After only three days in Australia I was back on a plane and headed to Japan for the final round of the JNCC series.  After an ok flight we landed and got picked up by our Japanese friend who speaks hardly any English. 

The next morning we woke up to a cold and wet day, when we were picked up the van had been loaded and we drove about an hour out of the city to this little riding area off the side of the road.  I did some photos for Back Off magazine in the not so great conditions but it was ok.

The next day we met up with another friend Wally, he speaks better english so it was easier for us to understand what we were doing.  Over the next two days we went and did some sight seeing and also went to Disney Sea which was pretty fun.

Saturday morning we got up early and headed to the track which was about 5 hours away, when we arrived it was raining and there was crazy Americans sledding down the muddy hill which was pretty funny.  A break in the weather and I got to go out on a short practice track for a few laps, for how wet it was the track was not that slippery and I enjoyed myself alot.

We stayed at a guest house on saturday night, we slept on traditional japanese mattresses, rooms and that kind of stuff. for towels we got them the size of a face washer so it was hard to take a good one.

Sunday we headed out to the track, there was snow on some of the mountains and when we got to the track the ground was frozen which was pretty cool.  The sun finally came out and warmed up to around 8 degrees celsuis so compared to what it was it was refreshing. 

I got off to a good start and moved into second straight away behind Kailub and we began to pull away straight away.  We went back and fourth for about 4 or 5 laps, he had a big tank so he could go when I had to fuel up, somehow I cracked my front brake line so I had to come in and change the line, I got back out and was about 4 minutes down and stayed there until about the last two or three laps.  After not riding since iron man I started to feel a little fatigued and started getting colder each lap. Kailub rode good and I had a bunch of fun at the race.

I head out tomorrow to fly back to Australia so Im looking forward to go to some warm weather and start some training up again for next season. I would like to thank everyone who helped me get over here and have a race.

Pre race

Hill Climb