MTBNZ National Cup Round 3 - 440 Mountain Bike Park

I had an awesome weekend out at 440 Mountain Bike Park for the third round of the National Cup. It was my first race in the Pro Elite class, so it was pretty exciting racing against the top guys in New Zealand. 

Photo by: Cameron Mackenzie Photography

The practice day was very hot in the summer sun and the track was running dry and super fast. By the end of the practice day it was super dusty and holes and roots were being exposed. I was having heaps of fun and feeling good on the track. 

The rain held of and the track was again dry and dusty for race day. I had my new bike all dialed in and totally loving riding it. In my seeding run I seeded 7th which I was very pleased with. I was stoked to then take 3 seconds off my seeding time in my race run and finish in 7th in Pro Elite and 7th overall. Team Hukkit came away with three medals and my brother unfortunately had a little off in his race after winning seeding. Over all it was a very successful and fun race, thanks to 440 for putting it on! 

NZDH Final at Dome Valley

It was a wild and super fun Saturday out at Dome Valley for the final round of the NZDH series. After rain all week the track was slippery as ever and proved to be quite challenging for all the riders. It kept raining throughout the day which meant the track was not able to dry up, so everyone was sliding down the steep and off camber sections.

In the race runs there were riders all the way down the track who had wiped out on the mud and roots. On a run with a few mistakes I managed to finish 3rd. It was a fun weekend for most, however I wish a speedy recovery for the riders who were injured in the difficult conditions. I didn't make it to all the series rounds but the few that I did were heaps of fun, and I was stoked to finish 5th in the under 19's for the series. A massive thanks to NZDH for their organisation and to Team Hukkit and all our sponsors for their support. Bring on the national season after Christmas!  

Check out the photo of the action at: Tuatara Photography

Auckland Downhill Champs

Photo Credit: Bong Errazo

On Sunday I was out at 440 Mountain Bike Park, for the Auckland Downhill Championships. 440 put on an awesome event on their recently opened 'Ruapehu' downhill track. It's so good to have another quality downhill track in the Auckland region and I can't wait to race on it again when 440 host the National round next Summer! The track was nice and wide, with heaps of different lines and a lot of off camber sections. It was super fast and fun to race on.

Photo Credit: Bong Errazo

We got some practice runs in the morning and then had two race runs with your best time counting for your result. I was feeling really good in my first run and getting all my lines, but then a tree got in my way, which was not ideal! I had some time to rest my shoulder which had hit the tree before heading up for the second race run. This time I kept it nice an smooth, stayed on my bike and came away with the win in the under 19's.

All the boys in Team Hukkit did really well with Tim Hunter 1st in the Master 30's and team manager Edd also coming 1st in the Masters 40's. My brother Liam Bethell had a good race as well taking 2nd in the under 17's. A massive thanks to everyone who made the event happen and I look forward to getting out to 440 Mountain Bike Park for some more riding.

Photo Credit: Bong Errazo

NZDH Round 4 Taupo

On the weekend I was down in Taupo for round four of the New Zealand Downhill series. It was looking like it was going to be wet race, but we were lucky with the weather as the rain held off all day. The Descend Rotorua crew had done some work on the track and there was a new section that was a lot of fun. There was a nice tight forest section up the top going into the loose, off camber and rooty section that was newly built. The track then opened up onto farm land and was flat out fast to the bottom. There were lots of natural jumps and bumps, and it was really just an awesome fun track to race on!

After finishing all of my school exams, it was good to be back on my downhill bike and racing with Team Hukkit. I am super stoked to be part of the team, its great having the support at races. We have a good lot of sponsors on board for the season including Kali Protectives, Smith Optics, Scott, Shimano, Woodhill MTB Park, Bike Medic, MBR, and Tim Hunter Trail Co. I am very grateful for all their help and the support from Avantiplus Waitakere and the Don Oliver Youth Foundation.  

 I managed to find some flow and speed to put together a good race run, which put me in second place in the under 19's. I am stoked on the teams podium results with Brendan Regan placing 4th in the open men, Tim Hunter calming 2nd in masters and also my brother Liam finishing 4th in the under 17's. Bring on Auckland Downhill Champs this weekend!  Tim Hunter got some good footage of the racing HERE.

Hafjell World Championships and Europe Travels

Over the past three and a half weeks I have had such a great time over in Europe riding and racing in France and at the 2014 Downhill World Championships in Hafjell, Norway. It has been such a great experience, I can't thank everyone enough for all the support I have received to help me get over there. Here are some photos and stories from my trip: 

All of the New Zealand team who were staying at the accommodation in Norway. 

The World Champs track was so much fun, it had super technical rock gardens and nice big jumps up the top. Check out Claudio's course preview of the track, here.

Some of us NZ boys after our seeding runs. I had a really good run seeding in 24th. 

Sam Thompson got this photo of me hitting the track gap during my race run on Sunday. I managed to stay on my bike ended up finishing 25th junior in the world!  

It was such a great experience to race at the top level and on such an amazing track. I am also stoked for NZ team mate Connor Hamilton who got fifth! We all had such a great time together in Norway.  

Two weeks earlier at the Meribel World Cup. This was my first ever international race and warm up event for World Champs,   

Track walk down the steep, rough, fast and technical Meribel track. It was a challenging and super exciting track to ride, i had such a good time there! 

Flying off the big sender into the finish at Meribel. 

Cows with bells everywhere, including the track sometimes!

Had such a sick time in my week at Morzine, was so cool being able to catch chairlifts up everywhere and ride some really awesome tracks. 

Got a few chances to be a tourist, it was so cool to see other countries and experience different cultures. This was in Annecy when we first flew in from New Zealand, it was a pretty amazing place. Looking forward to the New Zealand race season starting soon!  

Raffle Results and Fundraising Shuttle Day

Here is a little video of the Freeride Competition at my fundraising Woodhill shuttle day on the weekend. Stefan from Woodhill also drew the raffle at the end of the day, cheers to everyone that supported me in buying tickets. The lucky winner was: Michael Ferkins. A massive thanks to everyone that donated the prizes for the raffle. 

It was a really fun day out at Woodhill, thanks to everyone that braved the weather, I hope you all enjoyed it! Thanks to Edd form hukkit. for organising it all. I am really looking forward to heading overseas and racing at the Downhill Junior World Championships. It's not long until I leave now!

Fundraising Raffle Results

First of all I would like to say a huge thanks to everyone that supported me and brought tickets for the raffle to help me get to Norway and race at the World Championships. A special thanks to Caro's Wines, Gasket Espresso Kitchen, the Easton family, James Allen, Helvier and Pankaj, Hana and Pete, Rob and Cathy, Vicki and Terry, Westbrook Winery and everyone else who donated items for the raffle.

The winner of the first basket is: Greg Campbell
The winner of the second basket is: Kerry Halse 
The winner of the third prize is: Pip Fair 

Congratulations and thank you.