By James Morland.

It has been a long year, one in which I have traveled extensively both by road and by plane. It has all been in the name of chasing a title, a number and pursuing a dream.

This weekend was the final National DH in a series of 4; it was hosted by Gauteng and held in Hartebeespoort, at a venue called Stonehouse Lodge. The Johannesburg faithful were lucky enough to have raced here in our Gauteng DH Series, and this gave us the all important “home advantage”…….for once. Leading up to the race I had had a bad training accident, knocking myself unconscious and needing several physio sessions to sort out a very sore back. In the end it all came together just in time and I found myself at the final race of the year nursing a very sore body, but adamant to take part. I had calculated that I needed to take a minimum of 3^rd place to secure the all important SA #1; this was the strategy going into the weekend.

Due to work commitments I could not practice on Friday and arrived at the track on Saturday a little apprehensive and a little unconfident. My confidence was not helped by a crash that I had early on in the morning, something that I was becoming a little too accustomed to. I had played with the suspension settings and had been caught out by setting them too soft. I set about riding the rest of the day with Sean and Josh, funnily enough both from brands that I represent, and the day got much better. Sometimes you need to find the enjoyment in the riding again, and the speed follows. I practiced a few sections that were worrying me and then called it a day to rest up.

On Sunday I arrived feeling confident that I could get a good run in…….WRONG! Second run of the morning and I threw it away in big pieces, broke my rear wheel, took pieces out of my helmet and more worryingly, tweaked my back badly again. I sat out the rest of the morning and felt extremely sorry for myself. After a good mope session I climbed on to the up-lift and headed up for my race run. Waiting for your turn to start is the most surreal thing to experience, you go thru the un in your head and try to find that extra second here or there, only to find when the countdown starts…you go blank and just ride.

My first race run is just that, Blank. I don’t remember too much of it, I can only say that it did not involve a crash! After my first run I had a 20 second advantage over the 2^nd placed Vet rider, which surprised me as I did not feel I was that much quicker than him. I had a chin wag with the commissars’ to find out if it was definitely a best of 2 runs format. After receiving confirmation that it was best of 2 runs, I decided that due to the agony I was in I would only run my 2^nd race run if anyone bettered my time. I reported to the start area and after a while was given the message that no one had bettered my time on their 2^nd run, handing me the victory on the day!

Since I only needed to come 3^rd to secure the championship, I was now officially SA #1, SA MTB VETS NATIONAL DOWNHILL SERIES CHAMP 2011

In a series of four races, I had won two, come second in one and the Port Elizabeth round was cancelled due to adverse weather conditions. I can add this to my MONGOSE GAS GAUTENG VETS PROVINCIAL CUP CHAMPION 2011

Overall positions for National round #4 Veteran Men

1^st James Morland                                                      2:00:560

2^nd Norman Hatherley                                                      2:17:188

3^rd Desmond Purchase                                                      2:22:250

By James Morland

This weekend saw the DH crew return to the World Cup course in Pietermaritzburg, only this time the weather was nothing like our first round. The sun was out and there was not a cloud in the sky, and not a rain drop in sight, just perfect weather for a National round.

Work commitments kept me from practice on Friday, so the first time I saw the course was on Saturday morning. As we had raced the course not so long ago, I remembered it well. The only thing to change was the speed the course was running at, it was ridiculously quick. I spent Saturday finding my rhythm and trying out some new lines, but mostly just tried to feel comfortable with the sheer speed. I am finally learning to set up my KTM Aphex to suit each course, this has been the most rewarding aspect of my short DH career, and I have learnt that it is of paramount importance to get my head around the correct set up.

A very nice surprise for the weekend was the allocation of a yellow Number 19, this indicates that I am currently ranked in the top 20 DH athletes overall in the country. Another great gift was my new racing kit supplied by Stephen of TITANIUM DESIGNS, My “CAPTAIN AMERICA KIT” was absolutely awesome and it made me feel like a factory rider. I got most of the track dialled on Saturday and felt pretty comfortable for race day.

Sunday morning saw me get one practice run in before qualifications and I felt really good and ready to attack the course in my race run. In the middle of the course is the feared N3 pedal section and in my qauli run I decided to not give it full effort but rather save it for race run. I qualified 1^st in the Vet class, and 15^th overall on a 4:27:247. As I had held a little back on the N3 section, I felt confident for the race run.

I was pinned on the race run and was well up on my time, unfortunately I went off line in one of the rock gardens and lost some time. I still managed a faster time than my qauli run and ended on a 4:23:620. This put me in 17^th overall for the weekend and 40 seconds ahead of my nearest  Vet competitor.

Overall Podium for Vets                   James Morland                                      4:23:620                                 1^st

Lawrence Henning                              5:11:050                                 2^nd

Norman Hatherly                                 DNS

This has been a brilliant weekend for me and my Sponsors as we walk away from this round with the overall National points lead in the Vets category, with only one round to go in Pretoria at the end of July.

As Always a REALLY big thank-you to Willie (KTM Bicycles) Stephen (Titanium Designs) Sean (Adidas Eyewear) Rob (Motorex) and Rob (Maxxis Tyres), without you guys the season would have been that much harder.

Thanks for the support……….Good Times.