Heres whats been happening with Brook at the races lately

Well here we are sitting in the airport at 5 in the morning waiting for our flight at 7, tired and grumpy after tomaso waking us up at 4 we headed to fort William. After a 3 hour flight we finally arrived in Glasgow airport. Now we had to wait another 4 hours until our other team mate arrived so by the time he got here we were pretty over it so we decided to go gamble some money on the horse races. We killed some time there and won some money to, so we were happy. Now we hit the road for fort William and a 3 hour drive we had a head of us.

Finally we arrived in fort William and the weather was good, we booked into our lodge and the first thing we had to put up with was midgeys! The next day we headed up the track to walk it, it hadn’t changed since last year except for a new section in the wood which was pretty fresh and had a lot of roots, so it should be fun if it rains. They had fixed a lot if things up with concrete so it would be smoother now. After walking the track we just chilled out and couldn’t wait for practice. Friday and it was practice day, Wyn and I headed up for a run. After checking some lines out and the track starting to get cut up it was looking sick with the new section opened up with all the roots starting to show. After practice we headed back to the lodge and chilled out for the next days of Qualifying and race. So Saturday came and it was qualifying, we had a few practice runs in the morning and the track was starting to get rough.

Qualifying came and I was having a good run good into a good flow of the track and got my lines good until I came into a corner witch I had crashed on earlier on in the day and crashed there again my front wheel washed out and my bike was over the side so I had to get over the berm to get my bike. I had lost about 10 seconds, so I was angry and had to make that time up. I hit most sections pretty fast to make that time up and pedalled like a mad dog along the flat section, Got to the bottom and wasn’t happy with my run but still qualified in 74^th so I was happy to make it in for Wyn it was his first race back after breaking his knuckle at la Bresse and qualified 65^th and wasn’t happy with his run but good to see him back and racing again.

With Gee Atherton qualifying first it was eyes on him for the win. It had rained over night so that meant it was going to be wet for practice in the morning by the time race run had came it had dried up and the track was running super good. Race run came and I was feeling pretty good had all my lines good and took the corner I crashed on slower and got to and knocked Nathan Rennie out of the hot seat. I was stoked on my run and to knocked Rennie out I thought it was gana be hard as he is a strong pedlar and has done good here in the past years so I was happy with that.

 After sitting in the hot seat for awhile until Fabien Barrel came down with a hot time and knocked me out it was time to wait and see where I ended up. Wyn had a crash in his run but was on a good time after having top 10 splits. For Justin Leov and Sam Blenkinsop it was a good day for them after ending up 11^th and 3^rd for Blenkinsop, it was pretty good to see him up on podium again and hopefully many more to come. For Greg Minnaar it was his day again after winning there last year and again this year it was good to see him up on top again and to see Steve Peat on podium again and retaining the lead of the series points. I ended up 25^th overall and 2^nd in juniors behind Danny Hart and was happy with my result.

After Fort William Wyn and I headed to London for a couple of weeks to stay with Bernard and a couple of aussie friends. We did a bit of xc riding there and then we headed to Slovenia, Maribor for the 5^th round of the world cup series. After a 15 hour drive we were pretty over it and just wanted to do some riding we arrived on Monday and it was good weather and there were a lot of hot girls. We headed to the top of the hill where we were staying and unpacked. The next day we did some riding and chilled out, had a look around. A couple days of riding we had 4x practice so we were looking forward to that as we are not too great on the 4x bikes. Practice went good we had fun and were feeling pretty good for qualifying the next day.

Thursday and it was dh practice after walking the track it was looking good rough and a few new sections from last year, only getting a few runs in because of the slow lifts I was feeling good had most of my lines dialled and was having fun, now to qualifying in 4x I was looking to it but wasn’t to great on my gates so I knew I had to make time up somewhere to make the cut. I ended up qualifying 55^th and Wyn in 39^th so it was on for the finals and Wyn and I ended up being in the same heat for the first round against to top 4x riders. Finals and qualifying for 4x, DH and the weather was shit. We headed up for practice and the track was like a river, but ended up being fun, it had rained the whole day and didn’t look like it was going to stop, I was looking forward to qualifying in the rain but as it got heavier and lightning had came they had to postpone qualifying so I was pretty gutted.

  In the end it had fined up and 4x was on. Wyn and I turned up late so we had no time for practice and went straight into our first heat  as Wyn says fresh is best and it ended up working as I ended up winning and Wyn ended up 3^rd after crashing and being in second so maybe he would have gone on to take the win, so that was me though to the next heat and I was amped after winning the heat, I went up for my next heat and got into second after doing some moves  and went on to the next heat I was super stoked on that as I was last out of the gate and knew I had make up a couple of places. Though to the next heat and it was on after having another shit gate I made it into 3^rd but couldn’t make the past so that was me knocked out of the heat, I ended up 12^th overall and was stoked on that as it was my first time racing against the world’s best. Race day and it was a 7 o clock start which is pretty early but after not having qualifying on Saturday they had to fit qualifying and finals in all in one day.

The track had dried up heaps but was still muddy and I was still having fun but after a few runs the roots had opened up and it was slippery. My qualifying run came and it was pretty rushed so I didn’t have time to warm up, but was feeling good. My run was going good had all my lines good got though the rock garden loose but good and came into the bottom section thinking this is a good run and was hoping to do a good time and as I was thinking that I came into a corner a bit too fast and came out good but landed on some roots witch spat me over the bars and my bike was though the tap and had to run back up to grab it by this time I had lost a lot of time. I got back up and tried to pedal but had tape caught in my cassette so that was me done I couldn’t pedal anywhere and got to the bottom and was pretty pissed as I had a good top split. I ended up not qualifying and ended up in 92^nd and for Wyn he had crashed in the rock garden putting a hole in his ankle and had to get it stitched up so it was a good weekend for us. Gee Atherton qualified in first with Justin Leov behind him.

So it was time for watching witch I didn’t really want to do but that’s racing. After seeing one of the assie boys finish in 13^th place which was good to see it was time to see who would take the win. Fabien Barrel came down with a hot time and taking the hot seat and had to wait for the top riders come down. Rider after rider he was still in the hot seat with gee still come down he was up and both splits and looked to be on a good run but after crashing in the bottom section he wasn’t up for the win so that meant Fabien would take the win and hill in 2^nd Leov ended up 4^th and on the podium. It was good to see Fabien take the win after not winning a world cup in a while so well done to him. I would like to thank all the people that helped me out and my sponsors  Ancillotti bikes, UFO plast, Maxxis tires, Doganaccia200, San Marco seats, Addidas eyewear, Campa Bros and Formula brakes