreed with me, and it was a few hundredths of a second faster. My overall time was now 1min:39.74secs. This kept me in 3rd place in Junior. There was one other Junior who could knock me out of the top 3, and that was my teammate Kyle Davids. He completed his run, and managed tobeat my time by just over half a second. This put me in 4th in Junior men, which I was very pleased with because the competition was so strong. Just over half a second seperated me from both Kyle in 3rd and Steve in 2nd.

Overall it was an absolutely amazing event and I had a great time. The track was super fun all thanks to Morne and the track builders. The Morewood ran smoothely the entire event, and there were no mechanicals in sight. Thanks very much Grant and Matt from Adrenaline Cycles for ensuring it ran perfectly. Thanks to Andre from Rushsports for all the help in putting this amazing machine together. This was a great event and i am looking forward the next one!

Photos: Stephanie Davies- Radiate Sports Photography