Gorrick Spring Series round 2
Crowthorne Wood: 19/02/06
Crowthorne is a favourite course for many of us with it's mixture of fast flat singletrack, tricky rooty sections and gradual fireroad climbs. Paul Howard reports on the teams success.
Calum takes his first
win of the season
Calum Chamberlain was happy to be back racing again starting his 2006 season with a great first place in the Youths, finishing 27 seconds ahead of second.
In SuperMasters the two Paul's (Hopkins and Howard) had more competition to contend with this week in the form of ex-elite Jamie Norfolk (not that I would be troubling him! Ed). 23 starters in all proved how popular this category is now becoming. Hoppy fought with a small lead group until lap four where his constant race pace was too much for the hangers on as he cruised to his first win in Mountain Trax colours, 48 seconds abreast of Jamie. That sure makes up for his saddle issues at round one. Meanwhile t'other Paul was timing his fast finishing last lap to perfection overtaking Paul Davies and Mark Neill into the final gully singletrack to record 11th.
Little Dean opted for Masters putting in a solid performance against the regulars and his usual ding-dong with Nigel Grantham from Pedal On, to finish just in the points with eighth. The Veterans race, with 66 entrants proves it's not just a young mans sport, saw John pace his usual consistent laps for 41st.
In the Open race Ben sensibly opted not to go with the front runners on lap one. A good move as the leaders both blew on the third lap giving Ben an easy ride into third place. He now lies second in the Series.
Now the day changed for the worse...the rain hit hard changing the track into a slippery challenging course for Warren and Chris to contend with in Sport. Warren lived upto his other team name "Muddy Funsters" to persevere with the conditions to finish a worthy 14th. Chris decided enough was enough on lap two and bailed for the warmth of the van and a burger. Probably a wise move, that's where everyone else was hiding!
A mention must go to ex-team rider Will Simmons, now riding for Stif Mountain Bikes, who rode a blinder finishing just 16 seconds down on John Veness in Experts.
Round 3 moves on to Heath Warren, which if I recall has some really tight, twisty and bumpy sections, along with some slippery wooden bridges. Should be fun.
Full results on Timelaps, series points, plus more news and rider photos on Gorrick.com
Pos Laps Time Time+ Name Lap 1 Lap 2 Lap 3 Lap 4 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- YOUTH 1 2 00:48:22 CALUM CHAMBERLAIN 23:46 24:36 SUPERMASTER 1 4 01:26:12 PAUL HOPKINS 20:57 21:31 21:53 21:51 11 4 01:34:33 08:21 PAUL HOWARD 22:54 23:52 24:03 23:44 MASTERS 8 3 01:10:17 03:49 DEAN MORGAN 22:22 23:45 24:10 VETERAN 41 3 01:22:40 15:19 JOHN NEWPORT 26:59 27:42 27:59 OPEN 3 3 01:10:40 01:27 BEN THOMAS 22:59 23:18 24:23 SPORT 14 4 01:52:53 15:29 WARREN BATES 26:39 27:31 28:25 30:18 40 2 01:05:00 CHRIS WHITE 30:36 34:24 - -
Photos courtesy of Guy Swarbrick.