USN Cup #1 Race Report

Race Report

USN Cup #1 19/Jan/2013

So the first race of my season finally arrived this weekend and I must say I was quietly confident and very excited to see how the training over the holidays has affected my overall form.

Wet, Muddy, Slippery and dirty was the order of the day as the weather man decided to make it interesting for the competitors at the USN Cup series event #1. The race started with a Blistering pace set by Arno du Toit (asg_PYcycling), eventual winner, and I immediately found myself chasing hard to try and keep up with the young guns. The field was ripped to pieces very quickly and within 2km there was a select group of 4 riders (Arno du Toit,Ben Melt, Myself, Rowan Grobler) followed by a couple others who were just off the pace (Sheldon Dagley, asg_PYcycling rider, Julius Corbett)

I managed to hang on in the front group as started to settle into the fast pace being set by Arno and Ben. Arno was on the gas and eager to keep the pace high going into the single track followed by Ben, Rowan and myself, it was clear the Arno was quick in the single track as he started to get a sizeable gap over Ben who seemed a bit tentative on the Wet, Muddy and Slippery tracks. Unfortunately for Ben he nicked his tyre on a sharp object coming out of a turn and had to stop and repair it. It is then when I decided to try to close the gap which Arno had gained on us, at first I didn't think that the gap was too big so I set a steady pace but once we reached some open clear track I realised he had made a good run through the tracks and had a comfortable gap.

From this point on it was full gas, taking risks on the slippery track and trying to catch a glimpse of Arno to gauge whether or not catching him would be possible. While trying to bridge the gap I found myself on my own but a slight laps in concentration saw me go down on a slippery corner, giving the other guys a chance to catch up. I got back on and hit it hard, if they could keep up I'd have to worry about that later, right now I wanted to get back to the front with Arno, so I put my head down and went full gas. In the end it was too little too late and Arno managed to take the win with no one in sight to threaten. I finished 2^nd and Julius Corbett 3^rd .

Thinking back on the race I was happy with my result and still motivated to keep improving, Thank you to my sponsors @ballisticbike Jason and his staff for their support @USNSA @CLUBBRYTONUSN @BRYTONGPS, looking forward to great 2013 season. Boom

Henry Uys

@met_uys

Team BrytonUSN