Well it’s all over and done for another year, but what a turn out this year 100% growth on last year. This all started months ago when i was trying to find a venue that would let me in, the race has been in Wales twice so a move to England was on the cards, and what a venue ! the www.ukbikepark.com let us in.
It really kicked off on friday night when the welsh mob phoned me up as the farmer wouldnt let them in to camp, i was 80 miles away and could do nothing, they manged to sweet talk the farmer into letting them in for the night. I knew i had at least 4 racers, it was hard to work out who would enter and who would just talk about it, so when i rocked up on saturday morning and saw the entry list i got a shock. Only 22 booked online and there where another 5 of us there on top of that and a few expected to turn up on Sunday, so i only expected about 15 and we had over 30, which is a very high turnout and worried some of the other riders, more on that in a bit.
Now you all know the name of who won, there is a story behind his entry. We all took the piss all day Sat to get Ben to race, as i knew he would be able to give Volksfirkin a good fight, we also got Robbie Rickman from Cotic, Steve Larking from wideopen mag, and Andrew Wright from Astrix, i tracked down Alex Marshall who came second in 07 and Ryan Lewis who came 3rd in 08, Husky was without a HT so couldnt join in, he was gutted when he saw how many turned up and who turned up on the Sunday but Ben Baker also from Astrix/Axo, now this Ben was something i didnt expect to happen, as last year he raced world cup 4x, and then broke his neck over the winter, after several months with a head cage on he came out for a play, i think his first race since the ok from the doctors ( and sporting a Leatt brace), getting sidetracked here, have a photo, spot the mistake, Andy Wright in the front Deakin in the back ground.
Yep Ben is on a susser, not any old susser, a few months old, then he came off in the corner of Doom, cartwheeled the bike into a tree, and you can guess the rest, someone did comment that he only won because he took out his aggression on the hardtail for breaking his susser, whatever, it worked he won ! handy he bought the commencal 4x with him.
So back to Sat practice, and a walk through the track with the welsh mob, it was wet (crap), water and chalky flinty soil of the bike park arent good, a couple of corners where unwalkable (corner of doom and trees to stop you) but the welsh where surprised at how steep some of the track was as there are no big hills down in dorset, ok we had one of the faster tracks so fast run times, but the welsh seemed happy and impressed. First few runs where a bit lairy but the track dryed up and by late afternoon was dusty and dry.
Got about 12 runs on sat so knew the track. Which was handy as i only did 1 run on Sunday morning, a tech problem with the radios delayed the start of practice, when it did open it was mayhem, with crash queues happening rather a lot as some people really got out of shape very fast. Also heard of some lairy antics from my lot, Alex overtook a susser midflight on the road gap at the bottom, and i think it was James who had a hucker flat land the gap so he jumped over him, and NO-ONE got a photo, that would have been shit-hot. Most people binned it here in the corner of doom, cue 3 pics, 2 there of Clair our first lady of HT racing, i watched her get highsided off the track and in the photos clair had hit the trees, she got back on and carried on, way to go ! loads came off here, and Ben Deakin trashed his susser on this corner as well, so an outstanding show of balls from Clair (sorry clair but it had to be said, more balls than some of the blokes).
So practice over and 2 men down already, Tim Black pulled his arm out and another went to hospital as well, i think maybe 6ish went to hospital, so on to Race run 1. This was eventfull, with Andy Wright droping his chain and Kenny Dyer trying to destroy his bike, his fork had been leaking oil all weekend, all over the front brake, which somehow still worked even though the caliper/pads/rotor where all soaked in oil, he also ripped of his hanger and stuffed the mech into the wheel, he was caught on the finish line by Stuart (Mr Onslaught) and as they tripped the beam together, well somehow Kenny didnt get cleared and was posted as a DNF, for run 2 wideopen Steve bodged up the gears for single speed. The real surprise was Ben Baker who posted the fastest time, problem was Ben Baker has raced at world cup level and there fore could not win the title, i really never expected a world cup racer to turn up and have a go, would anyone by able to beat him ? it was very very tight. Run 1 top 3, Ben Baker 1.22.25, Andy Payne (volksfirkin)1.22.29 and Ben Deakin 1.22.65 could anyone top that ?
Run 2 was chaotic as we ended up being seeded overall and not in cats, so it was random when a HT went down and we got split up, add in the late start the usual stoppages for accidents and things where running a bit late, but run they did, the Bike park staff got on with the task in hand with the minimum of fuss, no one bitched and run 2 was done, cue a few reruns and the final list was posted and what a shock (and relief) to find out the top 3, somehow Ben Deakin had found another 2 seconds to trim off his time and take the win.
Winning times, 1st Ben Deakin 1.20.72, 2nd Ben Baker 1.22.25, 3rd Andy Payne 1.22.29.
looks real nice too!
