National Points Series Round 1
Sherwood Pines: 06/05/06
By Ben Thomas.
Sherwood Pines was the venue for the first round of the cross country National Points Series in 2006 and the first outing for the new Mountain Trax team kit. A few of the team took the decision to travel up to Sherwood Pines on the Friday enabling some extra practise before race day. The team was greeted by a course that wasn't too dissimilar from the previous year. The weather conditions in the days leading up to the event had been sunshine but rain was forecast for the Saturday.
The course had plenty of fire road sections with some nice flowing singletrack mixed in. With only a few inclines in the course the pace was going to be fast. On the Friday the course had a sandy covering on many of the corners that would catch some riders out. On Saturday the conditions had hardly changed, with only the temperature dropping from the previous days heat. The level of supporters around the track was good and the rider turnout was over 450. The rest of the team arrived on the Saturday just in time to watch Calum and myself who had early starts with racing beginning at 10 o'clock, proud to be the first to wear, and race, in the new Mountain Trax kit.
The Junior race was the first of the season and all 33 riders got a good start. The pace was expected to be quick and I completed the first lap around the 7.5 mile track in 26m50s. In an action packed first 2 laps I managed to steer clear of trouble and was in 12th place starting the final lap just 1 second behind Joshua Ibbett. Working together Jay Spetch and I pulled away from the group and then tried to catch Sam Webster. However, we came towards the arena at the end of the last lap no nearer to the rider in front. I sat right on Jay's wheel planning to overtake him on the final straight within the arena but I unfortunately crashed on one of the final corners. I eventually finished in 12th position.
Calum lined up in the Youth category against a slightly smaller field of 26 but the category included some big names. Calum came around after his first lap in 10th place within a large train of riders. He eventually pulled his way up to a highly respectable 5th place and some good points. Alex Paton of VC Deal/Active/Hammonds took the win over Ben Roach from Felt Racing.
Paul Hopkins finished on the podium in 5th place having dropped a place on the final lap. He worked hard to maintain his place in the leading group that kept a consistent pace through their 4 laps. Matthew Barrett won by just 2 seconds over second place rider Ben Dale who was only 1 second up on Mike Jackson. The top 5 riders in the Master category were spread out by just 11 seconds at the finish!
Warren's objective for the day was top 15 and to beat team mate Dean. They both competed in the Sport category, the biggest field of the day with 71 riders. Unfortunately, the flat course didn't suit Warren and that meant Dean was able to pull away during the first and last lap to put 11 places between them by the end. Dean was left on the front of the train for most of the race and was disappointed that hardly any others were willing to help out at the front. Consequently this hampered his performance later on in the race. This left Dean finishing 17th and Warren 28th. After a quiet race Chris managed to overtake 5 people within the arena on the last lap to boost his result in Sport to 56th place. He also managed to showboat his way through the feed zone juggling his water bottles!.
John finished in 46th place in Veterans with the only mechanical problem of the day where his brake pads were rubbing on the front disc rotor.
The course was liked by some and not by others but created a great spectacle for the crowds. The lack of climbs was an advantage to some riders but a disadvantage for others. The NPS round 1 was great fun and a very successful race for the newly kitted out Mountain Trax team. The next race is the Southern XC at East Grinstead on the 14th of May followed by the Gorrick Exodus Spring Series final at Porridgepot Hill, Deepcut.
Full results, Report and Photos on British Cycling
Pos Laps Time Time+ Name Lap 1 Lap 2 Lap 3 Lap 4 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- JUNIOR 12 3 01:23:25 05:23 BEN THOMAS 26:50 28:17 28:18 YOUTH 5 2 00:55:51 01:57 CALUM CHAMBERLAIN 27:36 28:15 MASTER 5 4 01:44:16 00:11 PAUL HOPKINS 25:11 26:26 26:32 26:07 SPORT 17 3 01:26:33 05:11 DEAN MORGAN 28:13 29:10 29:10 28 3 01:28:25 07:03 WARREN BATES 28:38 29:12 30:35 56 3 01:37:34 16:12 CHRIS WHITE 32:16 32:57 32:21 VETERAN 46 3 01:38:12 19:34 JOHN NEWPORT 31:45 32:59 33:28