Philip Buys from Team Contego/28E started his 2012 season with two strong performances this past weekend. On Saturday Philip finished second in a sprint finish to Burry Stander at the XCO race in Fountains, Pretoria. He followed that up with his first victory of the season in the WP XCO series opener held on the Slammer track at Willowbridge, Durbanville.
Source: Linè Griffiths
According to Philip he was pleasantly surprised by his performance at Fountains. "I usually start good in races, but this time I decided to hold back a bit. On the second lap I got excited though and on the climb Burry and I got away."
Philip didn't really try to get away from Burry during the rest of the race and the duo battled it out till the finish. "It was important to get first into the single track, but after the climb I was behind Burry and tried to pass him, but he closed the line. He got a gap of about 10 meters and I just couldn't close that gap."
Philip added that he is happy with the result and that he is very excited with the prospect of what is to come if this is how he can start the season.
"I definitely learned something from my battle with Burry. I'm not usually this sharp at the start of the season and there is still a lot of work to be done. I'm really excited."
Philip's team-mate Louis-Bresler Knipe finished third.
Sunday's race was held at the same venue where the first event of the national XCO series will be held. Even though Philip won, it was a hard battle mixed with some chaos. After his race on Saturday he joined his sister for her 21st birthday celebrations and got up just after 4am to be in time for his flight back to Cape Town.
"I missed a few things when setting up my bike in the rush before the race. That was my fault."
Philip was in the lead on lap one, but soon found himself in fourth place after some mechanical problems. With super fast lap times he managed to fight his way back to the front. With the start of the last lap he was only 20 seconds behind the leader Renay Groustra who had a lead of more than 2 minutes at one stage.
"I didn't like being so far behind on this course where everybody expected me to win. I would have liked to have had a more relaxed race, but I'm happy to have won. Now I'm very tired!"
Nationals will be held in Durbanville on 11 and 12 February on the Slammer track. This track is built on historical ground where the old prison was.
Also, read Phillip's Blog on the race here...
