Well, I won't claim that it was quite as much fun as last round, but it was still a fun day. Qualified on 102" and actually managed a PB at Blackburn of 13.515 in favourable conditions featuring a Northerly pushing everyone down the back straight. Again, on the back of not much training, and not having been on the track bike since last round. Interesting. And I could have gone faster, but as usual my jump wasn't quite as hard as it can be, and my riding not as smooth. See: training.
Racing I dropped back to... 94" I think. Put a 14t on instead of the 13t, anyway. I'd actually qualified second fastest in B grade, to my surprise, so everyone I raced had actually qualified slower than me! I can't remember when that last happened, and it hadn't happened in B.
Doesn't mean I beat everyone though. Or, to put a slightly finer point on it, anyone! First race against Chris Dann - never beaten him. Still hadn't! I had the lead, but somewhat invited him to take it through turn 3 on the first lap - I took height, and with him down on the blue, wasn't too concerned that he'd jump from there. He didn't, but did take the lead, and we rolled around slowly increasing the pace. I looked for an opportunity to dive underneath him through turn one, and probably could have done, but didn't quite have the nerve/training. So we actually jumped with me a bike length behind out of turn 2, 200m to go, me with the advantage of height. I really should have beaten him from there, even though he has a better kick. But I didn't, and wasn't even close.
Second race, up against Kallum Parlivliet, I was following and after half a lap, decided to force the pace, not wanting to let him jump from a crawl. So I rolled up outside him, and he let me, climbing up behind me and then jumping out of turn 4. It wasn't a super hard jump, and I came down easily into his draft and flowed him around. I then did the dinkiest little break and run you've ever seen, just as he was accelerating in to the back straight (as he always does) which gained me virtually nothing. And then I just sat in his draft the rest of the way, like a... hmm.
Third race, Nick Abels, under 17 but big and strong. I'd considered going more or less from the gun, but figured I'd never be able to outlast him, even if it didn't suit him either. Instead he started accelerating around the pursuit line on the back straight in the first lap, and I sat beside him through to turn one, where I dropped back in to the draft. I stayed there, popping out momentarily (and not really entirely intentionally) in to turn 3, just because I stuffed the entry up, and rolled in behind. We didn't even really properly sprint. I was getting the distinct impression by this point that I'd already decided going in to the day that it was another practice run of sorts (which it was) and that I wasn't even trying to win (which is what ended up happening, even though I hadn't deliberately intended it that way.)
But that didn't matter, because in a field of 6, you don't go around losing all of your races and get in to the finals, do you? I was already getting changed when they announced I was racing the 3v4 final against Chris. Turns out that three people had won all of their races, and three had lost them all - and as the second-fastest qualifier, that meant that I was in (because Jarrod, the fastest qualifier, had injured his knee.)
So out I went, wondering what on Earth I was doing, and what I should do. Chris had the lead, and we did a bit of weaving and so on back and forth before we jumped, side by side, out of turn 4. As has happened before, Chris made it to turn 1 first, and I slotted in behind. And then I got the weirdest target-fixation ever. I was staring at his back wheel, not even glancing up, and when we got to turn 3, I wasn't at all prepared. I slammed in to the turn, flew up to the blue and it was over. Mind you, had I taken the turn flawlessly, I probably would have ended up finishing in exactly the same spot as I'd been at the entry to the turn - a foot from Chris' rear tyre. It was bizarre, I've never had that happen before, though I do get rather tunnel-visioned during a flying 200 - but, if I say so myself, I ride turn 3/4 at Blackburn near flawlessly. Generally speaking I barely get above the black, never mind the red. Okay, perhaps flawlessly is stretching things a bit. But I certainly don't let it throw me up in a F200.
So tactically and so on, obviously my racing was poor. My endurance was also non-existent, which was a problem not because of long drag races, but because I didn't feel that I could accelerate down the back straight. And mentally I wasn't well race-tuned. But I still had an enjoyable day, and clearly the strength/speed is still pretty good - though I can go faster. I wonder what the solution could be. Track training? Spin? Nah, don't be silly, how would those help?
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