After claiming victory in the stocksaw showdown at Bathurst to decide the 2016 Australian Stihl Timbersports champion, Brad De Losa has wasted no time getting his practice axe out in training for the world championship in Stuttgart, Germany.
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De Losa flys out on Monday for the Czech Republic to continue his preparation with a week-long training camp before meeting up with the rest of the Australian Timbersports team in Germany for another training week.
All in readiness for the Stihl Timbersports World Championship starting on November 10.
The lead up to the world championships comes on the back of a gruelling five-round Australian championship campaign that he gave thanks to his personal trainers Rod and Sue Hawkins for their support to him get through.
De Losa said it was to the Chopperoos’s advantage that the Australian championship ended recently with the team looking for three straight world championship wins.
The Kiwis are the main rivals here with plenty of good match ups previously in the competition.
In the individual event De Losa will be trying to emulate his efforts three years ago when he managed to break New Zealander Jason Wynyard’s stranglehold over the Timbersports world championship.
Wynhard has won the world individual championship every year since 2009 except for De Losa’s triumph and has twelve overall wins in the Timbersports competition going back to 1997.
De Losa didn’t write down his own chances in 2016 though, knowing that every hit counts in these series to make it out as the winner.
Something he can testify to after the dead heat finish at Bathurst.
Victorian Brayden Meyer was equal with De Losa on 35 points at the end of the fifth and final round.
A stocksaw-off decided the day and the Australian champion.
While it might be a Bledisloe-like competition at the top of the championships 22 other countries will be competing with Australia and New Zealand.
De Losa said countries like Canada, the United States, Germany and Switzerland had strong teams.
The top eight individual competitors from the world championship all qualify for the Timbersports Champions Trophy held in 2017.
De Losa won the champions trophy in 2015, setting a new world record for the event.
He is keen to take his place again after missing out on individual honours for Australia in 2015 and qualification.