BDS Moelfre Practice Day by si-paton

Once again, the British Downhill Series has returned to the infamous Moelfre. Carved out by Dan Atherton almost a dozen years ago the race line has hardly deviated. The track that has shaped some of Britain's most beloved mountain bikers and is known for it’s wide open, mach 10 fields and big jumps. Practice got under way at 9:30 today with the 330 riders realising that even though the track has been baked dry all week, the whole place was inches deep in loose Welsh dust. Considering the speed and reputation of this track, the accidents were kept to a minimum, with the only major injury being junior rider Hamza Green damaging his collar bone on Fridays uplift.

Joe Smith is second in the series and with the best 5 rounds out of six to count could easily top the rankings on Sunday night.

Team manager Nigel Page was seen ripping the track apart all day today with fellow team riders Joe Smith and Mike Jones who were both absolutely buzzing at how flowy and flat out the track is. Meanwhile back at base near the finish line, Harrison Page, Nigel's four year old son was flat out on his BMX. Their junior rider Elliot Heap is unfortunately down and out with a broken collarbone that he smashed into a tree stump at the last round in Rhyd-Y-Felin in the dark, technical woods. Whispers are that Jacob Dickson is here without the race wagon and support of Ben Reid, and fighting for the top stop even though he is complaining about a bad neck and sore shoulder after crashing at the World Cup in Lenzerheide.

Gareth Brewin has been working around the clock for the BDS this year with his digger skills. Several features were revamped over the winter allowing them to settle in, producing solid jumps and berms that tested all level of riders today. Even Manon Carpenter got in on the action today sectioning the lower 4x jumps several times to get them dialled in for Sundays race run.

The dust condition meant that rider were riding foot out flat out.

The open Welsh hill side of this track offers a very unique course layout with only two tress located on the entire course.

The pro pits were teaming with companies more than willing to fix your bike, J-Tech Suspension, Ride.io with the Silverline Box, Shimano, e-13, Hope and Crankbrothers.

The general consensus of the day is the track is riding super fast even though wind speeds are ensuring the riders keep their rubber in full contact with the ground at all times. Rain is expected and welcomed overnight in the early hours which will be a god send, hopefully helping to bond some of that loose dust, adding extra grip.

All in all, sweet day of bone dry practice. Roll on tomorrow when the racing will get under way.

The Moelfre uplift utilises Farmer Jac's tractors and trailers with the Llangollen bike racking system attached .

Sam Dale is 4th in the series and was charging today and is favoured to make the top steps of the podium this weekend. He even has his sister marshalling at the end of the 4x jumps.

Youth rider ridding for Madison Saracen Development Team Matt Walker leading the youth series by 203 points.

Madison Saracen's Matt Walker has three BDS wins under his belt in the Youth category in both seeding and race runs.

Big Bertha is a big kicker over a gap onto an aircraft carrier sized landing zone.

Moelfre switch backs are sweetly cut into the hillside offering half a million years of support.

When the weather plays ball, there is no more picturesque venue than that of Farmer Jac's back garden.

Half way through the course the BDS racers wet their toes across the stream at the bottom of this valley before they traverse around the next hill.

Seeding starts at 11:00 on Sunday with race runs from 14:00 onwards.

Location:
Farmer Jac’s
Moelfre Hall
Moelfre
SY10 7QJ

Parking is £5.00 per vehicle and spectating is free.

Words by TJ Smith. Photos by The Hills Are Alive.

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si-paton

Member since Jul 26, 2006
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