PHOTOS
National Points Series round 4
Newnham Park: 5-6 August 06
By Ben Thomas.
XC
Calum, Dean, Paul Hopkins, Warren and I arrived at round 4 of the National Points Series late Friday afternoon. The early week weather forecast had been changed from rain to sunshine for the weekend and they had eventually got it correct with some great weather over the Friday and Saturday. With the promise of river crossings and other great features at this former cross country world cup course many hoped for a fantastic weekend of racing.
The course started out from the arena heading over towards the first and deepest river crossing and then back right onto grass and up a small rise before moving onto the main climb of the day. Although this section wasn't too steep it was made harder by the fact that it was on grass. Once the course reached the top of the main hill it began to climb at a smaller gradient and on gravel tracks that meant it was much easier. After this section the course included some great singletrack, including fast flowing sections with some bomb holes thrown in for the fun factor. Once the track reached the bottom of the hill you crossed the second shallower river crossing before climbing on rooty singletrack and then descending down a great section with plenty of roots and rocks to catch out riders. The finish was a trip around the edge of the campsite and back into the arena.
Paul had a great start in the master category and by the first river crossing he was up to a podium place. Come the 2nd lap his was in 4th place in the lead group and looked strong as he climbed up the grassy climb past the feed zone. Mike Jackson was pushing Paul hard and several other riders weren't too far behind. Paul slowed on his 2nd and 3rd lap compared to his main rivals and they managed to create a lead that Paul wasn't able to pull back partly due to a 'log' becoming wedged in his wheel and rear mech. Eventually Ben Dale was able to take the win completing the 4 laps in just 1 hour 24 minutes with over 1 minute and 30 seconds over his nearest rival Mathew Baratt. Paul finished 3 minutes down but still finished an excellent 6th place.
Calum still seemed confident after his excellent podium finish the week before at Bordon. The front Youth riders were fast away and Calum ended up towards the back of the pack after the sprint to the first river crossing. Calum then rode a strong race but with the leading youth category riders catching some junior category riders it meant that Calum eventually finished 3 minutes behind Alex Paton and 1 minute behind William Verney. His dad Ken's training plan is obviously starting to pay off as Calum achieved his best result this year with an excellent 3rd place and a national podium.
Calum boils the local water supply [pic: Ken Chamberlain]
Gridded from the second row I fell back slightly on my first lap stunned as usual by the amazing speed from the front group. My target though was to keep them in sight but they managed to already create a minutes gap after just 1 lap. After a bad attempt to overtake me half way through the first lap that caused him to crash and cut his arm Jake Moxham did later catch me and was 1 second up on me by the beginning of the 2nd lap, on the hill climb however he managed to pull away. By the end of the 2nd lap I was in 9th place and just 5 seconds down on Anthony Farrell who I stayed with for the remainder of the race. By the final section I was still on his wheel as we climbed back up the technical singletrack and then descended down into the campsite. By the time we arrived in the campsite it was obvious it was going to be a sprint finish for 8th place. On the final straight I won the sprint finish by just 1 second achieving my highest National Points Series result of the year so far. Shaun Hurrell won the race by less than a second over Connor Mcconvey after their sprint finish. The newly crowned national champion Tom Last completed the podium only 9 seconds down on the top 2.
Dean managed to get a good start and was top 15 by the river crossing which enabled him to escape the main surge of riders and incidents in the water that Warren got caught up in. After some extra pressure added to the event from John Newport mid week both riders had not just their position in this race to play for but also their place in next weekends Sleepless In The Saddle teams. Dean managed to complete his 1st lap in 19th place but Warren had caught and passed Dean for 18th place but at this point only 9 seconds separated the pair. Warren blew on second lap, suffered from dizzy spells clearly caused by dehydration from hardly drinking anything and this allowed Dean to create a lead over Warren of 50 seconds. Warren never properly recovered and eventually finished 24 place just over a minute behind Dean. Just after the second river crossing Dean suffered a front wheel puncture but he had no choice but to ride the last technical section of the course as he was almost home and stopping would have used too much valuable time. Unfortunately though he still lost some positions and in the end he finished 22nd.
This weekend was defiantly a favourite for many thanks to an excellent course. Also the addition of Liam Killeen to the Elite race was a brilliant spectacle with him and Oli Beckingsale battling it out right till the end of their race. With just 1 round left and with most categories still to be decided the race at Checkendon in September should be one to look forward to.
NPS Round 4 on Saturday: Full results
Pos Laps Time Time+ Name Lap 1 Lap 2 Lap 3 Lap 4 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- JUNIOR 8 3 01:09:18 05:33 BEN THOMAS 21:40 23:32 24:06 YOUTH 3 2 00:46:12 03:22 CALUM CHAMBERLAIN 22:34 23:38 SPORT 22 3 01:15:27 07:43 DEAN MORGAN 24:07 25:19 26:01 24 3 01:16:41 08:57 WARREN BATES 23:58 26:18 26:25 MASTER 6 4 01:27:38 03:17 PAUL HOPKINS 20:17 22:17 22:41 22:23
50k Enduro
By Calum Chamberlain.
After my good result on the Saturday, albeit in a small field, I had the more relaxed 50km (actually turned out to be 54km) enduro at Newnham Park. On the back of the fun, flowing course of Saturday, I was expecting a treat to relax on and hopefully provide me with added entertainment! I was not disappointed! Starting off with a 3km loop to spread out the field all on roads and dual track (wide enough for three abreast) I rode from near the back and worked my way through the field, ending up riding with Abi Greenway (women's 50km winner) for a time, until I lost her going through the first river crossing. From then it was a case of riding through the field one by one along the fantastically fast singletrack and fire-tracks.
Having three 17km loops to do suited me down to the ground and I judged my ride a lot better than at Drumlanrig. I ended up getting picked up by a 100km woman (Liz Scalia, finishing a highly deserved second) who was on her way to try and catch Jenny Copnall after a wrong turning. She proved to be a brilliant help, so if she reads this, thank you!!! And well done, sorry you didn't let me help you out more. In fact, the last lap ended up being my fastest by a long way. This may also have been due to my pit stop on lap 2 to pump up forks and lube my chain, but never mind, it felt like I was flying, big ringing most of the last lap to a decent 20th finish. Afterwards I was absolutely shattered, even though I had to kayak the next day and rock-climb the day after that; having fun is far too much like hard work!
Best of luck to the two Mountain Trax teams entered in the 24 hour Sleepless In The Saddle for next weekend.
Marathon Series Round 3 on Sunday: Full results
Pos Laps Time Time+ Name Lap 1 Lap 2 Lap 3 ------------------------------------------------------------------ 20 3 02:35:37 20:13 CALUM CHAMBERLAIN 56:31 52:06 47:00