It's been a while since my last update, I was so busy preparing for the New Zealand National Championships that were held in Puni over Easter weekend.
Friday was official practice day and opening ceremony, along with the Mighty 11 Test Team trials. It was such a hot day and felt good to get some final laps in before racing the next day.
Saturday was the first day of racing. I had cruiser up first in the morning with all the younger kids so was good to get that out of the way. It was my first time ever racing my new Redman cruiser so I was just going to take it slow at first, then ended up getting a really good gate, and jumping second straight, then winning by a few bike lengths. I continued to win my other 3 moto's after this so I was pretty happy with that:)
At the completion of the AM session, practice for the PM session started so got a few good laps in. I was feeling really good for my first race after winning all day so just went out there and gave it heaps and managed to win. Finished the day with winning all 8 of my races on both cruiser and 20" so it was a good start to the weekend.
Sunday, finals day. The pressure started to build up and the crowds got larger. I won all four moto's, then transferred straight through to finals. Was good to watch the 1/4's and Semi's and rest up before my two finals. Cruiser final was up first. As we only had 7 riders in the 13-16 Ladies class it was points over, so this made me comfortable going into the final as I knew I had already won. I still raced my hardest and had fun, getting first once again so that was the end of cruiser racing.
20" final was next. We had 11 of us so that meant we had a deadman final. I had first lane pick and got lane 1, got a reasonably good gate and was leading into the first corner, went in low and was coming out down second straight then Holly came out of nowhere and hit me so I had to go down pro section and jump back onto amateur straight. I got back on in third then passed Cara on the second corner, kept gaining on Nicole but didn't quite get there. If only the track was another wheel length longer!
Overall I finished the weekend with a 1st in 13-16 Ladies Cruiser and a 2nd in 16 Girls. Can't wait to finally race Junior Elite next Nationals! Bring it on!

Photo thanks to Clinton Tudor