Round one of the KWT Maxxis Sunshine Downhill Series was finally held on Sunday the 22nd of May after 2 previous rounds were cancelled. The event was scheduled to be held in Kenilworth after it had been put back due to weather. Two days before the race the clouds rolled in again and a last minute venue change had to happen. The new venue was Blackstone in Ipswich, a lot closer for all of the Brisbane riders.

I headed out to check out the track on Saturday and see the changes that had been made. In two days they were able to take a fun training track and toughen up some sections to make it a fun racetrack. Sunday rolled around and despite it being overcast and spitting we finally got to race round one! Rain in the morning made sections of the track muddy and pretty slippery. Practice was full of crashing; skidding, sliding and most people having some great fun on their bikes. With a good number of volunteers in four wheel drives I was able to get in quite a lot of practice runs on the sub 90 second track, which had some great jumps, turns and rock gardens.

I was the only 99bikes team member competing on the day and raced in the Elite Women’s category. By the time qualifying had come around the rain had stopped and the track had become super tacky. I managed to qualify third in a comfortable run with no major mistakes. After a rest and getting to watch some great riding during the other category finals I jumped back into a shuttle to head up for my race run.

The Elite Women’s Category was very competitive with 2006 World Downhill Champion Tracey Hannah taking out the title in a time that would have seen her almost qualify for the Elite Men. I had a great finals run and bettered my qualifying by one place to come in a very happy second place! A great start to the series and a fantastic day of racing from a very appreciate group of mountain bikers.

Hayley Kellner