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I remember the days when a race in Rotorua meant 3 runs per day and hours of waiting in transport queues but everyone would turn up because the track was sick, nowadays however, Roto has sick tracks and smooth, fast transport. So along with 145 other riders we dragged our selves out of bed at stupid O'clock on Saturday morning and headed down to sunny Rotorua for a day of the best runs to be had in the country.
With a whole lot of work having been done on the National Downhill track recently there are now several different choices of race track on the one hill. The course chosen on the day took on of the new off camber sections a the top of the hill that replaces the old track down to the rock garden at the road crossing, then veering off to the right into the new section called 'the river' which was a bit of a pedal into a table top followed by a step down and then another pedal. The start of the next new section (i think called fools gold) was a big ass gap that, as far as I know, only Matt Walker hit at any stage over the weekend - it was a savage pedal into the jump which was long with not a whole lot of kick. From there down it's a series of steep drops and switch backs joining back briefly on the old track just above the pimp stump chute and then joining again just below the chute for the last part of the track.
//DONNY OVER THE LAST JUMP
[+]FULL PHOTO GALLERY HERE
 
Which then of course brings the track down to the last jump for the customary display of some of the worst hucking, bonedogging and sideways landing you'll see anywhere in mountain biking.
This jump always poses an interesting question for me. I think back to the infamous jump at the bottom of the Taka Ridgeline track in Nelson at last years Nationals or whatever they call it these days. Now, this jump caused massive controversy, had a lot of riders going around it, but in the end, very few injuries. The jump at the bottom of the Rotorua track gets me cringing everytime. Yes, it's easy with that great big flat on the top of the jump, but is it really any safer. The thing we see with Jumps like this is people who really shouldn't be jumping that far try to because they can slowly work their way up to it landing on the flat. By the time you're hitting the downslope on that jump it is a pretty decent sized jump and some people just don't realise their own limitations when jumping that far - it's not the sort of thing you pull a double-reverse-muppet-look-back-sideways-lander on!
It's a great learning ground when you're out playing around on a shuttle day but come race time I think a jump like this is far more dangerous than one like that seen in Nelson.
And to all you that were pulling those sick as double-reverse-muppet-look-back-sideways-landers, tell your mum to sell that 16inch travel huck monster bike she bought you, spend a season on a hardtail and learn how to ride a bike! It was seriously painful to watch that jump at times! Anyway, that's my rant over, back to the racing. We were lucky with the weather, the track was sick and dry on Saturday with plenty of exposed roots in the top section that were guaranteed to cause headaches with the forecasted rain on Sunday. Thankfully the rain never eventuated and the stong winds that could be felt on the other side of the forest virtually didn't affect the downhill at all.Big ups to the Rotorua club on buying a new computerised timing system - this is essential in today's racing environment - just take a look at the results below and how many classes have come down to one second between the top places - a wrist watch and a line on the ground just don't cut it anymore! If you're going to charge people sixty bucks to enter a race you have got to be able to deliver accurate, dependable results or you might as well just run a shuttle day. Good on you Rotorua club for stepping up to the mark!
//BROOK - The step down in the new 'River' section
[+]FULL PHOTO GALLERY HERE Open men was looking to be the most hotly contended field even though a few of our top riders were missing with Sam Blenkinsop laying low after his world cup win and Nathan Rankin stranded with his bike still at the painters. Pretty much any of the guys in the top 10 were looking like they could have taken the win during practice. Even James Baron of Motion Imports was looking promising for his second race into his comeback to downhill. It was however, Brook Macdonald that took out the class, showing he's grown some pedalling legs over the winter.
But in no class could anyone match hometown hero Matt Walker, racing in the under 19s, almost 4 sec ahead of Brook and anyone else! An massive turn out for the women's field with 12 girls, all but three under 19 I think? The only event's I think I've seen a larger women's field in are world cups and champs! Taken out by Harriet Ruecknagel from Germany, closely followed by Charlotte Clouston and Mads Taylor. OPEN MEN
1 Brook Macdonald 3:41.29
2 Eddie Masters 3:41.83
3 Hayden Lee 3:42.58
4 Aari Barratt 3:42.58
5 Hayden Mcgregor 3:42.72
6 Daniel Melink 3:45.31
7 Scott Bedford 3:47.17
8 Dan Sims 3:47.86
9 Benny Herold 3:49.76
10 James Baron 3:52.09
OPEN WOMEN
1 Harriet Ruecknagel 4:45.92
2 Charlotte Clouston 4:46.47
3 Madeline Taylor 4:46.76
4 Alice Kervern 4:51.73
5 Sophiemarie Bethell 5:04.55
U19 MEN
1 Matt Walker 3:37.89
2 Jamie Lyall 3:54.09
3 Steven Pattle 3:58.41
4 Dominic Stulen 3:58.99
5 Chris Scott 4:01.12
U17 MEN
1 Vaughan Woolhouse 3:50.50
2 George Brannigan 4:02.35
3 Adam Lynskey 4:02.85
4 Simon Barratt 4:05.13
5 Jake Davis 4:06.81
U15 MEN
1 Louis Hamilton 3:45.97
2 Jay Barratt 3:54.65
3 Jake Robinson 3:59.56
4 Brandon Ransfield 4:06.67
5 Jordan Bunyan 4:08.73
MASTERS 30+ MEN
1 Stefan Bennett 3:51.47
2 Dave Hamilton 4:03.59
3 Phil Walter 4:10.54
4 Ewan Barron 4:15.84
5 Craig Owen 4:20.43 HARDTAIL
1 Kyle Jackson 4:33.30
2 Kai Crow 4:45.97
3 Miles Ganley 5:35.58
4 Niklas Livock 6:03.12
5 Jacob Emmens 6:52.56 FULL RESULTS HERE 
//LESTER PERRY WAS KICKING AROUND OVER THE WEEKEND RACING AND SHOOTING FOR CUFFO TV.
[+]FULL PHOTO GALLERY HERE
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