Updated 21 May 2002
National Points Series XC2 - Catton Hall,
Leicestershire - May 12- Ross Fryer
The second race in the National Points Series took place
in the grounds of Catton Hall in Leicestershire on a deceptive course that wound
up and down an escarpment. The climbs were short but steep and the shorter than
usual lap distance (5.25 miles) meant that all the races had an extra lap to do.
I lined up for the Masters race in the warm sunshine and managed to get a good
start, passing numerous riders up the opening steep climb. I soon settled into a
good rhythm locked onto the wheel of another rider and paced myself around for
the first two laps, making up loads of places. After a small mistake on the
third lap that saw me put my foot into my front wheel, bending a couple of
spokes, I found myself in no-man's land. I managed to hold onto my position and
came into the finish in 10th place, 13 places better than the first round of the
NPS. It was a great result for me and means that I am in a very strong position
in the series with one more counting round left. The next NPS race is at Reading
in June and I will be lining up with Steve Price and James Lett in the Masters
race which should see De Laune get three good results.
James
Lyon joined me from Lancaster to race in Expert and here's what happened:
The Expert race was over 5 laps of the course and started
up a grass climb to thin the field out somewhat before the first singletrack
downhill section. I got a reasonable start although there was the usual argy
bargy bit at the start as a field 12 riders wide tried to get through a gap that
was only 5 riders wide. I found myself about 40th out of the 50 starters and
quickly worked my way up into the middle of the field. As the pack started to
thin out, I hooked up with a rider of similar ability to me and we worked well
together for a while. By the second lap, I'd settled into a good rhythm and was
halfway round the third lap when I pulled a muscle in my back as I went up the
steepest of the climbs on the course. The rest of the race got progressively
worse as the pain set in until it was all I could do to pedal…my back was
effectively locked in one position. I began losing places and from then on my
race was a damage limitation exercise to avoid losing too many places. I ended
up coming 35th in a time of 2.02.27 although I'd been well up inside the top 30
for the first half of the race. Disappointing but there's always the next round
at Reading to look forward to.
Southern Area Mountain Bike Series 1 -
Erlestoke, Wilthshire
Steve Price, Cliff Steele and myself all made the trip
down to Wiltshire for the first round of the SAMS to race up and down the chalk
escarpment on the edge of Salisbury Plain. We all lined up for the Masters race
with the usual large field of 80 or so people. The race went straight up a pig
of a climb and then down through an initially unrideable greasy descent. The
laps were very short but enjoyable with some good singletrack through the
bluebell woods and the usual drag around the edge of a very bumpy field. I went
well on the main climb but lost lots of time each lap on the technical descent.
Wrong tyre choice and all that (actually, I was just rubbish!). Steve went away
from me and seemed to be going well and eventually finished in a very good 12th
place with me four places and 42secs back in 16th. Cliff finished a creditable
37th but had had his fair share of problems in the slime.
More MTB Results: There
should be a report on this from Steve Price somewhere in this issue but he
managed the first MTB win of the season at the SIMBA race in East Grinstead. He
was joined by Cliff Steele, Bill Wright and new member Graham Clark and
apparently the racing, course and atmosphere were good and the series offers a
great chance to race off-road in a local event.
Our riders have also been active in the Gorrick series
with Steve Price notably getting a 2nd place in the race on May 12th, joined
again by Cliff Steele.
Hopefully, the good results will keep coming as the MTB
riders build for bigger and better things later in the season like the Red Bull
24 hour race, the Kona 100, the rest of the NPS rounds, the SAMS and the
National Champs.
