“It’s just a passing tropical shower.” Yep, right. Mother Nature reared her ugly Queenslander mug today and gave Smithfield a true soaking, right on cue for the start of group A downhill practice.
The results were in equal parts horrendous, exciting, frustrating and awesome. With any line choices from yesterday’s track walk going right out the window, riders were faced with a track that changed from run to run. Vision was next to nil by the time riders reached the lower portions of the track, while the off-camber red clay of the Alien Tree was causing havoc up top.
At the end of the day, timed practice showed that Gee Atherton had made it down the hill fastest, with Ragot on top in the women’s. But when the course is more a matter of survival than skill, timed practice results mean nothing at all. Bring on qualifying tomorrow!
[embedvideo id=”fGpqZSmpqDA” website=”youtube”]