Update from the USA - Sarah Walker
23 June 2010
I have been in America for a couple of weeks already and have been making the most of the experience.
We (Ken Cools - coach, Trent Woodcock and myself) started by flying to LAX with a drive down to San Diego where we joined the kiwi guys already over here (Marc Willers, Kurt James, Kurt Pickard, Mikey Williams and Alex Williams). We all spent the week training on the Chula Vista Supercross (SX) track at one of the USA Olympic Centers.
During the week, we got onto the track 5 times. The wind was an issue for a few of the trainings but we did everything we needed to get done and enjoyed doing it. The Chula track flows really well and you get some good speed out of the track. The first straight is super big compared to other SX first straights so hitting it for the first time is pretty scary. And the second time. And the third... Actually, there wasn't one time where I wasn't scared a little bit but it became less scary the more I went down.
While we were at the Olympic Centre, we got to use the gym and also the communications centre they have at the complex. The centre had computers with internet, TV's, DVD players, gaming consols, table tennis table, foosball table and pool table to keep people happy and entertained between trainings.
After the week in San Diego, we headed up to Murrieta to the house we will be staying in until we head back down to the Chula Vista track again in a few weeks time. We head out to the Lake Perris BMX track a few nights a week and spend the rest of our time doing sprints on the airport road or at LA Fitness for our gym sessions. It's a lot hotter as it's a bit more inland but it's not a big deal for training. It's good to see the sunshine everyday.
On Wednesday last week, we were at the Perris BMX track for a session leading into the weekend of racing in Rockford and the whole session went pretty well. My gates we good for the first part and I was doing some jumps and manualling through the rhythm section with a lot of control. Then I started to get tired, my gates were slower, my control, not there as much, so I decided I should probably stop. But as it would happen, I got to the last jump on the track and was jumping quite high and nosed it in to the landing just a little bit much and went over the bars, hitting my body and head into the ground. Got winded and ended up bruising my ribs, leg, hip and elbow and had a bit of blurred vision for a few minutes from hitting my head but got picked up onto my feet and walked back to the van to recover.
On Thursday morning, Marc and I packed up to fly across the country from LAX to Chicago (4 hour flight) and drove up to Rockford for my first race in America. I was feeling a bit better and knew that being sore wasn't going to be a huge issue the following day for practice.
Practice wasn't until the following evening so we had the day to chill out. Went for a light ride in the morning then after lunch, headed to Walmart before going to the track. When I went into the shop, there was a dark cloud off in the distance that looked like it had some bite but it was still only a bit cloudy above and blue sky so thought nothing of it. Got some water and bananas then went to the check out and it seemed a little darker towards the exit. As I got to the door and walked outside, the tree's were bending over in the wind, the rain was pouring down and the thunder and lightning was coming closer. I ran and jumped in the car and we headed to the track knowing that the possibility of practice being cancelled due to bad weather was pretty high.
Signed in for racing when we got to the track and waited to see if the rain would stop to let us ride, but it wasn't to be so we jumped back in the car and went back to the hotel for dinner. It had cleared up and stopped raining for a while but just before we headed to bed, another thunder and lightning storm rolled in. This one was blowing the rain almost horizontally! The weather forecast said it would clear up so we went to sleep hoping that they were going to be right.
Saturday, we went to the track pretty early and got settled in before practice. The track seemed fast but had a low start hill with an uphill sprint towards the first jump so it was a big change from the Supercross start hill but it was good training.
Racing went well, I won all my motos and qualified for the final in first but by the time the final rolled around, we had been at the track for 8 hours already. Every race I've been to in the last few years have been 20-40 minute breaks between races, not 2 hours so it was completely different to manage my time between races and I must admit, I didn't have it quite worked out so heading into the final, I was a little worn out.
In the final, I was out of lane 8, Alise Post (fastest American rider - won last 4 races in a row) was out of 6. We both had pretty good gates and went into the first corner pretty even but as she had the inside, she went in front. So I tried to high-low her out of the first corner and nearly came out in front but didn't quite get there, tried again on the 2nd corner to no success either as I was losing too much speed going away from the fastest line. Around the 3rd (last) corner, I tried to build some speed up to pass but just didn't have enough to get round her so finished in 2nd. The crowd went pretty crazy for her when she crossed the finish line and I knew that for me to do better tomorrow, I would have to work out what worked and what didn't in the 2 hours between races.
Sunday racing started at 8am with practice at 7.30am, so we were off to the track just before seven. Got practice done and felt pretty good with my starts.
In the motos, I won every race against Alise (winner from day 1) and was feeling a lot better than yesterday heading into the final. Didn't quite get to the first jump fast enough again and was in the same position out of the first corner as yesterday. This time, I tried something different as the high-low move didn't quite work last time. I took the fastest line around the first and second corners, holding as much speed as I could for the third/rhythm straight and went by her on the inside of the track and into the corner. All that was left was the last straight. I held my speed, was smooth over the jumps and crossed the finish line in 1st.
It was a different reaction from the crowd today, everyone was silent. If I'm not mistaken, when I passed into first on the track, I heard a sigh from around the track. It was a bit strange to be in that situation but I was happy with the win and was happy to take home my first novelty cheque!
For the next three weeks, we are training in Murrieta for two and going back down to Chula Vista SX again for the third. We then pack up and get ready to do business at the World Champs in South Africa at the end of July.
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