The fifth round of the 2011 Stif Cycles Northern Downhill series was held at the Northumberland track of Alwinton after the original venue of Carlton Bank was dropped.
Now in it's second year, Alwinton has earned a fearsome reputation of bring one of the steepest tracks in the UK, providing a challenge for even the experienced rider.
On the whole the track remained the same as the one used for the first round of the year, with the only change being a flat section at the top of the track. This new section cut through a recently felled section of forest and had the riders pedalling hard, trying to carry speed through the stumps. This easy start was soon over as the riders joined the old track and were confronted with steep switchbacks, root-lined chutes and a savage rock garden. The challenging nature of the track made it difficult to string together a faultless run down the hill, and a fair few riders came up a cropper throughout the weekend. Indeed five or six riders came off during their first face run in the small area in which we were taking photos.
The track conditions meant most riders opted for full spiked tyres to combat the mud, which was really sloppy in places, but as the day wore on some parts of the track were drying out nicely. There was even talk that dry tyres may made an appearance in the later stages of Sunday with Liam Little coming down on Minions.
Due to an issue with a local resident the uplift had to take a different route up the hill which involved a slightly longer push than before, but it didn't seem to bother most of the riders.
In Juvenile it was James Purvis who took the win with a 2.50 run, three seconds quicker than second placed Bradley Swindbank and four seconds up on Andrew Dorritt. In the Youth class Rory Mcritchie came down over nine seconds faster than anyone else with second placed Peter Hook only a second quicker than third place Jordan Byers.
In Junior Matty Leggett came down in 2.30 to secure his third class win of the year, followed by Jordan Doig and Ben Stanley who were only separated by a few tenths of a second. In senior Calum Mcritchie made it two class wins for the family with a 2.26 closely followed by Michael Coup and Jamie Scott.
Masters was won by Mark Weightman who came down with nearly a six second winning margin over second places Chirs Lazenby and Russ Clark. In Veteran it was Shaun Kelly who took his third class win of the year in the series with a 2.45, over eight seconds up on second placed Pete Hoggon and Michael Strangeways. Grand Vet was won by Alan Turnbull.
Esther Sands came down with a 5.08 to win the Ladies class ahead of Gina Robertson.
Liam Little secured the win in Expert for the fifth time of the year with a 2.22 ahead of Steven Turnbull and Joe Young. Adam Brayton took the win in Expert and posted the fastest time of the day with a 2.13 run which put him a couple of seconds up on Peter Williams with Alastair Maclennan coming in third.
This race was the last of the 2011 Northern Downhill series. As always, its been a really good season, with a friendly atmosphere and some challenging courses.
The guys at Northern Downhill have a couple of stand-alone events coming up so if you want to get some racing done 'oop north' then the North East Champs is coming up at Hamsterley on the 22nd and 23rd of October, and entry forms are available on the Northern Downhill website, but be quick, as attendances at regional champs are always high and entries close 2 weeks before the event.
Words & Photos: Richard Easton or
www.photo-moto.co.uk
