The Perth Mountain Bike Club and Mountain Bike Australia were proud to enter a team in this event. All of our riders can hold their heads high after putting in very competitive performances throughout the day, predominantly in the endurance events, which is of no surprise.
Our team consisted of:
• Reece Tucknott U17
• Ashley Mackay U17
• Darcy Pirotta U17 (came down badly sick and couldn’t race in the end)
• Matt Ellison U15 (Northern Territory) first races in U15 on the track
• Sarah Tucknott U15 first races in U15 on the track as well
• Sam Rubery U17 (out with a broken thumb from the National MTB round)
It was a big weekend of riding for all of our team starting with a training session, then a normal WA track meeting on Friday night, of which there were 40 odd U17 boys racing.
Saturday was the NJTS racing, the highlights for our team being as follows;
• Reece Tucknott and Matt Ellison making the finals of the short scratch race through the heats.
• Matt Ellison being awarded the “Performance award” on making the final.
• Ashley Mackay riding like a champion in the long scratch race and finishing at the pointy end.
• Sarah Tucknott’s rides in the finals of the U15 girls “Elimination” and “Point Scores” were awesome.
• Matt Ellison almost making the final for the U15 boys “Elimination” only to get crashed out with the 2 last qualifiers.
• Reece Tucknott blowing the field apart in the U17 “Point Score” where about half of the field did not finish.
Sunday morning was criterium racing put on by the Midland Cycling Club and very good fields as well. Matt Ellison finished fourth in his race in a sprint finish. He was on Sarah’s old bike with the seat down as low as it would go. Sarah finished second girl and fifth overall in her criterium race. Reece was riding B grade, but the A and B Grade ended up racing together. Reece finished sixth overall and second in B grade against the seniors, being first junior home and only 1 of 2 actually left in the field.
However, the highlight for the weekend appeared to be when we went Mountain Biking on Sunday afternoon. We ventured out to the newly built Kalamunda Circuit “green” down hill run and did a few repeats of this awesome piece of trail. Following Reece, Sarah and Matt down this track and seeing the smiles on their faces was also a highlight for me.
All in all a great weekend of riding, a great experience for the kids, some new friends made and very competitive performances all round. Well done to the mountain bikers!
Thanks to Tony Tucknott for the report and image.
