Hopton Castle located north of Ludlow was the venue for the second round of the Pearce cycles downhill series. After a dry week leading into the weekend the track was extremely dry. The track used started from the none trig point start, heading straight into a fresh tech wood section. Before hitting the open section, which had the speed trap on it during race runs. The track took the left hand fork towards the bottom of the open section, twisting down passing over two fire roads before the step down to high speed berm.

The uplift queue was kept short all weekend, meaning most riders could get 10+ runs in on Saturday and 3 on Sunday morning before race runs began.

The open section of the track which covers a large part of the hill was running extremely quickly, making it an ideal spot for a speed trap, and Jeff to film! Pearce said that they didn’t use the speed trap at the first round as there wasn’t anywhere suitable on the bringewood track. It made for a great addition to the timing ending the age old argument between riders of who was going to fastest (on that section anyway). With a prize available for the quickest time through the trap on race day everyone was pushing hard. After the result of round one I was looking to build on it but come race day I record what felt like two of the slowest runs I had ridden all weekend. I blame it on the long wait it in the sun between end of practice and my first race run!!

After the star studded first round the elites were a little bit thinner of the ground. With Matt Simmonds taking the first place in Elites, he also recored the fastest speed trap of the day at 44.40 KH.
Round three is less than a week away, see you there.

Our pictures from the race (& practise) are now available on RootsandRain and some of the best and mates are in the Image Gallery.
Day 1 & 2 Pictures on RootsandRain – 827 Pictures
10-04-24 Pearce Rnd2 Hopton Best – 42 Pictures

Sorry it has taken me so long to sort out a proper write up.

Thought i had better do something as the second round is less than a week away. Like always this series is as popular as always, and as soon as Pearce cycles opened the entries the rounds very quickly became full. Showing what a huge support there is for racing in this country. With a number of Elite riders in attendance in both the men’s and women’s category’s keen to test out how there winter training had been going.

Anyway the track was changed at last minute due to the poor weather conditions in the week before the race. So the track used headed down onto the bomb holes followed by the left hand open section into the legendary super flowly bottom section. After an early start we arrived on the Saturday morning and after a good slide around in the muddy field i headed up to begin practice. With most riders opting for wet screams. These were the most use on the top of the course although during the day the track did begin to dry out with some riders starting to switch.

Pearce sure know how to put a race on, and i dont think anyone else has go an uplift anywhere as good as them. With specialised design trailers carry you and your bike, not only is it speedy but it is also safe. With most riders getting 10 runs in on the Saturday you cant complain.

The weather across the whole weekend was great with only a couple of short showers on the Sunday, and as always the spectators were lining the course giving encouragement. Jeff had his work cut out aswell with alot of photographers on course all weekend.

The open section was one of the hardest parts of the track with a series of rollers/doubles on the way in and a tricky rooty right hander to exit back in to the woods.

Some riders kept it low over the rollers others doubled them up, possibly even tripled them. A section to make or loose quite alot of time.

My own race runs went okay, after catching someone in my first run I posted a time just outside my own target of 3 minutes, which put me around middle in my category i was feeling good and though I could push on a many get inside my target. But after a so so run I posted a time about a second slower. But still pleased and looking forward to the next round and improving.

With such a large number of world class elite riders it did bring a heighten excitement with various rumours circulating thought the weekend of elite riders taking various crazy lines.

Our pictures from the race (& practise) are now available on RootsandRain and some of the best and mates are in the Image Gallery.
Day 1 & 2 Pictures on RootsandRain – 602 Pictures
10-03-27 Pearce Rnd1 Bringewood Best – 36 Pictures

Pictures are now up in the gallery, here. If you are in a picture and would like a larger version (free) email me the picture number or use the contact form. About a quarter of what I shot is in gallery, if you send me your details i.e. race number, bike, colours etc I’ll have a look and see if I have any of you.
The video is now up: Youtube (HD) | Vimeo (HD)

So here goes my attempt at a short write up. Since the first time i read that they were trying to set up a Northern series i was excited about the prospect and Myself and James W got our entrances in nice and early to avoid disappointment. Even though the event took place on the same weekend as the First Peace Cycles round i was keen to get the entrance in as the track was limited to 150 riders, due to it being a new venue.

So after passing my driving test on the Friday morning we set off mid afternoon with a very packed car full of stuff. Two bikes and three people in a Audi A3 we started the long Journey up North towards Kidland Forest, in the Northumberland National Park (for those who don’t know where that is somewhere between Newcastle and Scotland) so after a relatively hassle free Journey despite the best efforts of a Caravan driver and two people who decided to have a little bump on the motorway. We arrive in time to have a walk of the track, the track was exactly as described steep, covered in roots and rocks and all together very impressive and someone daunting.

So after finding our way to our accommodation, we had a “interesting” meal that we put together, before hitting the sack ready for the Uplift the next day. So the next morning we pack the car and follow the instructions we had got from the lady who ran the accommodation. We decided to follow here instructions as on paper it looked to be a short cut to get the forest in which the race was held. But after a promising start the short cut turned into some what of a sticky situation as we ended up in the middle of a moorland which is used by the military to practice on. So after turning back we finally made it to the forest after back tracking and heading the way we originally planned!

Anyway back to the track, the track itself turned out to awesome to ride down will the main problem being the number of people littering the track-side after crashing epically towards the bottom of the track. Making it almost impossible to get a full ride down without having to stop for riders in front of you on the practice day. With the uplift system being somewhat different to what i am used to with Bikes being carried on cattle trucks with riders traveled in somewhat luxury on Coaches. Luckily it stayed dry all weekend!

So after a somewhat disappointing 6 uplifts on the Saturday ( we got really unlucky with timings) Sunday morning practice begin with me and James W wanting to get a couple of full runs in before our timed runs in the afternoon. We managed 4 uplifts which was awesome and i was feeling really good about lines, it just came down to the race runs. So Sunday practice finished and riders began to gather at the top of the course ready for the race runs. And after a delay and some confusion about who was going when the timed runs began.

My first run went okay with a couple of mistakes leading to a rather slow time of 3.19 which i was a little disappointed about but i knew that i could improve greatly on my second run. But unfortunately due to some timing problems my second run time was not recorded correctly meaning i had to go back up to the top and do it again. So by this point i was getting rather knacked! But i still managed to improve on my first run time with a 3.10 despite a shocking top section as i had no energy left to pedal. Which placed me 29 out of 40 in the Senior Category. James W managed better than me with the fastest time of 3.01 placing him 8th out of 28 in the Masters Category. Overall a great weekends riding and racing and a great start to the Northern Series.