Merrick has sent in his race report. I have been waiting for this email, he was looking the goods to place well in the Junior category and when the results arrived, Merrick has slipped down the placings. Merrick explains all…
[Merrick]
So yesterday was race day. It was super fun.
Open racing was first thing in the morning, it started off good with all 32 heats taking about 3 hours to finish.
In my first heat I was the fastest qualifier so it was a nice easy run.
Then second heat I was with Christoff Batt (8th Qualifier)
I won the second heat with Batt in second.
The third heat was a step up in competition. I got pushed out in front off the first right, and then used as draft bait for everyone. I was leading for most of the race (dreaming of glory) until the last left, and I got passed by Batt and Dalua. I then drafted Dalua in the last straight and went to pass at the finish line, hit a stone and took 3rd. Knocked out.
In the Juniors
I won all my heats until the semi’s.
In the semi’s I was sitting in third place, I decided to go wide to the left, pass Auden in second place, then draft down the straight and take 1st. That was the plan. Auden slide out way wide, I put a hand up to stop him crashing and taking us both out. After I stabilised him, he knocked my hand off him, resulting in me into the bales!
In the consolation final I was just cruising behind Luke Melo at the end and had a finish line crash! Broke my Charley, split my leathers. So it was an interesting day of racing. I’m not dirty on what happened today, had a rad day working my way through the Open heats, learnt a lot of good racing techniques. My run in with Auden in the juniors semi was just bad luck. It turned out to be the make or break moment for both of us, Auden went on to become Junior World Champion, me eating haybales. That’s racing, the unpredictable nature of it is probably why we all love it, and keep doing it. It’s has made me more determine to place well at Graveyard Call. The favourites at Graveyard will be Evren and Riley. It will be a great battle, and it starts in a few days!
Junior Top 8
1. Auden Gunnerlussen (Norway)
2. Hakon Wegge (Norway)
3. Spencer Smith (United States)
4. Riley Crone (United States)
5. Luke Melo (Canada)
6.th Me 
7.th Evren Ozan
I placed in the top 25 for the Open Downhill and 6th in the Juniors.
