Loudenvielle

Mm-hmm.

Um, Asa Vermette second in the overall, having not gone through Q1 multiple times, missing out on quali points, having had what could've been a season ender in Leogang on the motorway, and having had a disqualification in Loudenvielle.

So without the season ender, which was definitely his fault, um, [laughs] and the disqualification in Loudenvielle, which was quite a lot of Asa's fault, but also a lot of, a lot of kind of course marking on, like, just bad luck in terms of where he started to make a mistake and what the features were on the track, let's say.

So I think Asa could be firmly in the driving seat, but he's absolutely not.

But he's definitely in it with a big shout to win.

There's plenty about the highs and lows along the way, too, including broken wrists, difficult seasons, and the lessons he's taken from the races where things haven't gone to plan.

Remember that umbrella moment in Loudenvielle? Anyway, without further ado, here's Henry Kiffer.

[upbeat music] Henry Kiffer, welcome to the Downtime Podcast, mate.

I'm, uh, stoked to finally make this happen.

Yeah

... and then also had crashing problems.

Like, I crashed in Loudenvielle quali two.

Quali one was too slow.

... take it.

So you, you turned up to the f- your first round in, in Loudenvielle.

What, what do you bring with you? What is your race setup now?

So I have a van, a trailer.

Oh, short word, yeah.

Um, yeah, I've s- I didn't actually start Loudenvielle, so I try not to count that one, but-

Okay

... um, yeah, qualified at four out of five, which is no easy feat these days.

Um, got mechanical there in qualifying, didn't make it through.

Ah, where do we go from there? Loudenvielle.

Oh.

We got a new truck.

Yeah.

Yeah, he's shown a lot of speed at different times over the last few years, and this year he started with, he broke his foot or his heel just before the season, so Loudenvielle was his first time back on the bike.

And like with the way the first half of s- first block of the season was, if you're starting on the back foot, mind the pun, uh, it was quite hard to get back.

[laughs] So obviously I think he built through the season, then had a few weeks off, and Morillon came in swinging.