Well its been a good past few weeks since Disney cup getting things dialled in and putting in the hard yards leading upto grand's. Things have been pretty full on with planning and mapping out next season as far as racing and sponsorship support goes, as well as my future once I take a step back from the sport (not any time in the near future that is) with education, studying and so on. Next year is definitly looking like exciting times but very full on and busy but will keep you posted on that as it becomes more set in concrete.

This weeknds race will be my last race aboard a Crupi bicycle and last race supporting there company as we will be parting ways next season. Crupi has been a big part of my life since I jumped back onto the bike 2 and a half years ago. I want to send out a huge thank you to Jon and Marie Sarten for believing in me from day 1 and supporting me with Crupi bicycles New Zealand up until now. Also a big thank you to Greg and the team at Crupi bicycles USA for taking me under their wing with this years support whilst I have been out here in the U.S. racing and chasing my dreams in the ABA circuit. Nothing is on the horizon bike wise and I am currently looking for a ride next season so we will see what the future has for me riding a custom spray can frame :-)

Training has been tracking really well with my sprint and gate times picking up, and track sessions have progressed well with finally being able to say Ive progressed from a stock skill set to a stock standard skill set haha. Things in the gym have been powering through how I wanted them trasitioning into some good power sessions with being able to keep my back problems at bay with some solid stretching and core sessions twice per day. Now the hard yards have been put in, its all about freshening up over this next week and keeping things firing and in touch with the bike.

Since riding my first bmx track and starting up racing bmx at the ripe old age of 16 I used to always read the bmx plus mags, snap magazine and watch hours and hours of videos of all my heros and pros such as Thomas Allier, Christoph Leveque, Mario Soto to name a few racing ABA out here in the u.s.  Since that day it had always been a dream of mine to race on the ABA circuit but more specificly, race and compete at the ABA grand nationals. Im pretty pumped to make that dream come true next weeknd out in Tulsa, Oklahoma and hopefully get a couple feet on that podium.

Back to the grind and well be reporting back post grand's from the lax lounge on my way back home to New Zealand just in time for summer.....

So I flew out over to Orlando Florida last Wednesday to race the ABA Disney cup. This is one of the bigger ABA pro rounds of the year so I was pumped to be able to get over and bang bars. Things didn't kick off to well for the weekend with missing my flight over. What is usually an hour and a bit drive, a few car accidents on the way made this trip turn into a 4 hour burn of a drive leaving us 1 hour late for our flight. Finally after a bit of debating and of coarse a smile, we were put on another flight via San Francisco to Orlando.....minus a bag. So after some time spent at the airport sorting that out, we made it to bed at 2am.....

Woke up and got back into the usual schedule of building bikes, light ride, and went and checked out the track. It was an indoor track/race which was pretty basic as it was a small arena. Good for laying down some decent horse!

Day 1 of racing came around and I was feeling on point. Qualified through motos with ease and placed 2nd in my quarter and 3rd in my semi. Main came around and things felt good with getting up front in the pack but high sidding someones back wheel causing me to go down. Second final pretty much the same thing happened! Banged a first straight in the third main and was pretty much stuck out the back so decided to shut things down for an 8th place finish overall.

Day 2 almost a replay. Cruised through qualifyinig motos feeling really good going into my quarter final. I came out strong and went into the first turn sitting in second. I came out of the turn in second or third then got swamped down the second straight....5th place not qualifying through,day over! packed up and hit some decent recovery back at the hotel. Ice baths, foam roll and a massive stretching session.

Day 3 once again felt on top of my game qualifying through motos with ease. Struck some pretty decent main motos but pulled through with a low score. Semis came around and I punched out nice and clean holeshotting and taking the win. Main time came around and had some good lane choices. Main one came out strong before being bombed second turn and then crashing over top of my buddy Anthony in the last turn giving me a 7th. Second main rolled around and once again punched out strong finishing off with a 3rd place. Last main and was feeling better than ever pulling another 3rd, but due to my crash in the first main gave me 4th overall.

I was pumped to see some good gains starting to show itself coming into grands in a few weeks in Tulsa. Sometimes it feels like you are chasing hard for so long with no rewards but one thing I have been working on is patients and perseverance. So I left Orlando with finally a decent payday and some good confidence moving forward.

The next 3-4 weeks will be lightening off for myself in the gym and chasing some power rather than strength. Ill also be working on the weaknesses that showed its head during the race and see if we can make some of those gains in those areas needed. Exciting times moving forward!

matt Cameron #949