This years state champs were held on "Interbom". Due to the International course being used for a national round a month previous , it was a little worse for wear , especially in the first section so the decision was made to run the top section of Abom , then onto a link track which came in just below the "superberm" on Inter. Most riders seemed content with this , if anything they were relieved that the race wasn't held on Abom.

The weather threw a big old curve ball at us though. In stark contrast to the recent national round which was held in above average temperatures , the state champs went from a fine mild saturday morning , to a downpour complete with electrical storm in the afternoon. Sunday brought sub zero temperatures in the morning and a fresh wind coming from the southwest , even the occasional snow flurry !

232 riders in 13 categories faced the bleak conditions , but as long as you could deal with the cold , the track conditions were very good. Lots of grip was to be had , just staying out of the ruts and not getting caught up in one of the many holes on course was the challenge.

In Elite men , Dean White missed out on qualifying by less than a second and placed 17th. In elite Women Katelyn Humphris took out 3rd place.

In under 19s Ryan Humphris managed to hold onto a top 10 position with 8th place. When your competition is putting in times to rival the fastest riders in the state , thats not a bad result. Jared Lockley finished 19th and Dylan Cole limped home to finish 27th after a crash and a suspected fracture in his hand.

Style for miles and local Funn destructive testing unit Darcy Wilkinson took out 3rd place in under 17s. Dean Lucas took out the title in under 15s , destroying the field by 26 seconds ! An awesome effort and a well deserved title ensuring at least one member of the Chaingang is state champion.

James Hunt from Myrtleford finished 2nd in Expert with Tom Riella in 7th. Good work fellas.

Stephen Leach squeezed into the top ten in hardtail class , finishing in 9th place.

In sport class Jake Hunter , fresh of a win at the Albury DH race , came home 4th and Jake Lucas finished 22nd. Rumour has it Lucas was attacked by one of the fabled Victorian black panthers during his race run , who mistakenly took him for a zebra and pounced in the densely wooded middle section of the course. Jake was said to have fought off the beast with a couple of slick wrestling moves before remounting and continuing his run losing only a few seconds in the process.

Not really , I just made that up.

Ther next round of the series is the rescheduled Baw Baw race on the 29th of March. No doubt we'll face similar conditions and mud is more a certainty than a chance. Should be fun !