Borderline UK Downhill Series Round 5 - Llangollen: Report
Check out this great report from the 5th round of the Borderline UK Downhill Series that rolled into Llangollen and saw riders take on the brutally steep track!
Llangollen seems to have been on the UK race scene for ages now, it has been used as a National level track since 2009 when the steepest wooded track gained cult following. The following year saw the debut for 'Track 2' which was less steep but still steep enough to put cake in your pants and tyre marks on your shorts. Track 2 was used this weekend and taped out by everyones favourite commisaire 'Clipboard' Alex Thompson causing a few grumbles from riders who wanted to run the 'Squirrel' track.
Out of the start you traverse across a narrow section of undulating flowy trail before you arive at a lone tree and tip left and it gets steep. A few steep tight switchbacks and small drops before a short high speed section with a hairpin/drop at the end. Round that, then into a prolonged steep section before entering some tree cover with no smooth line. a quick but extreemely loose left/right and into the final 3 drops and onto the finish field. All under 2 minutes if you're mega quick.
Saturday practice ran well by all accounts, plenty of uplift being the main reason for me to get up early Sunday morning to zip down the motorway and over the border to Wales, safe in the knowledge I'd have enough time to get some practice in and then race runs followed by commentating for the remainder of the afternoon. well I would if i got up on time.
First practice run was an eye opener - It has been a while since I rode anything this steep, almost two years since I rode at Alwinton in the Northern Downhill series. If you drag your back brake on steeper tracks you just skid and don't lose any speed. Using the front pretty much stops you dead. Balance is needed to keep your speed. unclipping and dabbing my feet I found myself wrong footed and going slower than ever. I was going to give it up as a bad idea at the bottom but I decided to have another go. I didn't unclip, knew where the drops were and it got easier, just the odd dab. I ended up down in the dirt a couple of times which would have been unpleasant if it wasn't so powdery and soft to land in. Another practice run and I was told I was sweeping the course prior to race runs. I got down more comfortably, sent the drops into the finish arena on my trusty hardtail and went straight up for my race runs.
Racing commenced promptly with the Juveniles then Youth, Veteran, Women, Master, Junior, Senior, Expert and Elite riders all trying their hand at getting down the track as fast as possible, best run of two counting for the overall result.
Adam Beaty won Juveniles with a strong first run. Second and third were taken by Nat Nott and Tom Nelson after being 4th and 5th after first runs.
Youth was dominated by a top three of Oxley, Purvis and Swinbank, the only 3 in the category to go under 2 minutes. Brad Swinbank winning by 1.49 seconds ahead of James Purvis with Nial sitting a further .8s back from second. Oxley being one of the many final turn casualties, going down in the dust and seeming to take an eternity to get back up to post his slower time of 2:15.
Juniors. With 5 riders going sub 2 minutes down the track this always is a fast category. Shaun Richards was leading after first runs until Will Weston came down to do 'just enough' and steal a win by .05seconds. Not even a tyre width. Lewis Boyce rounded out the top 3, albeit 3 seconds behind the leaders.
Senior men. Most of the top riders in senior look ready to make the jump up to Expert by this point in the season. Mitch Ingley might have never been in Senior but for taking a year away from DH. it will be interesting to see what Richard Acott can do if he rides a big bike as he's been smashing it all season on a mix of DMR Bolt and a custom Omen hardtail. These two went 1-2, with Tom Davies of Mojo Suspension ripping into 3rd.
Masters up next and most of these older racers managed to go faster on their second runs. Paul Bolton and Gareth Hughes had gone 1st and 3rd on their first runs, Both going faster second time around to go 1-2 and Chas Barker making up for a poor first run to slot into 3rd behind them.
Veterans - all over 40 and still loving it. My hair is 40. Mark Cheetham led after first runs, went faster for 2nd runs but ended up 3rd. Conrad Slack knocked 5 seconds off his first run but finished 2nd. Steven Smith kept it rubber side down after sitting 4th to take the win with a time of 2:14.05.
Womens category only had 4 racers, possibly due to the nature of the track. Lauren Beaty took the win in both races despite a late charge from Becci Skelton who looked like she had it wrapped up with a 2:48. Gemma Taylor Finished 3rd ahead of a crashing-within-sight-of-the-finish Cath Short.
Experts was tight as ever with Sean Radcliff putting a fast run down which held for most of the first runs, only James Flinders and Reece Langhorn going faster. Langhorn went faster still on run 2, fast enough for 4th in Elite on a 1:51.71
Two world cup regulars were among the Elites, Jack Reading and Harry Heath. Harry only bobbed down on the Sunday to race so had maybe 4 runs in practice. Reading practiced all day Saturday. Third place went to Will Jones ahead of a tight Elite field. Harry Heath posted a 1:47.07 to lead after first runs but 'Shredding' Reading found an extra 0.4s to take top spot for the weekend.
Full Results here - http://www.rootsandrain.com/race1717/2013-sep-1-borderline-events-uk-dh-5-llangollen/categories/
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