Video: DMR Dirt Wars 2014 - Round 2

Penshurst Off Road Cycling, otherwise known as PORC, in Kent has to be one of the longest standing dirt jump venues in the UK. As a favourite training spot for riders in the South East, it was amazing to arrive and see how much had changed since last year’s event there! With a pretty big new Pro line and a couple of other smaller lines, from the start I knew it was going to be a good event.

The weather in normal Dirt Wars fashion had been fairly dodgy in the few days leading up to the event but in the usual style we lucked out with sunny spells and dusty dry trails, although a gusty breeze was making the Pro line a little tricky at times. The new lines ended up giving the riders almost too much choice with some Open riders wanting to stick to the old line, whilst a few were happy to send bigger tricks on the new line. The Pro’s were all stoked to be using the new line so in the end it was decided that Open riders could use whichever line they wanted with the same scoring on both lines, but higher amplitude scores given to those sending it on the big line.

The turn out for Pro category was always likely to be a bit smaller at this round because of international comps & the Goodwood festival of speed being on at the same time but the Open category was stacked! 22 riders all wanting a shot at a podium finish. With talk of many people riding the previous day to get some practice in, as well as rumours of Matt Scott landing a double flip, practice got underway with everyone sending it!


Open qualifying saw most of the riders sticking to the old line, a 6-pack with a mulch landing on the last, leaving only Colin Smith, Liam Tuite, Tim Peckham & Jack Ambler sending it on the pro line. Massive shouts out go to Liam who managed to get away lightly from a horrific crash when he spilt his head tube in two pieces casing the second. Hope you are healing up ok chap. Both Tim & Jack really had the big line down, both sending huge superman’s and flip combos. It was clear they’d both be in the final. The guys riding the other line really had to pick up points in the flow and execution areas as they were missing out on large big-trick & amplitude scores. The riders who could get through perfectly, tricking everything with a fluid style would end up in the final, and there were several. Respect to Jamie Nelson who went down on a mid set flip, ejecting from the highest point whilst completely upside down. Hope you’re okay.


With a barrage of flip x-ups, tailwhips, truckdrivers, tuck no-handers and some funky combination tricks the riders making it to the final were-

1 – Tim Peckham
2 – Jack Ambler
3 – Sam Lewington-Booth
4 – Harry Campbell
5 – Andy Crawford
6 – Joe Aldridge
7 – Darren Eastall
8 – Liam Tuite
9 – Kerry Pert
10 – Jack Cardy


With Liam unable to ride, then next highest qualifier was Jamie Nelson, who again couldn’t compete so Jamie Woodford made up the 10th person.

Pro Qualifying saw several riders come through the line without tricking any of the jumps as the gusts of wind seemed very unpredictable and visibly affected the riders mid-air. Again a shed load of tricks were unloaded and the top five to qualify were :-

1 – Tom Cardy
2 – Ray Samson
3 – Freddy Pulman
4 – Matt Scott
5 – Tom Reynolds

A decision was made to keep things more interesting; all riders from pro would go through to the final and the qualifier was to be used as seeding. This caused some controversy at the time but definitely led to more action later in the day.


The Open qualifiers got back to the course for 20 minutes practice and then it was on to the finals. All of them rode their socks off showing some serious stunt throwing ability, although bobbles on the last landing cost a lot of them dearly. Harry Campbell made his way into 5th place with a solid run of combo tricks, legs and arms flailing, and smooth stylish 360 X-Ups on the last. Fourth place was snapped up by Darren Eastall who consistently sent flip x-ups on the first, lofty 360s on the second and eventually rode out of a barrel roll x-up on the last. The winner from Round 1, Andy Crawford, owned the smaller line though, with such smooth consistency throughout the day. His runs full of 360s, truckdriver to x-ups and a 720 on the last gave him the bronze. It was always going to be close between Jack Ambler & Tim Peckham on the big line. They both had big tricks, style and flow but it’d be how cleanly executed their moves were to decide between them. In the end it was Tim Peckham who just pipped Jack to it. Massive stretch superman’s & super-cans along with a massive frontflip on the last sealed the deal & grabbed Tim the top of the podium.

The Open final results were –

1 – Tim Peckham – 48
2 – Jack Ambler – 46.5
3 – Andy Crawford – 41.5
4 – Darren Eastall – 40.5
5 – Harry Campbell – 37.5
6 – Joe Aldridge – 37
7 – Jack Cardy – 32
8 – Kerry Pert – 31.5
9 – Sam Lewington - Booth – 30
10 – Jamie Woodford – 29


After a quick warm up for the Pros it was back into the action with several extra riders happy to get another chance to lay down their best runs. We saw some riders going HAM whilst others stuck to their usual runs and again it came down to how well executed the runs were as there were so many big tricks and such crazy amplitude on display by all. Unfortunately Matt Scott didn’t manage to land the double backflip that he stomped the day before, trying it twice and bailing each time but somehow escaping unhurt. In the end it was ray Samson who took third place with a run that could have easily been first or second had it been a little less sketchy. His huge midset flipwhip was landed so late we didn’t expect to see him jump the last until we saw him appear half way through a 360 whip. Freddy Pulman rode on despite having one of the worst cases of swellbow known to man! Truckdrivers on the first, humongous superman seatgrabs on the second and a flip double barsspin on the last showed he really has been training hard. But the pro winner was the quiet and reserved Tom Cardy. His run of a double whip on the first, flip no hander on the second & one of the smoothest, cleanest and biggest flip whips I’ve ever seen on the last jump firmly put him in the top spot.


Pro Final results –

1 – Tom Cardy (Dartmoor Bikes/Slam 69/X-Fusion) – 52
2 – Freddy Pulman (Spank/Marzocchi/One industries) – 48.5
3 – Ray Samson (DMR Bikes/X-Fusion/Morevelo) – 47.5
4 – Charlie Watts (Static/Void Bikes) – 41.5
5 – Ryan Nangle (Marzocchi/Smuggling Duds) – 40
Wig Lewington – Booth (Privateer) – 40
7 – Tom Reynolds (Specialized UK/Pedal heaven) – 39.5
8 – Jordan English (Animal/NookieBikes/Lazer) – 33.5
9 – Matt Scott (Deity/Grein Optics) - 32.5


Massive thanks go to Terry Stagg & Mike from Porc for providing such a good venue and big thanks to all the series sponsors for making the event happen.

The next round of the Open series will be held at NASS festival on the 12th & 13th of July, with the next full round of the series happening at Rockworld for the FMB Bronze event on the 26th & 27th of July.

Make sure it's in your diary!! Find more info at www.dirtwarsuk.com