Saturday and Sunday 22^nd/23^rd April saw Rounds 3 and 4 of the Dragon Downhill series take place at Abercarn.

What a mix of weather they had - after a dry and sunny Saturday the rain came over night and gave the track a dowsing but was still running fast with the mud on only a few sections resulting in a lack of grip.

The track was steep and technical to the last featuring rocks, ruts and roots, not necessarily in that order.

From the start riders pedaled down the fire-road and onto the first bus stop before immediately heading into a fast rocky section, jump out of here onto a wide flat corner before entering the woods, keep the speed up as your wheels pinged off the roots and bounced through the ruts as you descended very fast down the hill before things got even steeper. Cross the fire-road mid way and you were faced with a choice of two lines - go low roll and pump into a deep compression or go high, hop the roots, pump and then pull up and hope for the best to land down into a very steep cambered and cross rutted section. Only the elites and one or two experts managed to hit this line. You descended very fast out of here into a two lined corner - decision time again - go wide and cut in, or take the inside which was certainly faster but very slippy. Lots of people lost it here over the weekend. If you kept it together here hop off a the small stump drop and keep focused as stumps and trees jostled for your attention as  you went down into some very tight corners and roll in drops, soon the last bus stop came into view,  hop onto here and drop down onto a flat corner littered with stones - foot off Sam Hill style was the name of the game here, before hitting the chute into the final section, twist yourself through the tight corners and roots and roll into the finish right in to the buzzing pit area.

The track kept the racers on their toes until the end as the last corner caught a few out over the two days as they slid out round the turn to pedal down to the sensor at the bottom. Trade stands from The Bike Cellar, Bike Base and Descent Gear were represented and all followed along the valley at the base of the steep wooded hillside with a small stream running next to the camping field for those roughing it with the chemical toilets and tap over the weekend.

The new FC regulations on the uplifts were put into practice over the weekend and it seemed to work well with bikes in the back, riders sitting on hay bales in the front for 5 star luxury travel.

Racing was fast both days. Day one saw Dan Stanbridge (Mojo) take the first spot with a blistering time of 1.47 seconds, Rowan Sorrell ( Mojo) took second and Tom Deacon (Electric/Santa Cruz) third in Elite.

Masters saw a double header for rapid racers Aidan Bishop and Paul May first and second leaving Chris Aimes to take third spot.

Juveniles and it was Sam Webster who took first and Josh Hodgetts (Elan Bikes) taking second, but hot on their heels was Aston Hill local Pete Robinson AKA Mendez, taking third with a time of 2.18. Well done Pete.

Day two saw another day of exciting and close racing, the Geoghegan brothers rode flat out over the weekend, pinning it everywhere. Jack (Ancillotti/astonhill) taking a well deserved second in the super competitive youth category between Sam Dale (Goldtech) in first and Joe Smith (Ancillotti UK) in third spot. Nick (Ancillotti/astonhill) took a fourth in Junior after going off track and cracking his knee into the rocks. Very unlucky for Nick but that’s the nature of the beast I guess.

Elites was again won comfortably by Dan Stanbridge posting  time of 1.48 seconds, leaving Rowan Sorell (Mojo) and Stu Thomson (Giant-Racing) to take second and third respectively though there was only point something of a second between these two.

Experts and it was Mr Rob Breakwell of  (Dirt Magazine) who took the number one spot putting in a deceptively fast run he took the win by just over 1 second edging out Alex Stock (descent-world.co.uk) and Lee pincher (Race Co cycles UK).

Thanks to Jason and the dragon downhill crew, the marshals, extreme medical, the riders and everyone else who made the event possible.

Full results available at www.dragondownhill.co.uk



James.

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Race Reports & Photos Copyright of J. Marriott 2006. All rights reserved.