Yorkshire Champs & Northern Downhill RD4

The Yorkshire Championships were held at Ramsgill in the heart of the Dales on a brand new track purpose built for the event. The Champs were organised by the same people who look after the Northern Downhill Series so the event was also the fourth round of the 2011 series. The Ramsgill venue shares its name with the old NAMBS track from the early 2000's but this course is situated on the opposite side of the valley. The track itself was a totally different affair to what most rider are used to, with no built corners and a grassy surface which harked back to the old school races of the 90's. The track stared with a short dash across a fairly flat top section which lead into a challenging boggy left hand turn. As the weekend wore on the ruts got increasingly deeper and they certainly caught out a few people. Following the bog the riders aimed for the gap in the drystone wall and were immediately faced with a right turn which was massively off camber, with the rain on Saturday night there were some heroic drifts around it. Next up was a small hip drop off a rock which sent the riders off down the hill and into a pair of off camber turns. Getting these two right was crucial as the second one led into a beck gap jump with an off camber run up. The fastest line here was to leap right off the take off and land on the downslope next to the chicken route. It was onto the pedals for the short straight leading up to the next wooden booter which was decorated by persons unknown on Friday night and provided endless childish entertainment throughout the weekend. The booter sent the riders down the hill, landing on a massively off camber section before hitting a sharp right turn at the bottom of the hill. It was onto the pedals for a short sprint through another gap in a drystone wall before the competitors were confronted with a short muddy section which got dragged into the next flat turn making it fairly interesting. The next feature was a small natural drop which some decided to pump. Others chose to drop it and aim for the small downslope. The last section comprised a few turns down through the bottom two small fields with riders peddling like mad to the finish. With 167 riders it was the Northern Downhill's biggest entry doubtless helped by the fact that it was the Yorkshire Championships. Uplifts on Saturday were quick with a lot of riders reporting that they had got 8 or 9 practice runs in. Unfortunately the rain came on Saturday night and by Sunday morning the uplift track was just too slippery to get the tractors up, so riders faced pushing up all day. This didn't dampen most of the riders' spirits as the push up wasn't that long and the rain the night before made the grassy corners much more of a challenge in practice. The track had pretty much dried up by the time the race runs got underway with only a couple of muddy sections. In Juvenile Rowan Carpenter took the win with a 1.33.16 beating second place Bradley Swinbank by only 0.4 of a second, with Andrew Dorrett coming in third. Peter Hook was fastest down in Youth with a 1.28.5, with Robert Pickard taking second and Liam Mcdermott coming in third. In Junior SPS rider Billy Mathews came down in first place with a 1.27.65 closely followed by local rider James Wilson who crashed on his first race run only to pull out all the stops on his last run to end up second. Another local rider, Mike Newbould, took third with a good second run. In Senior James Risker took the win with a 1.26.68 followed by Jamie Scott and Calum Mcritchie. Masters was won convincingly by Russ Harland with a 1.25.7, nearly 4 seconds faster than Russ Clark in second and Mark Weightman in third. Darren Howarth took the win in Veteran with a 1.28.8, followed by Pete Hoggan and Lee Podmore. Grand Vet winner Alan Turnbull came down with a 1.40.7. Elite was won by Alex Florian with a time of 1.25.3 with Alasdair Maclennan taking second and Brad Illingworth coming in third. Expert winner Liam Little also posted the fastest time of the day with a 1.23.8 taking the win by 1.6 seconds over James Swinden and Thomas Kelly. In the ladies' classes Expert Angela Coates put in a 1.41.9 followed by Esther Sands in Senior with a 1.48.2, Masters was won by Janine Wolstenholme who got a 1.35.3 and Youth rider Emma Whitaker posted a 1.56.5 RESULTS Elite Men Alex Florian - 1.25.34 Alasdair Maclennan - 1.26.89 Brad Illingworth - 1.27.70 Expert Men Liam Little - 1.23.82 James Swinden - 1.25.43 Thomas Kelly - 1.25.90 Juvenile Men Rowan Carpenter - 1.33.16 Bradley Swindbank - 1.33.56 Andrew Dorritt - 1.34.61 Youth Men Peter Hook - 1.28.56 Robert Pickard - 1.29.92 Liam Mcdermott - 1.30.529 Junior Men Billy Mathews - 1.27.56 James Wilson - 1.28.52 Mike Newbould - 1.29.54 Senior Men james Risker - 1.26.68 Jamie Scott - 1.27.46 Calum Mcritchie - 1.28.06 Master Men Russ Harland - 1.25.73 Russ Clark - 1.29.48 Mark Weightman - 1.29.65 Veteran Men Darren Howarth - 1.28.87 Pete Hoggan - 1.31.25 Lee Podmore - 1.35.315 Grand Vet Men Alan Turnbull - 1.40.79 Elite Woman Angela Coates - 1.41.911 Youth Woman Emma Whitaker - 1.56.52 Senior Woman Esther Sands - 1.48.27 Donna Harland - 2.03.034 Master Woman Janine Wolstenholme - 1.53.32 Ellen Hughes - 2.03.48 Gina Robertson - 2.05.50 Words & Photos: Richard Easton or www.photo-moto.co.uk