Fort Bill 2015 BDS round 2 washout – report

The 2015 British Downhill Series’ second round at Fort Bill this past weekend was something of a soggy affair, to say the very least, with the uplift closed due to the bad weather. Here’s Nigel Page’s report (he of Team Chain Reaction Cycles PayPal) from the weekend:

Soaking compulsory; levitating optional.

The second round of the British Downhill Series took place in Fort William, Scotland, over the weekend in what should have been perfect preparation for the Fort William World Cup in three weeks’ time. Weather put paid to any decent racing though, as Team Manager Nigel Page reports…

I’m going to keep this report short like the race today in Fort William for round two of the BDS.

Many riders and teams made the journey up to Fort William with most of the Elite riders getting in some preparation for the second round of the World Cup.

Unfortunately the weather wasn’t too kind and the race was cut short, to basically a one minute 20 second sprint of the bottom part of the big track. Saturday’s practice was just an optional push-up to the wall ride section with the hope the weather would be better on Sunday when the chairlift would reopen again for the riders and bikes.

Sunday came around and we were told the weather was still too bad, even though I am sure I have seen conditions a lot worse in the past, but that was that.

Elliott Heap made a big mistake in the first part of the track where it was crucial to carry your speed and ended up disappointed with his run but still with a podium position with fifth in the Junior category, so another good result for Elliott and the team. Well done mate.

Joe Smith was up first for us in the very stacked Elite field and put together a really solid fast run to place 11th, only 1.5 seconds from third place, it was that close on the short sprint course.

Mike Jones who had been sick all week and only doing the minimum two practice runs on the short track could only manage 26th place in Elite, way off the form he has been showing this season which was disappointing for him and the team in the results but not really meaning too much.

This short version of the track was always going to suit the big powerful riders and they didn’t disappoint the crowd with Gee Atherton taking the win just over an on-form Sam Dale and a good ride from Harry Heath in third.

Barney Marsh

Barney Marsh takes the word ‘career’ literally, veering wildly across the road of his life, as thoroughly in control as a goldfish on the dashboard of a motorhome. He’s been, with varying degrees of success, a scientist, teacher, shop assistant, binman and, for one memorable day, a hospital laundry worker. These days, he’s a dad, husband, guitarist, and writer, also with varying degrees of success. He sometimes takes photographs. Some of them are acceptable. Occasionally he rides bikes to cast the rest of his life into sharp relief. Or just to ride through puddles. Sometimes he writes about them. Bikes, not puddles. He is a writer of rongs, a stealer of souls and a polisher of turds. He isn’t nearly as clever or as funny as he thinks he is.