Date	23/Jul/05
6 Riders	Brendan, Deets, Grant, James, JR, Rich
Rider of the day	Not awarded
Stack of the day	Not awarded

Ride Report - Harvey Natural Terrain MX.

What can I say, if you could ride with any sort of composure and skill in the conditions experienced at the Harvey NTMX you could ride anywhere! Big things were expected from Harvey Natural Terrain but mother nature did her best to test even the most experienced racers with mud holes, ruts that seemed to appear from nowhere, and the slipperiest surface this rider has ever seen.

As soon as we arrived and saw the uphill start we knew that we were going to have some rear wheel spinning, feet off the pegs, tail slapping fun. The back section of the track was just plain slop with no real lines or ruts to follow. The basic rule I have always been told is look where you want to go and the bike will go there. These rules don't apply at Harvey. Of the ruts that did firm up they were mostly squared up and foot pegs deep which necessitated the 'feet down and walk the bike through technique'. I thought having to do that was totally pathetic until I looked around and everyone else was doing the same.

Whilst it was challenging and sometimes dangerous a bad day riding is still a good say (as long as there is no injuries). We were all totally exhausted and covered in mud but we'd do it again in a shot.

Pony Express is on in one months time at the same spot so hopefully it will have dried out a bit by then.

Rider of the day: I'm not sure if this is possible but I think everyone should get it just for getting in there and racing three races (minimum) in those conditions.

Stack of the day: I nominate my brother Grant for stack of the day. Coming around turn two (long downhill right hander) the back dropped out to the left, then right, then left again, and then finally went all the way to the right and he landed on the ground. The guy following had nowhere to go and Grant ended up with a footpeg in the back of his helmet. Scratched up the Pastrana M2R which he wasn't happy about!. There were funny stacks like Deets losing all control and coming down on the start straight 20 meters from the gate (where was the throttle control there Deets?) and Grant (my brother grant, not CQ Grant) doing a superman over the bars and landing in the mud but Grants first stack was the most spectacular. I'll post a pic for Col to set Grant up with a CQ profile. Maybe we'll name him Grant250F. What do you think?



YOUNG JAMES GETTING A GOOD START ON THE SATURDAY IN THE JUNIOR EVENT.



AND YET ANOTHER PIC OF JAMES RAILING A BERM. DON'T YOU JUST HATE THESE YOUNG FELLOWS WHO CAN RIDE LIKE THIS?




GRANT TAKING ON THE MUD AND TRYING TO STAY UPRIGHT.