Pretty good for a first timer...

Teamrockgardener had no racing this weekend so spent the morning playing up at silton.

A sunny but windy Saturday practice would see a full team turn out for the 4th round of the UK Bike Park Summer DH series. The track chosen for the weekends fun was Big Grin! the first practice run would question how it had been given this name! the addition of a uphill, yes you read it right, a uphill section didn't leave many riders with smiles on there faces. This aside the track was fast and fun with many great features: the road gap and massive table the most note worthy.
The other thing that soon became clear about this track was it was very pedally and would suit a strong set of sprint legs, thankfully TeamrockGardeners Big Rich fits this bill nicely.
Only other gripe apart from having to pedal uphill on a Downhill track was that only one uplift truck was in operation which led to long waiting times at the bottom of the hill, it averaged about a run an hour which wasn't really good enough.
Even with limited runs, the team was happy they had 'Big Grin' pretty much dialed in.

Sunday morning was overcast and pretty nippy, there had been some rain through the night but not enough to affect the course conditions.
Practice runs confirmed that everyone was reasonable happy they could do well, Damon had had an off on the last huge table but was still in one piece and wasn't letting the off effect his riding, big Rich for the first time in quite a few races hadn't spent any time rolling around in the mud, this time it was Dan that after a great practice day was now having issues with 'Tony's corner' a chalky right hander that we named after old boy Tony Hicks binned it there in practice. Richie had experimented with wheelsets to lighten the bike but changed back as the heavier bike felt more grounded.

Race Run 1:
The weather has turned nasty and is threatening to spoil all the dry weather practice the team has put in! Thankfully the showers are brief and run one will be dry.
Big Rich with his 'Chris Hoy' sprint legs chucks himself down the hill and with a time 2.02 ends up in 3rd after run 1, Richie isn't overly happy with his 2.12 but is cheered up when the time is good enough to put him in 6th after run one.
Dan has a run of 2.07 but feels he can go much quicker, Damon with his lazy approach (why stand up when you can sit down) comes down in a 2.12 also to leave Dan and Damon 6th and 7th respectively.

Race Run 2:
With hardly anything separating the top riders Big Rich Knows he has to hammer it down the hill to secure his and the team's first podium, he doesn't disappoint and goes 3 seconds quicker with a time of 1.59, not only has he got his well earned podium it's a 2nd place, but boy was it close with less than a second seperating 2nd, 3rd and 4th!
Richie has a much better run and is happy to knock 4 seconds off his first run to record a time of 2.08, the final results would reveal less than a second faster would have given him 5th, but 6th is still a personal best.
Dan posts another 2.07 to finish 6th and is gutted not to have gained a place also, but it's still a personal best for him too.
Damon goes 2 seconds quicker on race run 2 to secure 7th with a time of 2.10 another personal best!

Results:
R Marshall 1.59 2nd vets
R Molloy 2.08 6th vets

D Stringer 2.07 6th Masters
D Newton 2.10 7th Masters

Conclusion:
Another great weekend of racing at the UKBikePark one that has rewarded Big Rich and the team with its first podium and all the team members with their best results to date.

a little taster vid(from Faceplant) of Uk Bike Park Rd 4,which turned out to be TeamRockGardeners most succesful race to date with Big Rich getting this first podium with a well earned 2nd(vets) and Evil Richie, Downhill Dan and Damo all achieving personal bests with a 6th(vets), 6th & 7th(masters) respectively.

...full report with pictures to follow...

Another great video from Boon productions of the English Champs:

Richard Marshall 18th Vets
Richie Molloy 19th Vets

We turned up sunday morning in lovely sunshine, but we knew Saturdays weather had been a different story and so weren't supprised to see the course looked muddy and slippy!
A much larger field of riders then rd3 limited our practice runs to only 3, the first being a very tentative ride down the hill. The Course was what we had come to expect from Caersws: Steep, Stumpy, Rooty and fast. Thankfully the track was drying quickly and the second and third practice runs were better even though Big Rich managed to spend some time rolling around in the mud!


Race run 1: Would have Big Rich saying hello to the undergrowth again! so much for the banker run! and myself reasonably happy that after run one I was again in front of the big fella.


Race Run 2: All or Nothing? not really... but a faster run, I'm 5 seconds up on run one and happy I'd got 90% of the course right. We're not sure of Big Rich's time as the rider infront of him has gone down and confused the timing.


It doesn't take the race organisers long to post the results, Big Rich has pipped me again! but we are both happy to have finished well and in one piece.

Another Great day of racing at Caersws is over all thats left to do is pack up and go home.

Results:
Richard Marshal 8th
Richie Molloy 9th

Photos: Sion Samuel Rees