The track at Brookfield this year had been moved to an entirely new location. With the help of a few private land owners and one not so happy neighbour (who actually wasn’t affected by the race at all) we were all greeted with a brand new race track. The track could pretty much be summed up in two words, tight and steep. This isn’t to say it wasn’t fun. It was really good to ride something different with many corners bermed and the top section flowing really well. The bottom is where it tightened up but this just added to the challenge with steep 180 degree corners which lead into a fun but slippery rock garden thanks to overnight rain.

Lindsay | Riley Donaldson

Practice was interesting to say the least. The track was constantly changing with many corners developing deep ruts into them and the exits were slowly getting blown out. Having 150 riders on the track will always cause problems like this. However towards the end of the practice session the track was closed and a crew of riders leant a hand at fixing the track. It was really cool to see so many people helping and it definitely added to the relaxed atmosphere of the day.

A fair share of victims were taken by the track on the day. None I know of were serious but many people got knocked around either by the steep tight corners or the wet slippery rock garden which also happened to claim me in my last practice run. I thought I had it dialled in practice, that is until I came unstuck. I was lucky to get away with pretty much no injuries but the crash told my mind that I had to slow it down for my race much to my protest.

Talk about crashes in practice, the racing was where it all happened. In qualifying Riley Donaldson took himself out pretty hard in the rocks and looked to be in a lot of pain afterwards. There were also many other elite riders that failed to qualify because of crashes. In the end Tom Richards aka Jesus ended up first with a time that wouldn’t be beaten in the finals, Craig Woodhead was 2^nd, Tim 3^rd, Jay Taylor 4th and myself back in 5^th.

Come finals and even more people were to go down. Fastest qualifier Jesus crashed three times as did Tim Mann. Due to the amount of people crashing and having bad runs it was going to be interesting to see who’d take the top of the podium. Jaan Harditch came out on top with a run he said was pretty good. Woody came in second, Jay third, myself 4^th and Cameron Palmer 5^th. Due to the nature of the track there weren’t too many people who were happy with there race run with many riders complaining about stupid mistakes or just plain crashing out of contention.

Lindsay | Jay Taylor

The usual story took place in juniors. Three riders have dominated the junior podium all season and this race was no different. Albury took the win this time with Darren 2^nd and Michael 3^rd. All three of them were pinning it in practice and looked on the gas for the finals.

We’re back to Magpie Creek for the final round of the series. It’d be cool to see the number of riders get up near the 200 mark. It’s a track everyone can enjoy so get out there and give it a go.

Some guy on a Tomac | Roadie Rob demonstrating a graceful dismount

*The full Brookfield gallery can be view here.