Charlie Hatton
And since you ’ ve joined the team , you ’ ve raced the Croatian World Cup . How did that go ?
It was a hell of a venue . I ’ ve never seen anything so rocky in my entire life . It was just rocks from the start line to the finish line .
My weekend there wasn ’ t bad . It was my first run with the team , so I was getting to grips with that and was a bit unfamiliar with everything . I thought I didn ’ t have a very good qualification run , so I pushed harder for my race run but it was one of those tracks where if you push you go slower . It was a bit frustrating .
I wish I ’ d had a better one but if someone had told me last year that I ’ d get 38th at a World Cup I ’ d be buzzing with that .
I ’ ve noticed that you seem to cope well with pressure at big races . Is that fair do you think ?
I definitely feel a bit nervous , it ’ s just a thing that happens . There ’ s not really a way of managing it , you ’ ve just got to chill out .
At the end of the day you ’ re just riding your bike and racing , whether it ’ s a World Cup or a regional . All you ’ re doing is riding . I listen to music and that takes my mind off it . If I just sit there and think about the track or people I ’ m racing against , it ’ s not good . I prefer just to chill and listen to music .
What ’ s your plan for the rest of the year ? Do you have any goals for yourself ?
I don ’ t have any goals actually . I try not to set goals because it ’ s so variable , you never know what ’ s going to happen . Last year , my best result was 11th at World Cup at Val Di Sole and I was 1 second off top ten . It ’ d be nice to get into the top ten - that ’ d be a real good achievement if I can do that .
I ’ ll be at all the World Cups and I ’ ll do the UK nationals - they ’ re so competitive that it ’ s great to get the race time . I ’ ll also be at Crankworx , I ’ ve done that in Whistler as a junior and it ’ ll be good to do that as an elite either in Les Gets or Innsbruck .
And anything going on off the bike ?
I ’ ve bought a motorbike , that ’ s pretty good ! I got a Beta 300 and it ’ s rapid ! Both of my brothers have had a go and both looped it out straight away and bent my handlebars ! That ’ s a good little training tool . Something a bit different . t
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