"Winning the Australian title means a lot to me and something that I am extremely proud of. I have worked really hard for it over these past few years and to finally win it makes all the hard work worth it."
Read on for Jake's full report of the 2010 Sherco Motorcycles Australian MotoTrials Championships.
Arrived after a successful trip to Aussie. The Australian Titles were held just out of Brisbane at Thunderbird Park on the 21st and 22nd August. On the Friday before the event in the practice area I was feeling good about the weekend as it was almost exactly the same as the training area I have been spending a lot of time at. Very slippery river beds and rocks in and out of the rivers. A very different style of riding as I find the best way is just to keep flowing on this sort of terrain instead of lots of stopping and starting. The less hopping you do the better and wheel placements are so critical with absolutely no room for error.
Saturday Morning I felt awesome, ready to ride and to let all the hard work that has been put into my riding over the last year pay itself off. My first lap was average and I was currently sitting in 3rd place, I didn’t put it down to nerves as I wasn’t feeling an awful amount, instead I felt I just hadn’t warmed up and found that rhythm yet. However, I definitely rode a lot stronger in the second lap and managed to claim the lead over the weekend to win the first day.
Everything was in place leading into Sunday, currently leading, great bike, awesome team, felt like I hadn’t even been on the bike for a full day the day before, my fitness was good. I was able to completely block out the previous day which was necessary as the points were close and any pressure could have led to some mistakes. I rode my own event all day competing only against myself, forgetting about any other rider and what they may be doing differently. I was so in the zone and comfortable that I felt like I was just out training like any other weekend. It was awesome to be able to do that and was the first time ever that I have experienced that feeling. I made one big mistake on Sunday giving me 5 points on my card for timing out on section 9 on my second lap by a split second. I finished the rest of the lap off faultless to section 15. At this point in time I had not seen or heard anything about the scores on the first lap. I knew that I rode my best riding back to the pits and that I was definitely in the running for the title. To look up at the score board to see my first lap of four points and my overall lead of 22 points ahead of second place was a feeling and a moment that I won’t ever forget.
Winning the Australian title means a lot to me and something that I am extremely proud of. I have worked really hard for it over these past few years and to finally win it makes all the hard work worth it.
I couldn't have done it without such a great team behind me, so a massive thanks to Kaos Trials Team, Darryl and Estelle Boorer, my minder Nick Ball - as always awesome effort, my Mum and Dad for all the support and for believing in me, along with my girlfriend Georgina. Darren and Annette Stockmen for all their encouragement and help over the two days. Karl Clark unable to finish the weekend after an extremely unlucky problem occurred and made any hope of a good result impossible, I feel for ya mate and wish things could have worked out differently for you. However, thanks for the words of encouragement and following me around on my final lap on Sunday.
On the 28th I competed in my first ever Arena trial on the Gold Coast, the 2010 Queensland Invitational Arena Moto-Trials Championships. This was a really cool event with some big spectacular sections. My biggest competition was Kyle Middleton, one of Aussies best riders. We were neck and neck all day with only ever a couple of points separating us, swapping over the lead back and forth. I won all the race sections of the event against Kyle but he got me near the end of the day. There was a misunderstanding with the timing of the sections and I timed out after a really good clean ride. Kyle was riding well and I am happy for him to take the win. Well done mate, See you in a few weeks time for the next NSW round.
A big thanks to my Australian sponsors - Kaos Trials Team, GRO, SXS, The Hell Team, and my New Zealand sponsors - Spectro oils, Pro grip, DID chains, NGK, Hutt Boyz choppers, Hynes pipes, John and Rebecca Lawton at Kapiti Beta.
Thanks guys, could not do it without you all.
Jake