"One highlight for me was that I managed to rip off another holeshot. That gave me a boost in adrenaline and for a few miles I rode with a deluded sense of strength but each downhill run reminded me just how sore the hand was and it wasn't long before I was in cruising mode, and allowing plenty of room for those behind me to come on by," Whibley said. "It made no sense to try to hold anyone off while I'm not in any condition to race."
Whibley also lost time when after completing the first lap he came across another rider, Thad Duvall, who had crashed and was in a lot of pain. Whibley parked his bike and ran back down a hill to ask someone to get the medics to attend Duvall. "Returning to the race, I was a long way off the pace but I was probably going to end up out the back anyway," he said.
The fact he was riding much slower than usual also meant Whibley felt "pretty beat up" at the end.
