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.