Woodland Riders Winter Series - Round 1 Report

Check out this race report from MoreDirt’s Greg Berry from last Sundays first round of the Woodland Riders Winter Series located at Chipshop near Tavistock.

With over 20 days of 2013 already flown by, It was time for the first round of the Woodland Riders Winter series down at Tavi woodlands in the absolutely baltic weather conditions that January has kindly provided us.

Kye Forte finished 2nd in the Masters category

The race was run using a mixture of tracks due to the woods recently fallen victim to felling but Chaz Lamley and the rest of the woodland riders crew did a fantastic job to clear a line that was more than up to the job...

The track incorporated one of their most direct top sections available on the hill including a few steep bomb holes to keep things interesting. The top is always a bit of a slog to just pedal your way through but the holes certainly mixed things up. The track then crossed a boggy fireroad and entered into Krash track, which includes loads of fun turns and a couple of fairly technical sections.

With plenty of free practice time, we managed to get five runs in. Allowing everyone to pick their lines and discover a few new ones that had been opened for the race. With a range of riders in the group we were riding with from seniors, masters, vets and a hardtail, the tension was building for the first runs.

Tony Williams took the win in the Vets category by over 2 seconds!

A good solid first run was chalked on the board from all the guys with Evolves Tony Williams sitting in 1st in the vets, Matt holding 3rd in the hardtail category, Billy taking 9th in masters and Tom in 16th the senior category and I was sitting in a pleasing 8th after run 1. With podium places to hold onto and top tens to stay in, second runs were going to be equally as important.

Tony held onto his lead going a second faster, extending his lead over John Cobb by 2 and half seconds. Billy improved his time in the masters and held onto his 9th a great result for his first race back in a long while. Tom more or less matched his first time but dropped to 17th but was still well into the top half of the category. Matt went slightly faster but Chris Lamley ended his chances of a podium by pushing him down into 4th. I went a second slower on my second run and dropped back to 10th, thus not getting the single digit finish I craved, brilliant!

The next round is set for the 17th Feburary once again at the Woodlands. It’s a fantastic race series with an incredibly friendly atmosphere so get your entries in and support the events.

Check out the results below...

Expert/Elite Men
Jay Williamson - 1:08.380
Ash Mullane - 1:11.750
Ben Deakin - 1:11.865

Juvenile Men
Harrison Fawcett - 1:33.298
Jacob Dobson - 1:34.626

Youth Men
Dan Furse - 1:16.272
Jack Clothier - 1:16.824
Mike Hodgkins - 1:18.231

Junior Men
Charlie Ross - 1:10.445
Owen Willicombe - 1:13.493
James Payne - 1:16.709

Senior Men
Harry Steer - 1:10.317
Zak Hurrell - 1:11.459
Olly Hooper - 1:12.470

Master Men
Jim Davage - 1:11.596
Kye Forte - 1:11.689
Mark Fernihough - 1:20.306

Veteran Men
Tony Williams - 1:17.188
John Cobb - 1:19.643
Chris Cooke - 1:21.817

Hardtail Men
Sam Acland - 1:14.861
Jamie Mclaren-Smith - 1:15.598
Chris Lamley - 1:17.960

Women
Heather Kay - 1:27.595
Jo Page - 1:28.238
Katie Parsons - 1:46.816

WideopenMag's Jay Williamson took home the fastest time of the day and won the Expert/Elite category.

Once again a massive thanks to Chaz for ensuring things were running like clockwork!

www.woodlandriders-racing.co.uk

Photo Credit: Chris Davison