National Round 1

Felt Racing has made a brilliant start to the 2008-2009 National Series in Adelaide, with Scott Liston and Neil van der Ploeg finishing 2nd and 3rd respectively in U/23 XCO while Felt veteran Josh Flemming stormed through the field to finish 5th in Elite mens XCO. The course, situated in the hills overlooking Adelaide, consisted mainly of narrow undulating single track and short pinches which rewarded the early aggressors and penalised the passive.
Scott refuelling

From the outset Chris Jongerwaard showed he was in mid season form by opening a 55 second lap at the completion of the 1st lap. He carved up the switchback climbs with a mixture of aggression and balance as he made the off cambered gravel turns his own. The pursuing bunch, consisting of Ben Henderson, Aiden Lefmann, Nathan Haas and Andrew Blair made a concerted effort to keep Jongerwaard within site to no avail, as he was consistently faster and showed his world class ability.
Neil showing Scott a clean pair of heels

For Scott, Neil and Josh things couldn't have been more different. Scott and Josh had starting positions in the 2nd row and were content to ride their own race, safe in the knowledge that the longer the race went the better their respective chances of moving up the order became. Scott was solid from the get go, punching out good early laps. Josh on the other hand started typically slow and moved backward for a short time, losing valuable track position that would hurt him later. Neil started on the 5th row and made an incredible start to move into the top 10 by the end of the 1st lap. From there he and Scott duelled with Torq rider Steele von Hoff for position in the U/23 field until Scott decided to put the hammer down and stretch Steele and Neil. By this stage Josh had warmed up and decided it was time to move through the field, passing his 2 younger teammates on the 2nd last lap of the day and looking like a man on a mission. Unfortunately for Josh, he left his run a little too late and paid the price for falling back early on a track where passing only presented itself on rare occasions.
Josh firing on all cylinders

Things started to turn for Neil after breaking Steele on the switchback descent, he proceeded to sniff an opportunity to move up into 2nd U/23 as Scott started to cramp up and come back to the fold. Luckily for Scott the legs held out in a "sprint finish" between the young Felt duo to take 2nd in U/23 by 1 second. Both riders crossed the line exhausted but satisfied with the early season podium that will hold both in good stead for the season ahead. Nathan Haas showed tremendous early season form to take out the U/23 category while Jongerwaard finished a massive 3minutes and 20 seconds ahead of his nearest rival Henderson who broke Lefmann on the final lap after an epic dual that thrilled the spectators.
The U/23 podium, Haas should have to forfeit his prize due to the shorts

STXC:
The Short Track XC race on the Sunday was a tactical race that saw Nathan Haas take out overall honours with Neil van der Ploeg finishing an awesome 3rd. With a slightly slower pace than what may have been expected with Jongerwaard absent, mind games were the order of the day with the lead changing in a blink of an eye and all attempts at breakaways curtailed.
Neil on the attack

Scott Liston, backing up after a sensational Saturday was a little under the weather and was dropped mid race by a lead bunch of 6 riders featuring Neil who looked extremely strong. Scott tried in vain to get back onto the lead bunch but ultimately had to relax and concentrate on holding position. Neil on the other hand was involved in a fascinating race that had the crowd buzzing as passing attempts were made in desperation and brakes were used to the absolute minimum. In the end a bunch sprint involving the front 6 was all that separated them with Haas showing the effects of a strong road season in Canberra taking home the bacon.

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