Durty Dabbers added a stadium section in the pits . Stadium sections put the audience right next to the action without the need to hike through the woods . Comprised of an oil drum , several K-rails , and a splatter wall , the section had elements of all trials techniques .
“ Today started off kind of weird ,” said Pat Smage . “ After such a long break it just took a while to get in the groove , I guess you could say . I just had no confidence coming in at all , definitely the least amount of confidence that I ’ ve had coming into any event ever ... I think that mentally affected me on the first loop for sure ; I tried to turn around the second loop and had a few moments that just kind of got the feeling back and got into the groove a little bit more and just enjoyed the challenge rather than expected to fail … It ' s good to start with an event that you can have some mistakes and come back from them .”
Competition was extremely tight , with only six points separated second and sixth position after the second loop . Beta ’ s Alex Niederer came back from a fifth-place standing after loop two for podium contention , tying FactoryONE Scorpa ’ s Alex Myers on points ( 89 ); Myers would take the win due to a greater number of clean rides ( 10 to Niederer ’ s 8 ). Pat Smage took the win with 43 points , and Josh Roper would round out the podium in second place with 76 points .
" I seem to always lose out on tiebreakers ," said Niederer . " Alex Myers and I tied , and I lost the tiebreaker on cleans . I ’ ve lost to Josh [ Roper ] twice on a tiebreaker and now I lost to Alex on a tiebreaker . I ’ m about sick of tiebreakers [ laughs ].”
" It was great to be back in the sections ," said Roper . " I definitely had the first section jitters , so it just took a few seconds to get over that . I started feeling pretty comfortable on the bike as the day went on . Midday , I started to feel a little weak ; I got some Hammer Nutrition stuff in me and then my third lap I came back and ended with a really solid last lap . That ' s what really put me ahead of Alex Myers and Daniel [ Blanc-Gonnet ]. Overall it was a great day ."
RESULTS - ROUND 1
1 - Pat Smage ( SHE ) - 43 pts 2 - Josh Roper ( TRS ) - 76 pts 3 - Alex Myers ( SCO ) - 89 pts 4 - Alex Niederer ( BET ) - 89 pts 5 - Daniel Blanc-Gonnet ( GG ) -91pts 6 - Will Myers ( SHE ) - 94 pts 7 - Karl Davis Jr ( VER ) - 125 pts 8 - Sam Fastle ( TRS ) - 127 pts
The second round in the 2021 series would provide much better weather conditions , with temperatures in the upper-80 ’ s . Sunny skies and no
ON THE PEGS // PAGE 116