Tuesday 10 May 2011

NPS 4X Rd2 PORC

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This weekend saw the 2nd round of the NPS 4X series at PORC right down in the south east of the country. The track features a narrow start leading to a tight left hander putting a lot of emphasis on getting a good gate. This leads out over the bridge and down the main straight which is probably the fastest straight of the season. It is flat out with long low jumps and fires you into a large bermed 180. The next 2 straights have been modified this year providing more options for overtaking for those keen on the pedals. Both feature big 180 degree corners. This spits you out over two left handed hips and over a road gap into a loose corner, the finish line is more or less in sight by this point and only a seriously ballsy last minute move would allow the finish order to change. A flat left hander leads into a new double and then some drops and then a short sprint to the finish line. The track is a blast, very hairy in places and I think the changes they have made meant it was racing well with moves being made on the middle section of the track. The weather was a real mixed bag, mainly it was very hot sunny and very dusty but overnight we were getting massively heavy rain which cleared the dust and greased up the lower flat corners.

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The motos were highly heated and looked very well fought in all the categories. Senior seems to have stepped up again in competitiveness and there are a lot of riders pushing hard to make the quarters. Unfortunately in the Senior quarter finals there was a very serious crash. The officials made the right decision to call off all further racing off. The rider, Scott Shepherd was taken to hospital via air ambulance. I think its fair to say that everyone on the 4X scene is thinking about Scott and we all wish him all the best in making a full and speedy recovery.

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