Usually, a 35 second downhill racecourse, with just five corners and no uplifts wouldn’t attract 200 riders and a massive crowd. However, this was the UK’s first official urban downhill race at the historical market town of Bridgenorth, Shropshire, and the novelty attraction proved to be a worthwhile one. So, how did the Rapidracers fare in this new style competition – a podium, that’s how!

Most of us have seen the exciting pictures of Steve Peat thrashing all comers at the Red Bull downtown race in Lisbon, Portugal, but never before has an official race of this kind taken place in the UK. Rumours started circulating some time ago, and the entry list was quickly filled for this event when it was made official. With the popularity of mountain biking in the UK, an urban event such as this makes perfect sense: It attracts crowds and there is no mud!

However, with Britain being such a small, densely populated country and litigation being more and more prevalent, organising such an event was always going to be a nightmare. Hats off to NPS4X though, as despite having to convince many of the locals (and toe their cars away), this race went ahead with lots of publicity.

But what about the course? Bromley and myself were the two Rapidracers competing in this race, and we were actually the first riders down in the practise session having pulled a French style queue-pushing manoeuvre at the start. The course, just like my love life, was really good fun, but over far too quickly! It went something like this:

Sprint off the race truck ramp by the church, hit the first hairpin left (foot out, Tomac-style for me)
Sprint, brake, turn and slide into a 90 degree right hander. Watch out for the MBUK padding on the left, steps. Lots of steps. Down a narrow passage way behind some gardens. The bike sounded like it was going to explode going over this series of flat landings. Brake hard on the penultimate set of steps and turn hard right, missing the bricks hanging out of the wall, sprint across an open crowd section, and then double back on yourself in a left hand hairpin. The steps now opened out on a long right-hander that could be sprinted, watch out for the loose road gravel on the final right-hander before sprinting a few meters to the finish line, fun…oh yes

Because very few UK riders had raced this format before, bike set-up and riding style was a bit of a mystery. Both Craig and myself opted for the new Michelin DH 15 semi-slick downhill tyres, and this proved to be inspirational. This tyre rolls so quickly, and actually brakes pretty well too. The DH construction meant that it was man enough to take the hard steps and drops. Some riders also went on semi-slicks, but many kept their usual downhill tyres on such as DH 16’s?! Semi-slicks were definitely the ones though.

Bike choice was also critical. Many riders still had their burley DH rigs, whilst some of the pro’s had opted for lighter, tighter freeride bikes. With our new sponsorship deal with Intense lined up for 2007, the ideal bike choice would probably be the Uzzi VPX – just what I ride anyway!

So, with the perfect bike, and correct tyre selection, how did I fare? Bloody well!!!!!! With some tentative and wobbly practise sessions, I formulated a game plan for my single race run. That was to brake early for the corners, turn in hard and sprint out. Too many riders seemed to go hard into the corners, only to find that they lost all their speed coming out. Kinetic energy conservation was critical.

So, race run. The usual pre-race nerves weren’t apparent at this race, which was a pleasant change. Most of the riders were relaxed, which made for a nice atmosphere. However, once you’re on that start line and the clock is ticking, we all get competitive don’t we? It was also cool to have such excellent crowd support with cowbells ringing in your ears as you hit the stepped sections and people shouting you on at the corners. So, with the red mist descended I launched off the start ramp, determined to keep it smooth on the way down. That worked well for the first two corners until I hit the stepped section when all hell broke loose. I hit these at warp factor 12 and the bike got seriously out of shape of some of the landing. Somehow I managed to keep it together and brake in time for the sharp right-hander. Then a sprint into the finishing area – remembering to do my turning before the loose stuff (not everyone picked that one!). Amazingly I went into the lead with 34.5 seconds!

Bromley then came down. He hit 2 walls although he felt time was only lost from hitting the second, that must have cost him as the times were always going to be tight? With such a small, tight course, even the slightest mistake would ruin your day. A slipped pedal or missed braking point would result in a second delay, costing maybe five to ten places in the standings. The ‘balls out’ style of this race suited Bromley’s technique, but with a long DH bike and the two minor errors? Craig came down and crossed the line with 35.3 seconds and into 6th place only 0.7 seconds behind me, much to the relief of wife Sarah who had witnessed several crashes by the finishing line and was starting to panic.

I was still in 1st place! This was like Mountain Ash all over again, and I was expecting a glut of quicker riders to oust me near the end – but it didn’t happen. Well, it didn’t until ex pro-elite Yeti rider Colin Williams made it down with a 32.5 run. 2nd place for me. With no one able to find the race results display, I couldn’t make out where I had finished, but amazingly my second place held firm and I got my first ever podium! Chuffed? Oh yes! In fact I even beat 5 Pro-Elite riders…..get in.

So, a 2nd and 6th place for myself and Craig, in a Masters field of 37 riders. What a season this has been for the Rapidracers – even when the big guns of the team don’t turn out, the Development rider snatches a podium! 2007 is going to be a big season for the team aboard the new Intense Socom’s, Aidan will be saving between 8-10lbs in weight against his current rig dependant on his build kit, surely defending his 06 National Points Title will be a breeze now? But until the start of the 2007 season, Sunday mornings now mean reading the paper in bed and a well earned lie-in!

Roll on 2007

Pictures courtesy of ace1mail.com

Race Results…..

Master
1 61 Colin Williams Yeti/Electric Visual 421011 32.957
2 95 Paul Mackie Rapid Racers 34.544 1.587
3 73 Sion Jones Electric/Santa Cruz 101766 34.729 1.772
4 98 David Michael Repack 34.955 1.998
5 94 Jamie Armitage High Peak Cycles/Kenda 408748 35.065 2.108
6 65 Craig Bromley RapidRacers.com 443218 35.337 2.38
7 62 Richard Burgoin Goldtec 427939 35.677 2.72
8 97 Alex Slater Rave Racing 439259 35.81 2.853
72 Phil Grey Rave Racing 35.81 2.853
10 64 Jono Simpson Pearce Cycles Race Team. 35.814 2.857
11 96 Mark Waddington 35.964 3.007
12 63 Wayne Tabernor Electric/Santa Cruz 442048 36.144 3.187
13 91 Carl Masefield 36.275 3.318
14 67 Thomas Read Descend Hamsterly 36.577 3.62
15 76 Martin Hoyle 36.673 3.716
16 89 Lorin Taranis 36.777 3.82
17 77 Neil Edgar Rave Racing 447777 36.864 3.907
18 79 Keith Clarke Rave Racing 452264 36.932 3.975
19 78 Zac Hubery Descend Hamsterley 37.024 4.067
20 81 John Underwood Leisure Lakes, 37.497 4.54
21 93 Mark Azzopardi 37.689 4.732
22 69 Gregg Taylor 37.695 4.738
23 82 Nick Stevens Rave Racing 37.895 4.938
24 92 Lee Hammett 38.054 5.097
25 86 Paul Bagguley Flipfone.com 38.572 5.615
26 70 Paul Fretwell Team Penut 38.74 5.783
27 84 Dave English Descend Hamsterly Mounain High 38.876 5.919
28 68 Jonny Blades 39.142 6.185
29 80 Omar Mahmood 39.357 6.4
30 100 Alessandro Orsillo Bandito Speed Metal 39.437 6.48
31 90 Dave Hawkes Rave Racing 39.886 6.929
32 87 Jon Howles 39.965 7.008
33 71 Neil Jenkinson RAVE RACING 40.076 7.119
34 85 Daniel Wilkinson 40.542 7.585
35 83 Richard Milner Retro Rick 41.327 8.37
36 75 Richard Gaylord 41.388 8.431
37 74 Neil Harris 43.24 10.283

Elite
1 1 Gee Atherton Animal Giant 30.082
2 6 Matt Simmonds Ancillotti UK 436205 31.138 1.056
3 4 Scott Beaumont Rocky Mountain 406989 31.429 1.347
4 5 Neil Donoghue MBUK Santa Cruz 31.445 1.363
5 10 Dave Smith Yeti/Electric 421995 31.995 1.913
6 13 Jamie Faulkner Gumball 3000 417677 32.126 2.044
7 7 Dan Critchlow Intense 417563 32.172 2.09
8 3 Marc Beaumont MBUK Santa Cruz 419322 32.423 2.341
9 8 Rowan Sorrell Mojo Suspension 418839 32.558 2.476
10 2 Dan Atherton Animal - Giant 33.084 3.002
11 17 Rich Norton Sheffield Hallam University 33.09 3.008
12 12 Martin Ogden 414258 35.9 5.818
13 9 Dan Stanbridge Mojo Suspension 428912 36.778 6.696
14 11 James Hughes Yeti / Electric Visual team 102417 36.883 6.801
15 16 Steve Taylor Dialled Bikes 37.858 7.776
16 15 Lance McDermott 24Seven 37.896 7.814