Dirty Halfpipe

Hopton round 2

Round 2 saw Hopton return to the Pearce summer series. There’s been abreak from using the venue because of the maximum 5 or so times wereallowed to use it each year…

Click read on... 

Ian Smith had been very busy over the last few months to give us a fresh new track, mixing old with new. A freshly dug top wooded section lead into a new start into the open, leading onto the classic track, with a new exit back into the dimly lit woods. The bottom section was flat out. A pinned run up into a flat out road gap, which unfortunately saw a juvenile rider go down hard early into the first runs on Sunday. I think it was a wake up call to some of the riders who were lined up to go straight after him, you’ve got to realise the consequences can be big when doing this sport.

Photo by: Jim @ ftmb.net

 Saturday, we rolled into the field noticing straight away that Pearce had upped the anti on other series, with a new marquee providing riders with entertainment at night and shelter, come Sunday.
  Classic Pearce uplifts running smoothly all Saturday meant some riders were getting up to 10 runs! Dave Pearce and his chainsaw had obviously had a day out in the woods, making a new fireroad, that meant riders were dropped off  metres from the start mound. Sunday saw this new path becoming a bit treacherous for even the finest Shropshire tractors, Getting lead into the woods through the mist, lights on full beam felt like a scene out of Band of Brothers.
  Practice was wideopen on Saturday. Multiple line choices up and down the track meant some of the top boys were getting pretty loose on some sections. Recently signed factory Cannondale rider Sam Dale stood out with his undergrowth line in the open which missed out 2 corners and at least a couple of seconds on the rest of the field. Two flat out runs by Dale meant 1st in Juniors and 2nd fastest time of the day overall. This years going to be a big one for him. Other standout riders over the weekend, were Marc Beaumont, maybe with a helping hand of local knowledge but still washed everyone away with a 2.27, leaving everyone else scratching their heads.
  The dust we practiced in on Saturday took a battering Sunday night with some freak rain over the Midlands. Waking up Sunday morning shivering, there were more than a few bleary faces. Gone was the dusty dry track, but the ground stayed tacky throughout the day giving a tonne of grip, but definitely held you back in the flatter sections. All sorts of tyre talk was going on, Swampthings? Wet screams? 2.5 or 2.35? Who knows… Some were still running dry tyres, but a big thanks to Burg for sorting me out last minute.

Photo by: Jim @ ftmb.net

Racing:

Hardtaillers braved it first. Jon Webb has gone to the dark side and discovered rear suspension so this left the door wideopen for Tom Gleave to take the win with a respectable 3.11.96 closely followed by Lee Petford and Rob Willis.

A small juvenile field this time, Matthew Downes takes the win for Dave  Rayner cycles with a 3.13.807

Jamie Maller schooled the rest of Youth with Brad Mather following up in 2nd

Juniors was just a Sam Dale gong show, with a 2.32. Taking the win with ease.

Monet Adam news Solid bike was obviously working well with her taking the win in junior women by two and a half minutes! Aimee Dix on board her new Mojo/Orange 224 pipped a factory looking Emilly Horridge for the win in Elite.
   
Masters was a close one, David List took the win over Alun Lewis and Col Williams. But we all know who had the cleanest bike at the end of the day…

Photo by: Jim @ ftmb.net

The Morgan Bros were sideways all weekend, and were both on for the top two steps, but Richard Thomas managed to sneak into 2nd.

The gravity-slaves.co.uk team hung in there with Joe getting a 9th in Juniors and 23rd overall. Phil on his new Commencal definitely looked more comfortable and this showed with a 27th in Masters, with plenty more improvements to come over the season.

Another flawless Pearce event. Who needs Dragons when you’ve got these? Rounds 4,5 and 6 go live May 1st  so get your cheque books ready, they’ll fill up fast.

Mud is the new Dust.

Special thanks to Jim at FTMB.net for the photos!

Joe
www.dirtyhalfpipe.co.uk
 
 

Comments (1)

written by rob90, April 27, 2008 at 20:54

thanks to robin for the first photo.......

report abuse

vote down

vote up

Votes: +0