Today was the Australian titles for all the cruiser classes. We had about 50 riders, which meant 8 man 1/4 finals. My heats went really good, giving us only 4 in our moto, so I made the most of it and used it like a practice. Qualified to the quarter with three fourth's after holeshotting two of the heats.

In the quarter final, out of gate 5, I had an awesome gate and 1st straight, coming out a wheel in front, but unable to shut off the inside lane, putting me back to 2nd. For the rest of the lap, I just made sure I kept it up and safe, rolling over in 4th.

In my semi final, out of gate 6, my gate was again pretty good, coming into the 1st turn in 3rd, where I stayed for the rest of the lap, holding off the guy behind me by protecting every line.

Finals time, I was out of lane 7. Once again, I felt really relaxed, and ready to have fun. The winner from the 20'' was outside me, so shut me off straight away from the snap, so got shot back to 7th or 8th. By the 2nd corner I was back to 6th, then produced a pretty cool inside move on someone trying a high-low, Getting me up to 4th. I wasn't really expecting to get into this final, as the fastest 16 were in the semi, and I was struggling with the 1st straight, so a really happy result again. The ABD's were so nice to ride, thankyou to ABD for the new rides
Here's a photo of me, and one of myself and the other Booker top 8 place getter, cousin Caitlin.

Congratulations to Sarah who again scored a deserving podium finish in round 5 of the European champs in Creazzo, Italy. There is no girl in the world that can get speed out of jumping like Sarah does, showing everyone she can leave an Olympic silver medalist for dead down a straight. It's so cool that all she needs to work on is the first few pedals, and being more agressive about cutting people off.  Check it out here. Shot Sarah.

20 Australian titles are over for another year. A pretty good result, it's good to get the job done knowing I could have prepared a lot better.

101 riders was the offical number for 17-24 come race day, the most ever by an age group in a nationals (as long as I've been racing). The Aussies have really got it sorted with the way they run the nationals, it is identical to how the worlds are run. This means racing the same people each race based on a ranking system to try and get the fastest 8 making the final and not racing each other.

My heat was fairly hard, and had 3 pretty fast guys in it, who I had to be ontop of my game to beat. I felt good through moto's, transfering to the 1/8th with a 2nd, 1st, 2nd. I was given lane 8 in one of the hardest 1/8th's in the group, opened up my can of 'whoopass' and got to the first corner 4th. Hating being on the bubble, I went under someone in the 2nd corner, gave him some lovin and headed to the stripe in 3rd.

My quarter I had lane 1, got a good gate, but was shut out to the inside. From there I basically stayed safe and crossed the line 4th after getting scabbed for 3rd.....haha.

Semi time rolled around pretty fast and I was out of lane 2. Once again, got a fairly consistant gate, but lacked the power to holeshot. I tested the limits of the DTH's in the 1st corner and moved up into 3rd. By the 3rd straight, instead of following a dodgy rider, I easily passed him for 2nd. Yeah!!

Finals time. I'd already come for what I wanted, which was to get the top 32, so I wasn't nervous at all. Soaked it up, and thought of how much fun I could have with this race. Coming out of lane 3, I had a mean start but the fastest were in 1, 5 and 7, so got shut down while going over the first jump. managed to pick-up then pick-up the step-up going into the 1st turn, tested the grippyness of the front tire and moved into 3rd, hunting for 1st. As I was coming into the lovely, tight, bumpy, loose 2nd turn, I moved wide, then pulled tight for a high-low. The two out in front tangled and crashed, but ended up at the bottom of the massive corner. I hit one of their bikes, went over the bars and crashed. Nice. Oh well. 8Aus out of a dam fast 17-24 class of 101 riders is good enough for me.

Today was the block of 14's, 15's, 16's, junior and elite, possibly the best racing I have ever watched, except for the olympics ofcourse. My brother (Jack) has left behind his realistic goal of becoming a Wallaby, and started focusing on his BMX at the start of the year again. The 16boys is by far the hardest age group in Australia. 3w, 4w and 5w are in it, as well as guys that can beat them, but dont have the money to travel to the worlds. Like the Elite men at the worlds, there are about 15 riders that could win it.

After some wise words of encouragment to get him settled and relaxed, he qualified into the quarters with 5th, 5th, 2nd. In the quarter, from lane 8, Jack got a blinder of a gate, shut down about 4 riders and pulled into the 1st corner in 4th, where he stayed untill his clubmate decided to put it down in the last corner.

Semi time, out of 6, he got shut down and had to settle for 7th into the 1st turn. 2 riders came down in the second turn, which opened up a gap to dive up the inside for a pass into 4th. Unfortunately the other bloke was onto it and high-lowed to put Jack back to 5th.

Junior men was won by Mick Chasty, who holeshotted Willoughby and put him over the 1st turn. The depth in the Aussie Juniors is crazy at the moment, expect to see at least three of them in the worlds final. Elite men was won by Billy Jollife who won start to finish, followed by Luke Madill and Matt Willoughby.

Off to bed now, as cruiser is tomorrow, which I'm excited about, yet scared because of the first jump. I sucked a 20'' wheel up my ass a few times, now I have a cruiser to deal with. Might have to just huck it.

Although it wasn't exactly a big day as far as international flights go, I took the long way to Perth. Starting at Papamoa, drove up to Auckland, with it seemed like everyone else from NZ. From Auckland I flew 3.5hours to Brisbane, layed over for 2 hours, then flew out to Perth, the longest capital to capital Australian flight, 5.5hours.

Today was our practice sessions. I was with the 17+ Women, who have 40 riders, 25-29Men with 20 odd, and the 30+ men who have 80something. So a lot of riders for a hours worth of practice. Practice went OK I guess, did what I could on the track that is there. Dad was talking to one of the WA officals today, and apparently they had the chance to have it at the Burswood dome (world 03), but turned it down because 'it wouldnt fill the atmosphere'. Good job BMX Australia.

The track has fully maxed out the venue, they have built it from wall to wall. The start is meant to be a pro-gate, but hit it a few times, so cant be. The ramp is pretty steep, but has no transition half way down, so you start off feeling like your going over the bars, plus the ramp is made out of ply, that has just been painted with gloss paint. Nice. Some grip tape has been placed down now though. The corners are SO tight, and it is by far the bumpiest track I have ever ridden. My first lap I blew a hand off the bars, should invent velcro gloves for events like this. Indoor tracks have, and always be uneven and bumpy, but it's usually due to the track only being built a few days before racing. This track was built a week ago.

Although I hate the track, and didn't really have fun riding it, everyone has to ride it and it's the same for everyone. Come race day tomorrow everything will and has to be possitive, a must for anyone going into racing. Im looking forward to seeing where I'm at, and how much I need to improve before worlds.

Here are the videos from day 2, round 4 of the European champs at Klatovy.

Junior men final
Elite Women final
Elite Men final

As you might know, Marc Willers, Kurt Pickard, Matt Davies and Sarah are in Europe preparing for the Supercross in Denmark in a few weeks. They first went into Switzerland to the UCI centre to get the supercross 8m ramp dialled in again as it will be one of the first races back since the Olympics last year.

Yesterday and today they raced in the Czech Republic in a place called Klatovy, for the 3rd round of the European series. Matt Davies is first year elite and was unlucky not to transfer out of moto's after pulling some big European names down the first straight. His crash in the 2nd moto cost him. Watch the Elite men final here:

Elite Men final day 1

Kurt pickard is Junior Elite and daaaaaaaaam fast, I cant wait to see him go up against Sam W and Denzel Stein at the worlds. He quite easily demolished Europeans best to take his most successful win of his career. Watch it here:

Junior Men final day 1

Sarah has been feeling sick for a while now, but didn't show as she cruised to a win in the elite women after tagging the gate. This is her first big race since the olympics, and it was great to see her get up. Confidence is a huge barrier for Sarah, so it'll definately lift the spirits. Watch Sarah's final here:

Elite Women final day 1

Marc Willers pulled out of this weekend due to an ongoing shoulder injury that keeps nearly popping out when he tries to manual. Judging by the look of the triangle jumps at Klatovy, I wouldn't be risking it either. He'll be back for the Supercross in Denmark.

Make sure you keep checking out Sarah, Marc, Kurt and Ken Cools websites for up to date reports on how everything is going over there.

I've heard the saying 'curiosity killed the cat', it should involve puppies too. We woke up on Thursday morning to Lexi running around like crazy, trying to get away from everything. When Sarah caught her, she was foaming at the mouth, having crazy muscle spazms, and pupils that were the smallest I had ever seen. On her bed, and scattered all over the lawn was the remains of a snail pellets box that she must have thought was yummy blue food. S*!t. We rushed her to the vet, which luckily is only around the corner, called up the 24hr number, and waited for him to arrive. Apparently she was in a pretty bad way, and was a 50/50 chance of survival. Luckily she didn't swallow much. Not a nice way for Sarah to spend her last day in NZ for a month.

We got the call about 2 hours later that she was fine. Bounced back really fast suprising the vet even, so we picked her up that afternoon. Sarah's mum drove Sarah to the airport so I could stay and look after Lexi. That night I was up pretty much all night with her, cleaning up spew and trying to settle her down. I think the longest she slept for was for about 20mins. Nice!!

Took her back into the vet the next morning, where he gave her two more shots. One for her muscle spazms, and the other for her spewing. Went to sleep for another 3 hours and woke up to help Sue put up our new garage for one of the cars. Pretty much a circus tent, but doesn't take up any room in our monster yard so all good. The sea spray here at the beach is killer for any car, so thought we'd better cover up the beef and lamb ute.

Sarah recieved a mean 4cross bike from Avanti the other day too, which I have permission to run in while she's gone . I have never actually ridden a mtb before so should be interesting. I've always just riden the little 20'' kids bikes.

And here's the new garage

This year was my 4th consecutive NZ nationals. In the past, there used to be a UCI round in conjunction with them, hence the reason I have been to a few. This year was a really great one, full credit to Stuart Bell and everyone from the Whangarei BMX club who helped make this unreal, state of the art track.

I think I have only been to 4 race meetings not riding, and it sucks!! It was good to be able to wander around and help all my riders though, something that is hard to do while I'm on the bike. Everyone I coached either gained or kept their spot from last year which was a pretty cool feeling.

Julia Carter-Bell - 4NZ
Anthony Carter-Bell - 17NZ
Jarrod Browning - 7NZ
Rebecca Petch - 1NZ
Josh Smith - Mighty 11 team
Baylee Luttrell - 1NZ
Blake Murray - 39NZ

Congratulations to everyone that Sarah and I have coached in our clinics too. Most of the Rotorua club, Whangarei club, North Harbour club, Papakura club as well as some ring ins from Hamilton, Te Awamutu and Cambridge. Shot

A lot of people will be heading to the Worlds over the ditch so I'd really like to keep putting in the hours on the coaching front. With the help from Paul 'moonie' Luttrell, we're trying to get out to a few clubs for some coaching on a weekly basis starting ASAP. If anyone is keen, flick me an email and i'll get out the diary.

I'd like to thank Jo-Anne and Jeff Wright from Redman Australia/New Zealand for everything they have done for me for the past three years. They have been an unreal sponsor, and have helped me acheive some pretty cool things in BMX.

With saying that, ABD have now jumped on board for the next stage in my BMX journey. They're really keen to help out Sarah and I with our coaching around NZ, and ofcourse with my goals with racing too. I'm excited for what the future has in store for me. Be sure to check out their website or avantiplus dealer near you. Keep a look out for future coaching clinics for riders wanting to keep training for the worlds.

Dane

Sarah and I just got back from the monster drive that is Whangarei - Papamoa. This past weekend we held another one of our DBmx Clinics for riders wanting to get some extra tips before nationals in two weekends.

Sunday afternoon was our first day of the three day clinic. Because of the race meeting the day before, a few riders stayed back for our clinic.
We started on some 2nd straights, working on pumping and jumping, as well as getting speed out of each jump. From there we did some 3rd straights, which is a really long, steep rhythm straight which will be a do or die straight for everyone come nationals. We also got to go into the shed out the back to have some quality start time on the pro gate. Many of the riders made some clear improvements, and others even gained bike lengths on what they used to be doing. Awesome

Monday's clinic started at around 4:30 with about 10 riders. This is a really good number for a clinic, as it gives each rider the oportunity to be coached in a one-on-one situation. We dont have a limit on the minimum amount needed for a clinic, it's stupid to deny riders the chance to get a one-on-one training session with a coach. Especially this close to nationals.
We started out on 2nd straights, worked a lot on a few guys trying to jump the 2nd straight, while Sarah was with some little guys on the 3rd straight, getting them sweet with some quality pumping techniques.
From there we headed to gates for the remainder of the time. We managed to get feedback to all the riders individually, helping everyone as much as we could. And thanks to SONY, we could give feedback through Sarah's camera.

Monday night we headed back down to our new home away from home, the Bearman's. The kids were asleep this time, so no BUZZ on PS2. Tuesday Sarah needed to visit some of her sponsors. We headed into Beef + Lamb, Sony, and dropped in to a guy that was going to do some custom door pods for Sarah's new sounds in the HILUX. Turns out we need to get in contact with marcwillers.com and his hook-ups so it doesn't cost 1k PER DOOR!!!

Tuesday's nights session was just as productive as the rest. We started off on some 3rd straights, followed by some cornering in the last turn. We went through when to pedal, when and how to carve, and which line to take. Now everyone just has to remember where those secret cones were placed for racing at nationals  
From there we went to the second corner, layed down some cones for a high-low, and taught everyone the do's and don'ts on the 2nd corner.
We finished off the 3 day clinic off with some quality gates, but this time, had a 30m sprint with tapered cones after, teaching everyone to get aggressive. Fun!!!  It took a while at first, but by the end, everyone had their 'bows' out.

It was great to be involved in another awesome clinic which everyone loved. So many people made huge gains, and more importantly, became more confident. A huge must in BMX. Thanks to Stu Bell and everyone for organising another top week-end.

Here are some photo's from the clinic, but be sure to check out the whole album in the 'photos' page.

Sarah and I have been really busy this week, putting in the k's in the car. Tuesday we headed over to Rotorua to train some of the local boys and girls. It turned out really well, they made some noticable improvements, and just have to remember to do it in racing.

That night, we went out to a place called 'fat dog' for dinner with Sarah's family as it was Matt's 19th birthday. Matt ordered some of the biggest ribs I have seen that could have fed us all and Sarah and I had a huge burger that I could only eat 3/4 of.

Wednesday we headed back to Rotorua for club night. I got my bike out for the first time since crashing at North Harbour after being cleared of a broken neck by an X-Ray the day before. It hurt a bit to gate, but the rest of the track seemed to be OK. I was sporting my new goggles curtesy of Gordy Bearman at Adidas. They're mean.

Thursday Sarah and I bought a car. Headed into Tauranga to check it out, noticed the guy was a lawyer, figured that was the reason the car was cheaps as, and bought it. Having just one car has been pretty frustrating at times, with Sarah heading all over the place in hers. Plus it gives me something to play with for a while.

Friday we headed over to Hamilton for some more coaching. There were 7 riders, 5 from Hamilton and 2 from TA. They were all keen to show me what they could do on their own track, was great to see so many improvements. Will be teeing off some more coaching for Waikato based riders hopefully on a weekly bases, and same with some Auckland riders. Definately excited with helping you guys reach your goals for the worlds too.

Here's a pic of the new car.