Cycle News

THE RACE TO THE CLOUDS P92 Feature ture of the advice he gave me from the first test to race morning. Jeremy could see when I was anxious and would say the correct things without any prompting, at the correct time, and could give me insights into my riding I sim- ply didn't see. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind had Jeremy Toye not been with me, this project would have failed. Action Stations Race week starts with tech and sign-on day on the Monday, then official qualifying for the motor- cycle contingent is held on the Tuesday on the bottom section. However, after qualifying second to Carlin Dunne overall and first in class, the team and I are far from happy with the Aprilia's perfor- mance. We are struggling with the power delivery. It's coming too late in My Great Escape There are no small crashes at Pikes Peak, and Carlin's death this year made me realize just how lucky I was back in 2016 on my KTM. My crash that year was a classic case of me losing my cool. I had qualified on pole, mum and dad and my wife were there, and I was in contention to be the first Aussie to win—in my rookie year, no less. There are no pit boards at Pikes Peak, I came out of the first third of the track convinced I was behind after missing at least 50 percent of the apexes. In actual fact, I was five seconds in front. I told myself I had to take the run to Elk Park flat—something I'd never done in practice. I clicked up to fifth, wound the throttle back and held on. I got through the blind, cliff-side corner, but when I ap- proached the braking zone I was going about 60 km/h (37 mph) faster than I ever had in practice. At that point, I was fu**ed. I had three options: lowside the bike and slide into the Armco, hoping I would not break apart like Connor Toner had done at the same corner just 10 minutes be- fore; hit the Armco head on (that was the least favorable outcome); or try and rebound off the Armco and keep riding. I chose the third option, and nearly made it (aside from the whole velocity thing). I landed on the edge of the cliff, but remarkably, the bike stayed upright between the haybales and the Armco. I got back on and finished fourth, screaming in my helmet at my failure. But I knew I got away with something very, very few ever do at Pikes Peak. Crashing. It hurt then and still does now, but considering what could have hap- pened, I hit the absolute jackpot for Pikes Peak crashes. Dunne and Scaysbrook share a good luck chat seconds before Rennie takes the start. It would be the last time the two would meet.

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