whole project. I rolled in frustrated, mangled brake lever jammed against a footpeg that was barely recognisable anymore. Within minutes they had a fresh lever swapped in and me back out on track. No fuss, no drama, just quick hands and clear heads working well under pressure. It’ s easy to talk about a race team when things are going well, but it means a lot more when they’ re calmly sorting out a genuine mess with the clock running against you. The rest of the day, though, was where my head let me down more than the bike. I couldn’ t decide whether to push hard to claw back the lost time or settle back into the pace that had been working for me all week, and that indecision turned into overthinking, which turned into a scrappy, average day. I finished 7th, five minutes off the podium and dropping another four minutes to my target who was sitting in 4th. I was left wondering what might have been on what was another fast, flowing track, and genuinely frustrated that not only
the mechanical issue had cost me, but that my own head also let me down trying to process it all.
LETTING THE CHIPS FALL Going into the final day I needed to find four minutes to hit 4th, with a full twenty minutes separating me from the podium. And, realistically, barring something going seriously wrong for someone else, that gap wasn’ t closing through riding alone. So, the night before I made the deliberate decision to let go of the result and focus on the process; ride smart, ride at my own pace, stay smooth, and let the chips fall where they may. Finishing top 5 at my first Romaniacs, on a CFMOTO 450MT, would be an achievement worth being proud of, regardless of what the results sheet said. Saying that to myself out loud was, in its own way, the same mental battle from the very start of this piece playing out one more time. Trying to genuinely believe that the result didn’ t matter while quietly
32 KIWI RIDER