This race was round 4 of the winter series and saw Martin Loveridge and myself take on Wonderland fresh back from Wales hoping to put all the good training into practice.
Well this was done with Martin who posted and placed a very respectable time of 59.996s placing him 4th overall in masters, myself not so good after catching the rider in front on my seeding run gave me a very low start time and could nt the time back finishing 8th in the old giys cat with a time off 1:08.281.
Report here:
The track used for the race was ‘Wonderland’, only announced last thing on Saturday so no-one could get sneaky practice before race day. This was a one-day push-up event, proper ‘grassroots’ racing, but a sunny start to the day meant there were plenty of riders arriving on the day to sign up, including quite a few first-time racers. Although this was Round 4 of the EKH Winter Series, it certainly wasn’t winter weather. The track looked fairly straightforward, but with a couple of interesting corners that continued to catch riders out all day.
The format for the race day was practice in the morning followed by one timed seeding run then two race runs. There was some fairly vocal disapproval from some riders when one corner was re-taped during practice to make it more of challenge, but after some ‘discussion’ a compromise was sorted out. The seeding run was fairly uneventful as riders didn’t push too hard, then things started to liven up in the first race run. Sam Maddison looked on good form, but ended up tangled in a fallen tree 5 yards from the finish line
Then Adam Morris had a disagreement with a tree on the fastest part of the course, and the race was stopped for about an hour while Adam was sorted out by the medics and taken off by ambulance. He ended up with neck, shoulder and arm injuries, I’m sure everyone wishes him a speedy recovery. Thanks go out to the medics, marshalls and commissaire involved in looking after Adam and getting him to the ambulance, and also to the Racer’s Guild member who cycled up and down the forest several times to make sure the ambulance ended up in the right place.
There were quite a few members of the public spectating, and there was a mixture of disbelief that downhillers crash so much, but also admiration for the way all involved helped to look after a fallen rider, and the patience of other riders waiting to compete.
After racing resumed, Elliot Machin, the only Elite rider put in a careful run (riding part of the course one-handed!) after being injured the week before, leaving local riders Andrew Hughes and Adam Halling to fight for top honours in Expert. Andrew led after the first run, and although Adam improved slightly in the second run it wasn’t enough to take first place. Scott Barley took first place in Seniors, not far behind the Expert riders. The timing tent was right next to the finish line, so there was a good atmosphere at the bottom of the track as riders gathered to watch the times, allowing for cheering / heckling as riders crossed the line. The biggest cheer of the day was for Jack Thompson, as he went over the bars 5 yards from the finish, picked up his bike and ran for the line.”
Remember the Extreme knowhow series give us 50% on entries on producing our MOD 90 so no excuses for not having a go at some of their events this summer!
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