Rockin with the 'big dog'
With the conclusion of the Kona 24 hour Enduro at Redesdale, it also sees the end of the season for Felt Racing, having been racing since November 2005 in one solid season. The Kona this year was a great event for Felt Racing, scribing another 1st place overall onto the fictitious trophy. In the end after 24 tough hours of racing, we had lapped the entire field (lapping completed at 2.20am) and continued to pull away, making the final showing for the Felt Racing 2006 team an extremly dominant one. To add to that, Paul claimed the fastest day lap by a good margin, and was thoroughly in the hunt for the prologue cash as well, until a slight slip up saw him take a brief tumble. In the fastest lap catagory, there was a saturation of Felt riders, but we'll wait for the results to be uploaded to be sure. Meanwhile, this first bunch of quick photos give you an idea what our day is like, so read on for a short journey into the world of Felt Racing.
Waiting to get a meal at the Redesdale Tavern proved to be a bit large an ask, so with growling tummies, we loaded up and headed for Heathcote where they serve blow-in's, unlike Redesdale where apparently a booking is the appropriate procedure. At a country pub... Wheres the hospitality? Andway, with a parma on board, we headed back to the windswept paddock and camp for the friday night.
Paul made us all very nervous by appearing less than an hour before the event start, but made up for it with a quick warmup and a great run.
Pity he binned it during the prologue, but by the time he made it back to the transition on his full lap, he had a 3 minute lead so we were all happy about that! So fast was he, that the team was left flapping without a rider for a few moments as he wasn't expected for a few minutes. He'd smashed our estimates and stormed around the course in 45min something! Second lap wasn't much smoother for us, as Jack went out and did precisely the same thing, catching us unprepared again with a hot lap. But amidst the ridicule from the peanut gallery, Felt Racing simply got on with the job and extended our lead with each lap.
Another seamless changeover, after the few little irregularities that marred the early part of our race. Never did these little issues slow us down or unsettle us, the team showing that a full year of racing has given us the composure and experience to deal with most things that can be thrown at us.
Riding through the night was super tough this event. All the boys are tired from a hard year of racing, and with low temperatures, fast laps and little competition, it was a difficult mix to overcome and drag ones self to the bike each lap. Still, the Nightlighting lights lit up the trail like day, and made the riding very similar to daylight. The hardest part of the night for me, was getting out of the sleeping bag- the riding itself was no problem. As you can see, the light started to appear about 5.15am, and the campsite began to awake again. All night, our beautiful Honda generator poured out the power for our toasty maker, music and lights, meaning that we were simply tasked with riding, eating and drinking. Gez from GV RaceTech was a superstar again, working tirelessly all day and night, sneaking 2 hours sleep whilst he cleaned, fixed and tuned our bikes EVERY lap. Each time we would go out with a clean, quiet and fast bike, and whilst the racing wasn't that tight, these type of things make the difference. As well as that, he maintained our palace, moving walls, adjusting all the appliances and lights and keeping the area in good order. The man is invaluable, and an inspiration for us all to keep up our game. Oh, and did I forget to mention he also managed the team in his spare moments!
Paulie up there on the podium collecting his $$ for the fastest lap, to go with his fastest lap from Gravity 12 hour a few weeks back. What can't the boy do? An amazing effort, and made all the harder by his teammates chasing him all day and night. Early in the piece, possibly the first lap, the call was made to do the whole race in big ring. I cracked at about 4am, Paul cracked about dawn suffering from the earlier fastest lap efforts, Jason clicked it down early in the morning, and Jack held it in the big dog for the whole race, not using the middle ring for any of the race and then tapping out a 50 min last lap, only to be outdone by Jason tapping out a 49min for his last lap of the race. I lucked out with the final lap or the race and the season, and enjoyed the roll around in about an hour, stopping to chat to various riders and photogs around the course, before lining up to finish on the tick of midday, our lead insurmountable.
Speeches completed from the top of the box, we pawed though the schwag we received (top notch gear too, not a crappy 'bento box like another race gives you), and rolled in the cash that we also recieved for the winning overall team, and generally agreed how much more we prefered the event to other supposedly more prestigious races, where podium place getters don't get a brass f$&%@ razoo!! Full Gas Promotions and the associated sponsors backed up a truck full of prizes, a truck full!!!!! Now thats a race, good on you FGP!!
(more photos will be coming during the week, but this is all I can throw together before I keel over tonight after the race)
Waiting to get a meal at the Redesdale Tavern proved to be a bit large an ask, so with growling tummies, we loaded up and headed for Heathcote where they serve blow-in's, unlike Redesdale where apparently a booking is the appropriate procedure. At a country pub... Wheres the hospitality? Andway, with a parma on board, we headed back to the windswept paddock and camp for the friday night.
Paul made us all very nervous by appearing less than an hour before the event start, but made up for it with a quick warmup and a great run.
Pity he binned it during the prologue, but by the time he made it back to the transition on his full lap, he had a 3 minute lead so we were all happy about that! So fast was he, that the team was left flapping without a rider for a few moments as he wasn't expected for a few minutes. He'd smashed our estimates and stormed around the course in 45min something! Second lap wasn't much smoother for us, as Jack went out and did precisely the same thing, catching us unprepared again with a hot lap. But amidst the ridicule from the peanut gallery, Felt Racing simply got on with the job and extended our lead with each lap.
Another seamless changeover, after the few little irregularities that marred the early part of our race. Never did these little issues slow us down or unsettle us, the team showing that a full year of racing has given us the composure and experience to deal with most things that can be thrown at us.
Riding through the night was super tough this event. All the boys are tired from a hard year of racing, and with low temperatures, fast laps and little competition, it was a difficult mix to overcome and drag ones self to the bike each lap. Still, the Nightlighting lights lit up the trail like day, and made the riding very similar to daylight. The hardest part of the night for me, was getting out of the sleeping bag- the riding itself was no problem. As you can see, the light started to appear about 5.15am, and the campsite began to awake again. All night, our beautiful Honda generator poured out the power for our toasty maker, music and lights, meaning that we were simply tasked with riding, eating and drinking. Gez from GV RaceTech was a superstar again, working tirelessly all day and night, sneaking 2 hours sleep whilst he cleaned, fixed and tuned our bikes EVERY lap. Each time we would go out with a clean, quiet and fast bike, and whilst the racing wasn't that tight, these type of things make the difference. As well as that, he maintained our palace, moving walls, adjusting all the appliances and lights and keeping the area in good order. The man is invaluable, and an inspiration for us all to keep up our game. Oh, and did I forget to mention he also managed the team in his spare moments!
Paulie up there on the podium collecting his $$ for the fastest lap, to go with his fastest lap from Gravity 12 hour a few weeks back. What can't the boy do? An amazing effort, and made all the harder by his teammates chasing him all day and night. Early in the piece, possibly the first lap, the call was made to do the whole race in big ring. I cracked at about 4am, Paul cracked about dawn suffering from the earlier fastest lap efforts, Jason clicked it down early in the morning, and Jack held it in the big dog for the whole race, not using the middle ring for any of the race and then tapping out a 50 min last lap, only to be outdone by Jason tapping out a 49min for his last lap of the race. I lucked out with the final lap or the race and the season, and enjoyed the roll around in about an hour, stopping to chat to various riders and photogs around the course, before lining up to finish on the tick of midday, our lead insurmountable.
Speeches completed from the top of the box, we pawed though the schwag we received (top notch gear too, not a crappy 'bento box like another race gives you), and rolled in the cash that we also recieved for the winning overall team, and generally agreed how much more we prefered the event to other supposedly more prestigious races, where podium place getters don't get a brass f$&%@ razoo!! Full Gas Promotions and the associated sponsors backed up a truck full of prizes, a truck full!!!!! Now thats a race, good on you FGP!!
posted by Ash Thomas at 6:00 pm
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home