This years national champs were held at Innerleithan, Scotland and with a new track cut in, it looked to be a pretty rad weekend. The track was much faster than usual with much less tight, twisty action in the woods allowing the riders to get much looser and hang it out a bit more, and with the conditions going from torrential rain to hot sun, it was always hard to predict what the track was going to ride like. All the fast guys turned out for the race, which was good to see, showing that the National Champs title is still just as prestigious as ever. Saturday was just a full day of practice with Sunday being qualy and race run, After qualifying Peaty was sitting in first with me 2nd, then Beaumont, Stanbridge, and Athy, showing that i had some work to do….. with the track drying out as the clouds cleared i new it was going to be a choice between mud tyres which had been the tyre all weekend, or take a gamble on dry tyres, which would ride much faster but with no practice on them, would be a deffinate risk for me. I went for drys and as soon as i hit the track new it was the right choice and it showed when i crossed the line. With just Peaty to come i new he would be fast,he wanted all or nothing. he showed in the last woods on time, but with the course still being super slick and pretty blown out, he got high sided on the last turn. I took the win, with cathro 2nd, simmons 3rd. It was mega to take the National title, definatly a race which has always meant a lot to me. This week the team heads out to Canada for rounds 6 & 7 of the world cup series. nice. Gee

This weekend Stevie Bell and myself trucked down to Willingen in Germany for wheels of speed. With a good prize purse it turned out quite a few riders had the same idea. Practice started on thursday but with the same track as the last few years most riders rolled in on friday. It was funny to watch Stevie battling with the pits by himself as i stopped by to buy him a beer in between practice runs….iv never heard him cursing so much. My run in the final was mega close, i just took the win over Mick Hannah with Kovarik 3rd, Polc 4th and Matti 5th. the track was so dry and fast that you really had to get pretty loose to be up to speed. all the kickers were sending you to flat and you had to battle the swaps straight again instead of touching the brakes for a split second. pretty cool racing all in all.

Just got home after a weekend at Bike Radar live which was mega…..Saturday night saw a worldcup standard line up of riders, taking place in the slalom. With a rad course being built by Bullhead and Will Longden the racing was super tight all night, riders could win from either lane meaning it was never over until the very finish. After qualifying first i moved through the rounds facing the Don, Simmonds, Saladini then Lopes….. My first round of the semi saw Saladini take me apart after a few mistakes on my half because i was pushing too hard…. for the second round i chilled it out a bit and rode my own race, and managed to pull it back. Through to the final and i was facing the main man, Brian Lopes. I knew it was going to be a tough race and with a british crowd baying for a home win the pressure was on. Both rounds were super close and Lopes was on fire but i managed to put some time into him on the bottom section to take the win. The weekend was a huge step for the riding scene in Britain and i was stoked to see so many people make the effort and turn up…..hope everyone had a rad weekend and it was mega to see you all….. Fort Will next yaaaa.

After a flat out week riding downhill i was looking forward to some time off the dh bike, riding 4x…. The Belgium worldcup in Houffalize promised to be a good race with huge crowds and a lot of fast guys there, so i wasn’t about to pass it up for a weekend off. After missing the practice session on thursday i had a bit of catching up to do before the qualifying on friday. I rode with Dan loads to get the feel of the track and scope out where the passing spots were going to be, something i thought i should know after not doing gates for ages…. The track was super fast and pretty sandy, but the thing that really made the race was how many lines there were in each turn, pretty much every turn there was a wide line or a tight inside flat turn, if you had the minerals for it.
On race day i was feeling pretty quick on the track and having a lot of fun, my gates were pretty weak, but a wide first turn meant this wasn’t to much of a problem. After moving through the rounds with the odd scuffle here and there i found my self in the semi final. Perfect. Except that Athy was there as well…. Racing my bro is always fun but it never usually goes well for both of us. one of us was going down. Out of the start i was on the outside and slightly lagging, i left the 4x boys to crack on with pedaling down the first straight and decided it was on for the first turn, i railed it pretty high then dropped in super tight and inside lined the other 3. Dan was pinned behind me and riding really well so leading the semi i was stoked and had the rest of the course dialled….. into the last turn i looked back to see that athy had dropped back to 3rd after a stall in some loose sand, I knew this wasn’t good for him and that he needed that final position, so team orders in place and a slightly bemused looking crowd, i braked up for the finish letting Jared and Athy past. It was a weird feeling letting it go, but Dan rode well. Bros before ho’s, i owed it to him and no doubt he would do it if roles were reversed….

For the first national points series round the team headed up to Ae Forest, in Scotland. well that was the plan, turned out it was pretty much just me with Rach still being seriously handicapped and Athy extending his california trip. First day of practice saw a muddy track drying out pretty quickly, and getting faster and faster. Untill last run of the day saw the sky open up and literally drop 3weeks of rain on the track in 5 mins, and that was it. it was going to be a wet race.
On the sunday there was time for a couple of practice runs to give you chance to change up a few lines and get used to how nailed the track was, then it was into the seeding run…. i have to say i was impressed with Joe Smith in qualy, with him dropping into 2nd place behind me he put in a super strong run. In the finals i had a pretty clean run, i tried to get a bit loose on the track and let it go a bit more than i had done in the seeding run, which was all good until i stalled in the last main turn on the track. I was stoked to take the first win in the national series and to be racing in the uk again, its been too long since the last race and i think this year will see way more uk races for me.