ChainReactionCycles/Intense team dominate at Fort William

Well the first race of the year on a proper track with the whole team and the new bikes couldn't have gone much better! After a week over at ChainReactionCycles.com in Ireland, getting the bikes dialled in, doing team photos, filming with Stu from MTBcut.com and basically having a fantastic time getting the royal treatment by everyone at CRC. Frank also took it upon himself to scare the pants of us all by taking us for a 'leisurely spin' in his DB9!! We finally headed over and up to Fort William for the 2nd round of the Halo BDS National Race for a proper test of our new bikes in preparation for the first World Cup in Maribor - then back to Fort William for the second World Cup in 4 weeks time. The course builders had done some massive work on the track putting in some new sections and making the track even longer and more demanding - this really was a great test before the World Cups start. With practice on Saturday - great weather - and then seeding and final runs on Sunday the weekend went close to perfection! With our new bikes and a top of the range pit set up thanks to CRC all the riders were stoked to be there and racing - this reflected in our results with Chris taking the win in Elite men by over 3 seconds and Matti Lehikoinen and Matt Simmonds also making the podium. Julien and Ruaridh also did great times without perfect runs finishing 6th and 10th respectively. Claire had a great solid run finishing 2nd to Rachel Atherton but posting another very good time. I even managed to put in a rare race run in and managed to take first place in the highly competitive Masters category!! Thanks to Si Paton and Dave Franciosy who did a great job running the event - it was the best National event I have been to for many years. We are off to Maribor tomorrow for the first round of the UCI World Cup this coming weekend so we are hoping to carry forward the whole teams good form. Wish us luck and thanks very much to all our sponsors for your support. Elite male 1 6 Chris KOVARIK Chainreactioncycles.Com/Int aus19780301 5:02.435 2 11 Dan ATHERTON Commencal gbr19820125 418699 5:05.882 3 56 Ben REID Dirt Norco Race Team irl19867324 1 5:07.115 4 7 Matti LEHIKOINEN Chainreactioncycles.Com/Int fin19840419 5:07.789 5 10 Matt SIMMONDS Chainreactioncycles.Com/Int gbr19870527 5:08.308 6 12 Julien CAMELLINI Chainreactioncycles.Com/Int fra19840107 5:08.416 7 4 Marc BEAUMONT GT Bikes gbr19840925 419322 5:09.455 8 2 Gee ATHERTONCommencal gbr19850226 418697 5:09.974 9 14 Danny HEART Giant World Team gbr19910920 424959 5:10.355 10 17 Ruaridh CUNNINGHAM Chainreactioncyales.Com/Int gbr19890215 5:11.004 11 9 Ben CATHRO Mtbcut.Tv 431165 5:11.422 12 29 Fergus LAMB Perth City Cycles 443966 5:12.635 13 15 Tom BRAITHWAITE Hope Technology 429485 5:14.943 14 28 Robert SMITH 3Smith/SantaCruz 424627 5:16.653 15 58 Adam BRAYTON Mythic Factory Team 454535 5:16.992 16 63 Joe BARNES 550513 5:17.978 17 18 Rich THOMAS Ancillotti UK 431079 5:19.374 18 21 Jack READING Ellsworth/Oneal/sis 705623 5:19.980 19 23 Harry MOLLOY Last/Funn/Lifestyle 446935 5:20.907 20 24 David SMITH 3Smith/SantaCruz 421995 5:22.262 21 34 Ashley MALLER Santa Cruz UK 457908 5:22.474 22 31 Gareth BREWIN 2Stage Factory Team 442967 5:22.878 23 30 Peter WILLIAMS 450553 5:29.055 24 20 Scott LAUGHLAND Team Robin Ruth 441302 5:31.540 25 32 Christopher HUTCHENS Orange 433653 6:58.498 26 27 Scott MEARS Fox Europe/Santa Cruz UK/Co 7:18.036 27 33 James HUGHES 111111 8:56.157 28 53 Alex FLORIAN Pearce Cycles 421760 17:41.810 Elite Women 1 90 Rachel ATHERTON Commencal GBR19871206 418696 5:44.471 2 75 Claire BUCHAR Chainreactioncycles.Com/Int CAN19780426 6:00.883 3 76 Jess STONE Trek/Gravity Girls Team GBR19900914 462 6:28.404 4 77 Helen GASKELL Intense/Fox Racing GBR19830116 403409 6:29.392 5 93 Emily HORRIDGE GBR19800602 428091 6:31.219 6 80 Aimee DIX Mojo Suspension GBR19880620 447776 6:36.942 7 79 Sarah NEWMAN Fixonline GBR19850121 458089 6:36.990 8 78 Katy CURD 2Stage Factory GBR19890427 707400 6:38.626 9 82 Harriet LATCHEM Propain And Sixpack GBR19830511 461639 6:43.893 10 81 Emma WAREHAM Leisurelakesbikes GBR19830307 710166 7:09.504 Nigel Page Team Manager - ChainReactionCycles/Intense Please keep up to date on the team at www.crcintense.com