Chain Reaction Cycles/Intense Bank Holiday Races

The team had great success at various races over the weekend. As the riders where in different parts of the world (some of them) got to go home for a few weeks between world cups everyone got to do different events. Matt Simmonds and Ruaridh Cunningham raced the iXS cup Downhill round at Innerleithen, Scotland. It was a pretty stacked field with some international riders as well as the usual fast UK guys and Matt continued with his great form finishing 3rd and Ruaridh also had a good result finishing close behind in 6th place. Here is a report from Matt. "Arriving in Innerleithen late on the Thursday evening I was expecting to walk the same old courses that have been used for a few years now, but instead was greeted with pretty much a whole new track which looked amazing. The guys that put all the hard work in have done a great job. It was the first time that Ruaridh and myself have raced an IXS Cup and we both really enjoyed it. Something new to us was the format they use. We had Friday practice from 2pm-6pm, Saturday practice and seeding then Sunday finals which made practice a lot more relaxed with loads of time to check out lines and the big wooden hucks. Come Sunday and the great weather that we've been having couldn't quite hold off, with drizzly showers throughout the day it made the finish field interesting but the rest of the track stayed the same with dust and loose rocks everywhere. Ben Cathro and Ruaridh missed seeding due to MTB Cut's Stu Thomson's wedding, so the pair were down early on. Ben clocked a cracking time of 2.57, which would later give him the win, and Ruaridh would eventually go into sixth with a 2.59. It was then a long wait waiting for the faster guys to come down later on with myself not managing to better Bens time but slotting into third with a 2.58 and Lewis Buchanan in second. All in all a great weekend's riding. A big shout out to Dale McMullan who won masters for ChainReactionCycles.com." Matt Simmonds Chris Kovarik went over to Chester, while he and his wife Claire Buchar are in the UK, to race the NPS 4X round at Hart Hill for a change from Downhill racing. It has been a while since Chris has raced 4X and with a lot of the top World Cup guys over for the European 4X round on the Sunday it was another stacked field. Chris was also one of the only pro riders using flat pedals which is pretty rare in 4X these days but this didn't seem to slow him down. He made the final and finished 2nd behind top world cup 4X rider Joost Wichman. Chris' cornering skills and passing moves where a talk of the crowd and he made the racing really exciting. Julien Camellini raced a downhill in Italy for a bit of training and finished 2nd so well done mate. Here are some words from Julien. "This week end took place in Scopello the first round of the Italian National Cup. I was surprised by the wonderful track we've had there. 4 minutes long, with some fast open sections where you're top speed was around 85km h, some technical rooty and rocky woods, the perfect track for training before a world cup. Training went pretty good for me, I'm getting used to the M9 and riding in the mud. We've had rain on and off the two days of practice, raining at the top and sunny at the bottom. Race day the weather decided to be more sunny. I made a few mistakes in my run, especially in a long off camber, but I managed to take the second place behind the kiwi matthew Scoles. Third was another kiwi George Branningan. Back home, my head is now at Fort William for the second round of the World cup. I'm looking forward to join the rest of the CRC troops to pin it at Fort Bill." Julien Matti Lehikoinen was back home in Finland and he raced at a "Troy Lee Designs DH Cup" Finnish National where he took the Win, nice work Matti. I am sure the Finnish races were stoked to have you there and be able to compete against you. Matti told me that he always feels a lot of pressure racing back home as everyone expects him to win and with the tracks being really short over in Finland there is not much room for error. So well done mate. So it was a great weekend for the team and we are all meeting up tomorrow to head up for the 2nd World Cup round at Fort William Scotland. We may see a few of you up there, so drop into the pits and say hi. Nigel Page Team Manager - ChainReactionCycles/Intense Please keep up to date on the team at www.crcintense.com