SHE knows her first national series jumper is in reach, but Bathurst BMX Club member and Lithgow talent Hayley Wolfenden still has physical and mental challenges to overcome if she wants to win it.
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The seven-round national series will draw to a close this Saturday in Launceston and Wolfenden is in prime position to be crowned the 25-29 years women’s champion.
If she qualifies for the final and finishes it should give her the points she needs to seal her maiden national series title.
Wolfenden is currently 200 points ahead of Nerang’s Alex Walter.
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However, of late Wolfenden has not been nailing her gates in finals as well as she would like. That’s something she wants to rectify and it means not physicking herself out.
“I’ve been working on it … but at the end of the day you’ve just got to let your head not get the better of you and nail the start,” she said. “That’s my biggest problem, I let my head get the better of me in the final.”
The structure of the series sees a rider’s best three rounds count towards their final standing and they have to complete at least three to qualify for the overall win. Given Wolfenden has contested two – at Penrith and Tuggeranong - what she does this Saturday is important.
“You’ve got to do at least three rounds out of the seven and they take your best three results. But I haven’t met with the other girl in my age group I’m competing with because she's done different rounds to me,” she said.
“That’s another catch to the series – you can be competing against someone and never actually race them. It’s the first year that they’ve done it this way.”
One rider Wolfenden knows she will meet is Terrigal talent Clare McNamara – the rider who beat her at the state championships earlier this month.
Wolfenden admits that makes her feel pressured.
“The pressure I’m probably feeling is that I’m again going to be coming up against that number four elite and she’s really good,” she said.
“She qualifies in 17-24, but I always end up racing against that age group, so I know I’ll be racing her.
“[Still] Having her there definitely does push you along though and make your times better.”
Another challenge will be racing on the Launceston track for the first time, but it is something she is looking forward to.
“I’ve never been to Tassie, let alone ridden there. It wasn’t really a clear plan to ride there to begin with, it was more me thinking ‘These are the rounds I will do, and if I’m going okay I’ll do that one in Tassie’,” Wolfenden said.
“But that just adds to the challenge. You do practice before you race anyway, so you work out pretty quickly what part of the tracks are challenging and what aren’t.”