After having some treatment and Physio on my ankle since Duns I decided to enter the two stroke open class at the red bull pro nationals. When arriving at the track it was perfectly prepared.
Qualifying: after strapping my ankle up in the morning it was still a little bit sore when putting my boot on and I didn’t really know what to expect. I managed to get 2 good laps in which was both the same times with in the 1000s of a second and was good enough to out me in 4th
Race one: in the holding pen it began to rain quite heavy. I knew with the rain I needed to get a good start. I did get a good start and came round the first turn in 2nd. I got a little bit tense the first few laps and eventually dropped to 3rd. Half way through I found my rythem and had a long hard battle to the end with carl nunn where I was able to break away the last two laps and bring it home for 3rd.
Race two: again I gated very well and was 3rd out of the first turn. I rode a little bit better but again struggled abit. Having two weeks of no training and exercise was taking it’s toll on me but I managed to battle through and bring it home again in 3rd.
Race three: by this race I was little bit tired and my ankle was starting to hurt but I knew what I had to do to get third overall. I didn’t get off to a good start as a certain someone stole my gate. I battled through the pack motivated to catch the top 5. I rode slot better than I did all day and got up to 4th and managed to maintain it to the flag to get 3rd overall and get up on the podium.
Overall: 3rd overall was good to get up on the podium but I wasn’t 100% happy with the way I rode. 2 weeks of doing nothing at all really made me realise how much you need to put in to get back. I have got the all clear to start training again now so I will be back on that this week and hopefully be fit and ready for the last round of the British masters in 2 week.
Ash #704
