Halo British Downhill Series RD1 Report

The weekend that we have all been waiting for has finally come. The first round of the British Downhill Series, and where to hold such a vital race but the amazing Rheola in sunny South Wales.

Now never having the fortune to ride this hill before I was very impressed when pulling up to the location to notice how big and steep this mountain was. With the signs perfectly placed and directions on the web covering all options, finding the location was like taking candy from a baby. As I pulled into the fire road the whole exciting experience was starting to take shape. After finding the very important camping stop for the weekend I donned the wellie boots and walked to the finish area. WOW it's like taking part in a World Cup, never did I think the finish area would look like it did. The Atherton Racing lorry making the biggest statement with all the other teams and shops placed all round the finish line. After taking a few minutes to compose myself I continued my mission to conquer this mountain, if the finish straight was anything to go by it might take me longer than I thought. The word 'steep' is not man enough to describe this section. I'm pretty sure climbing gear wasn't on the 'to bring list', but never the less I'll have a go.

Now so you can all experience the thrill of what Rheola has to offer I thought I would, in not too greater detail describe the track from the start box. With only a few pedal stokes needed to get the momentum to tackle this track you straight away hit some really fast swooping corners, both with jumps out of them. With the thrill of the track kicking in, your concentration had to be at its peak as you hit a massive rock garden combined with two more fast corners and no margin for error. Your speed is already near the top end of the 'scare' level but still you are only in the first 30 seconds of the estimated 3.30min track. The top section was so fast it was all a blur until you came to the first major and life deciding drop. Option A being ride round and Option B being take the plunge but make sure your 110% confident with taking this challenge on as it wasn't for the faint hearted. This drop added a few people to its injury list over the course of the weekend, myself being one and a pair of FUNN Grips. Personally it was the fact that you had to pin it into a fast rock infested corner after landing with two table tops straight after, all placed on a ridge with a five foot drop onto the fire road dangerously close.

Once crossing the fire road you then came into the dark wooded section of the track with a wide range of choice when picking your line but with them ever changing as the weekend progressed. To make it fast and clean on this section it would put you in good stead to have a 'brag worthy' finish time but there was still lots more to over come before the bragging could commence. Crossing another fire road you found yourself approaching the wettest part of the track, with a rock drop cleverly placed before some off camber corners and a steep decent into the fire road heading towards the world famous Star Wars. Why they named it this I don't know but at a wild guess it could be because tress, roots and ruts seem to attack you from all angles, a very tricky section but vital to get correct because you came out of there heading for the 3 big jumps. After styling it up over these your track line choice came a lot more free and less vital for the next few corners as they were wide, flat and open.

Coming into the last few hundred yards, at this point this is where the track showed you who was the boss. As I've stated in the start of my article the finish was steep but before you could get to that point you had to pluck up the courage to tackle a thin shoot with roots crossing the track all the way down to a tree placed slap bang in the middle, practically with its arms out saying "hit me". And this I had the pleasure of many times, but if you were lucky to avoid it you then had to decide to go top or bottom of it. Bottom was off camber with a deep rut in the middle of it but on the other hand top was a short drop with roots in every possible place. I opted for the bottom and it just so happened I managed to make it clean with both feet still on the pedals. Only one more corner and the finish shoot lies between you and your can of monster when exiting the pits, the term foot out flat out came into my head.

To sum up, my first ever NPS/BDS race was amazing, the pits, the free cans on Monster and the uplifts in a coach all added to keeping that smile on my face. For those wondering if they should take part next year I would say 'go for it'! You feel like a pro for the weekend and you get to watch and ride with some amazing riders.

I would like to finish this article off by saying a massive thanks to all the guys running the BDS and the guys at Juice Lubes for keeping my bike fit for racing. Really looking forward too round two at Fort Bill on my birthday.

Results

Elite Men
1. Gee Atherton (Commencal) - 2:49.265
2. Dan Atherton (Commencal) - 2:51.260
3. Matt Simmonds (Chainreaction/Intense) - 2:52.636

Elite Women
1. Rachel Atherton (Commencal) - 3:24.536
2. Aimee Dix (Mojo Suspension) - 3:43.254
3. Manon Carpenter (Lapierre & Royal Racing) - 3:46.403

Expert Men
1. Tom Attlee (Pearce Cycles) - 3:05.980
2. Lee Huskinson (MMA, Royal & Middleburn) - 3:08.702
3. Mark Milward (Swinnerton Cycles) - 3:09.524

Senior Men
1. Ryan West (Tree Magnet Racing) - 3:13.228
2. Joe Flanagan (All Terrain Cycles) - 3:14.368
3. John Owen (Stan Jones Cycles) - 3:15.212

Women
1. Angela Proctor (Juice Lubes) - 4:18.166
2. Lianne Bartleman - 4:19.424
3. Rosie Smith - 5:07.490

Master Men 1. David List (Stourport Specialist Cycles) - 3:16.028
2. Andrew Titley (Kona And Paligap) - 3:16.231
3. Anthony Gaskin - 3:18.782

Master Men 1. David List (Stourport Specialist Cycles) - 3:16.028
2. Andrew Titley (Kona And Paligap) - 3:16.231
3. Anthony Gaskin - 3:18.782

Veteran Men
1. Jason Carpenter (Dragon Downhill) - 3:22.798
2. Rich Simpson (Bikeactive.Com/Iso2) - 3:28.195
3. Peter Roberts - 3:40.640

Junior Men
1. Mark Scott (All Terrain Cycles) - 3:08.364
2. Brad Mather (Empire Cycles) - 3:10.158
3. Arran Gannicott (Mde Bikes) - 3:12.875

Youth Men
1. Fraser McGlone (All Terrain Cycles) - 3:07.838
2. Billy Matthews (Peaty Syndicate) - 3:16.319
3. Dan Sheridan (Tomac/OC Tuning/Chromag Nov) - 3:21.704

Juvenile Men
1. Sam Herd (Scott & Perth City Cycles) - 3:37.302
2. Callum Havard (Ps Cycles/Cwmdown) - 3:40.659
3. Luke Cornforth - 3:48.231

The MoreDirt photographers were also trackside, so check out the gallery here