2005 Race 9 - Chicksands - Beds |
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| ROUND 9 Full results now in | |||
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| The men in
black - Team FreerideSpain.com hit the Chicksands venue for race of the
Series and took the top Honours. Formed for the night we make no apologies for shamelessly plugging a superb holiday company in the Andalucia region of Spain. Ryan Henry one of their guides, and coming all the way from Lanzaron in Southern Spain took the Senior win with Adi Scott in 3rd. A result good enough to make Adi Senior Overall Champ for 2005. Jack Peterson took the Veteran win. The start saw Adi take the head of the field with fast starter Mike Cowland in pursuit, the following train included all the front runners, along with Jack and the fast juniors Nick and Ian. Ryan soon took the lead and Mat Barrat gave chase, going well after just returning from a broken collar bone that ruined his series chances. Adi Hung on but could not match the pace and did well to hold off local boy Gavin Rumbles to the flag. Lloyd Bettles passed and kept Paul Robertson at bay to jump up to second senior overall with John McAndrew chasing hard. Ben Loaker recovered from a very poor start to overhaul Phil Topliss on the final of 4 laps. Nick Jones took the win in the Juniors but a superb 2nd lap blast from Ian Whatling saw him close down the gap to 5 seconds. Ashley Wilson got the better of Bradley Burbridge in the Youths. So where were the Ladies tonight. Some finishing times of the fast boys are available; Ryan Henry 53.35 Matt Barrett 54.24 Adi Scott 54.42 Jack Peterson 58.05 Ron Rutgers 59.45 |
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 The start dash to the first sand pit corner. Adi heads them out. Thanks to Graham for the pics - more here Rd9 PHOTOS |
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| Here''s a
note from one of the race organisers; We decided to stick to the tried and test formula of using the XC Red Route with a few tweaks. Some initial clearing work based on Plan A was carried out a couple of weeks before the race, but when we returned it was apparent that our intended variation was not going to work due to the ground being too soft. So on the morning of the race we switched to Plan B. (Mr President) and some more frantic undergrowth clearing was undertaken to clear the overgrown trail along the edge of the main road. This provided a rooty single track descent with a shallow dip (ditch?) and a bit further on a fallen tree (with the option of a longer run to get round it) to ride. Other than that it was basically the XC Red Route including the established technical loop through the Freeride Area (after considering various more testing options) and the additional stretch of singletrack added since last summer towards the end of the loop just before race control. Oh yeah nearly forgot, we did a quick detour over the top of one of the ridges rather than the normal longer climb and descent. On the day it was overcast and spat a few drops of rain, but otherwise remained dry which meant that the trails were very dusty. The few photographs I saw seemed to be very murky as a result. Also this made some of the sections quite sketchy although we did clear away the surface sand in some places. For the race itself I perched myself (along with some big-rig guys) at the Freeride area to watch the action down the loose, rutted and rooted slope into the bomb-hole. Certainly from where I was the race leaders were flying through that section and the body-armour clad audience were pretty impressed...especially come the last lap and they were still going for it big time. Inevitably there were a few stacks and punctures, but hopefully everybody got back home in one piece. Anyway, look forward to seeing the series back next year and based on feedback we will try and keep the mix much the same...but there is one section that we might perhaps want to use if the trail conditions are right and we can sort out permission with the locals and the Forestry Commission. Ian Redgwell www.bedsfattrax.org |