Video: Bringewood Pearce Round One

It's back. One of the most sort after race series in the country, with 180 entries processed at the shop and online entries filling up in 3 minutes. With the weather being bob on all weekend and conditions being as good as they could be for racing. The track was a perfect mix of flow and speed, with the majority of the track being in pretty dense forest, more than a few people were getting overly friendly with trees with NWA rider Will Brignal taking a rather sizeable hit after the road gap, somehow managing to hit a tree being the padded tree.

Blue skies and free Red Bull was the order of the day.

As always the event was run amazingly. Saturday morning came around and all you could see was a sea of plastic bikes and 650b wheels (#26aintdead), and everyone rocking their brand new team kits, it promised to be a good weekend racing. Straight away the track dropped into woods, only opening up for a couple of fire roads and a jump section. Saturday was bitterly cold, I think everyone was wondering whether maybe their bed would have been a better choice on a Saturday morning. Practice kicked off and riders were loving the track, really putting their new bikes to the test, it was beginning to show who put the effort in during the off season.

James Weaves getting loose on these beautifully crafted berms.

Richard Abbott on his way to second place in grand veterans, gritting his teeth and putting in the cranks on the last straight towards the finish.

Sunday came around and the racing began after a small delay due a few red flags throughout the day. After first race runs it was obvious that if they continued at the rate they were going, the elite riders would need night vision goggles to get down the course, so second runs we running at 20 second intervals rather than 30 to try and fit everyone in. The racing seemed to go on forever, probably due to the fact there were 108 riders in the senior category, whenever anyone asked who was on course, it always seemed to be seniors coming down. Coming into second runs, we were greeted with this glorious light that just made everything light up with an orange glow, all you could see were smiles from everyone, even the mums and dads who had camped in sub-zero temperatures the previous night. Unfortunately I had to leave early because I actually had to spend
some time with my brother on his birthday, so I didn't catch the elite riders come down for the second runs and Harry Heath taking four seconds off his first time to take the win, with both Hope Factory Racing riders taking 2nd and 3rd.

All in all an absolutely stunning first race back. Really supports why this is the best sport in the world with the best people, and the best venues.

See you at the next round in Kinsham, hopefully the weather is as good as it was this weekend.

Although conditions were pretty perfect for riders all weekend, it was a different story for some of the vehicles getting out.

Results

Elite Men
1. Harry Heath 2:05.925
2. Adam Brayton 2:06.398
3. Craig Evans 2:06.784

Expert Men
1. Shaun Richards 2:07.593
2. Jonny Howe 2:12.720
3. Willam Weston 2:12.746

Junior Men
1. Alistair Warrell 2:10.675
2. Charlie Hatton 2:11.423
3. Kyle Havard 2:15.827

Youth Men
1. Mathew Walker 2:08.206
2. Joe Parfitt 2:15.543
3. Nat Nott 2:19.044

Senior Men
1. Lewis Boyce 2:12.439
2. Mathew Barrett 2:13 .927
3. Liam Jones 2:14.705

Juvenile Men
1. Harry Barrett 2:27.539
2. Morgan Tyrrell 2:29.967
3. Matty Bower 2:41.346

Master Men
1. Dave List 2:15.886
2. Niel White 2:16.758
3. Adam Smith 2:16.867

Veteran Men
1. Anthony Gaskin 2:20.924
2. Stuart Hughes 2:21.534
3. John Cobb 2:25.090

Grand Veteran Man
1. Steve Felstead 2:39.760
2. Richard Abbott 2:43.470
3. Lars Jones 2:51.364

Elite Women
1. Suzanne Lacey 2:37.954

Juvenile Women
1. Rosy Monaghan 2:55.816

Youth Women
1. Sumayyah Green 3:09.919

Junior Women
1. Abbie Sloan 3:08.639

Senior Women
1. Lucy Drees 2:52.896
2. Amy Grindley 2:57.474
3. Nik Burscough- Brown 2:58.274

Master Women
1. Becci Skelton 2:50.379
2. Sue Mahony 2:58.194
3. Emma Braithwaite 2:02.501

Veteran Women
1. Janine Wolstenholme 3:07.814

Full results here Next round is at Kinsham on the 25th - 26th of April.

Film and Photos by Taylor Smith