The cold and damp third round of the National Cross Country Championship did little to slow a storming Brad Cox, back from a break after missing round 2 due to a knee injury. Cox who won the opening round was back to his old self and put in a sterling performance in OR1 taking the overall win on the day on what was described as one of the toughest and longest routes in a good while.
“Today was one of those days where you never give up until you see the flag, that last lap I just went all in and managed to catch and pass Kerim again” Cox beamed after the event. “this was just incredible, the disappointment with my knee and coming back like this after missing a round my emotions at the finish were very visible!” He added. “The track was the roughest route I ever did in a cross country, I’m over the moon taking the win here,” he said adding that he will be heading off to Spain for some Rally Racing during the short break between rounds.
What made the performance stand out, even more, was the effort from the mechanical team who managed to completely swop front suspension during decontrol. “We made it by 15seconds in decontrol and big thanks to our team in the pits for helping me take the win in the end” Cox mused.
Gunning his way through OR2 was Kerim Fitzgerald who nearly stole the show after claiming P1 in the time trial and also leading the overall on the day after a good battle with Cox to eventually finish in 2nd overall. Team manager Louwrens Mahoney said he felt the sand track might have suited Fitzgerald going into the event due to his background in MX which proved to be almost prophetic in the end.
Teammate Scott Heygate finished in 4th overall and 3rd in the OR2 class saying “that sure was five long laps and it got really rough out there”. He went on to say “I’m happy with my result both personally and for the team, it was a real team effort out there getting me through the tough and cold conditions”
Young Matthew Wilson kept it clean and made sure he brought the bike home to finish second in the OR3 class consolidating his championship lead. “I’m happy to take the championship lead into the next round after a really hard day out on the bike today” he commented clearly drained from a big effort.
Louwrens Mahoney adds “This was a great weekend of racing for us, all our planning and preparations really paid off well and I would like to say a big well done to our riders, Kevin and everyone involved, I am truly thankful and proud of everyone in the team!”
