NDH RD2 Alwinton & 2012 Yorkshire Champs
| Liam McDermott:Waking Richard Molloy up at 6:00am with me outside his house didn’t put him in the best frame of mind for our longer than expected 4hr drive (thanks to Rich Marshalls dodgy satnav woman). To Alwinton round 2 Yorkshire champs After listening to two 20 track ultimate air guitar CD’S and some foreigner we arrived at the the track just after 11, the first rider we saw was one of my team mate’s Adam Hurst cycling up the fire road to the first uplift to smash in his first run. Rich parked the van and we got kitted up for the start of practice. My first run I was in for a shock. The track was steeper than expected as this was my first time here and didn’t know what to expect. From what I have heard Alwinton is never dry but still offers great fun, as I found out for myself. The track was challenging as it was so steep and sloppy and was hard to stop the bike from speeding up and shooting you where you really didn’t want to go. Saturdays practice went well with only two minor crashes. I was enjoying the track and felt confident by the end of the day. Sunday morning came and my first practice run put me in a bad mood and knocked my confidence after I took a tumble over the bars and slid 20ft away from the track down the hill. From then on i decided it was time to get my head in gear and change from the trusty Kenda Nevagals to the brand new Kenda nexcavators and a re-lube of yelovelo nasty wet lube for my chain. Now with my tires having further apart tread with a super soft compound meant the mud could clear out of the tires more quickly which left me with more grip to stay in control down the wet greasy steep shoot. After riding with team mate Adam Hurst and both having a cracking run we were both ready to race. My first run was very loose when coming down the steep shoots which sent me with way too much speed but luckily I managed to stay rubber side down and smashed through the sloppy berms. Coming out of the steep shoot it was time to pick up the speed and put the new Kenda Nexcavators to the test. I was running very low psi in the 2.5in dual ply tires which gave me plenty of grip on the roots. I shot through the final stretch of the track weaving between the trees and coming towards the drop into the finish, I then knew I had put in a half descent time and when I looked at the times as other riders came down I was currenty in 1st. Second run came around and I took the top section around the switchbacks a little slower which made me smoother therefore making me faster. Coming through the bottom half of the track I knew I had to make it to the finish without crashing, I had come this far and was on a good run. I crossed the line 2 seconds qicker than my last run and held my 1st place with a time of 1:47. Which made me Yorkshire’s junior champion. On the way home listening to American roots and bluegrass (riche’s choice not mine) I was looking back on the weekend and I was chuffed to bits on how well me and all the team did, Adam in 7th Junior, Rich Molloy in 5th vet’s and Rich Marshall 4th ( Yorkshire vet’s champion) all top ten results. Thank you to Carl Davidson who organised this awesome race and everyone else involved.
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| Richard Marshall:Big Rich Race Report 28-29th July NDH Yorkshire Champs Race – Alwinton
After some sat nav confusion we arrived at Alwinton for the Northern Downhill Yorkshire Champs Race, the weather was sunny and dry which seemed to put us all in a good mood, we suited up and i decided my first run was going to be on KOT spikes, we made our way to the uplift point, 200yards down the fire track and i had the first of four punctures for the weekend, a quick swap of wheel and i’m back in business, the first run was a baptism of fire (due to the track being very steep, a track walk was not on the cards). The first section was tight with trees and very rooty, then followed with some steep and tight switch backs which lead into some steep muddy shoots, once over the log drop and through the dark section came the bridge gorge/river crossing, a section that required full commitment on entry to carry speed over the bridge and up the over side, then came my favourite section which was rooty single track and finishing off with a steep shoot leading to another bridge and then the finish line. Several runs later we called it a day and made our way to the campsite, (The Rose & Thistle Pub) a pub meal and a few beers finished the day off in fine style. Sunday morning, Race day, with this being a Yorkshire Champs Race the title of Yorkshire Champion was up for Grabs and in my category it was a straight shoot out between me and Richie (2011 Yorkshire Champion), it had rained through the night so we expected the course to be a bit slippy in places, the first run down was exciting to say the least with the middle section becoming a mud fest, a couple of runs later and the course was shut ready for racing, a slight delay waiting for ambulance cover and we ready to go, unfortunately while waiting on the start line the guy behind me noticed i had a flat rear tyre, with no time to repair it i had to run my first race run with it flat which was interesting to say the least, with a quick turn around we were ready for our second runs and with a repaired rear puncture i was hoping for a quicker time, my second run didn’t go to plan with a tree that jumped out in front of me, and couple of hairy moments. North downhill once again put on a great weekends race event and the only down side were the killer mozies that attacked through out Saturday & Sunday (seemed to like Richie the most!) Well done to Liam for winning his category and becoming Yorkshire Champion Race results: – Liam McDermott (junior) 1st (2012 Yorkshire Champion) Adam Hurst (junior) 7th Richie Molloy (vets) 5th (2011 Yorkshire Champion) Richard Marshall (vets) 4th (2012 Yorkshire Champion)
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