Pearce Cycles Series 2009 | Bala

The Pearce races are always good events with good and tight racing on tap, a good atmosphere and sharp organization from the Pearce team. This year the races filled up sharpish, none more so than the flat out but already legendary venue of Bala or, more accurately, Rhyd-y-Felin. The chosen hill for the 2008 National Championships, the track is not necessarily the most technical but what it lacks here, it more than makes up for it in other ways; here’s a reason that virtually all who have raced here rave about the place.

If you have seen some of the Earthed films you will no doubt have seen the Athertons filmed on track and in the nearby quarry which sit in North Wales.Words: Alasdair MacLennan, Pics: Scott Cartwright

It’s a fast track is Bala, with a flat out open top section leading into tight but still flat out woods before spat out into the fast sweeping turns of the lower field. With a hillside mainly made it seems of slate and shale, the surface is loose and drifty but the bonus of this is that when the rain hits, as it no doubt will, the track doesn’t turn to a mud bath. Well, not that part anyway. Right from the start line you are thrown into bus stops with whoops and braking bumps on the entrance with drops and drifts on the exit matched with ever increasing speed if you were one of the brave ones to stay away from the brakes. The stump gap led you into the road crossing, with fast berms, into another bus stop and then the road crossing. Hit the drop off the other side of the road, get the hammer down and, after a semi step-up you get loose and ragged over the braking bumps into the first set of woods.


Technical but not too tight, you could afford to get it lairy here before dropping across the first path, traverse the ridge of roots and stumps, drop across the bridleway and into what seems to now be called Starwars after the infamous section in the other Welsh track of Rheola to which Bala bares more than a little resemblance. Comprising of challenging off camber roots, greasy mud and tight trees, this always claims many throughout the weekend. After heavy rain showers on Saturday this had more watching than riding as riders struggled to get through it cleanly. Clear of the roots the speed picks up again and you are soon at the road crossing having just passed the split beam. Even after heavy rain the lower woods didn’t lose much in the way of grip but, once in the field, this soon changed. Spikes, spikes or spikes was the choice for staying upright on Saturday afternoon once the rain had hit, turning dust to mud. That turned to cut spikes for run one on Sunday followed shortly after by Minions or High Rollers as the mud dried out and the ruts became wider for the second runs.


No matter what the conditions or track the racing over the past few years in the UK has become even tighter than what was already a pretty competitive circuit. This means no room for error and an easy one way trip to the back of the pack with a poor run. This weekend, with the drying track, the first run was to prove no more than a bench mark for most with their second runs being significantly faster and therefore the time to count.

In Juveniles, Jevan Williams took third spot with a 4:11 whilst, proving to be the exception to the rule, Elliot Gill pulled second place with his first and only run and a time of 4:04. However, taking the win with a 3:32 and a huge margin was Phil Atwell.


Into Youths and Dave Kynaston put in a 3:32.9 for third, narrowly beaten by the second placed James Shaw for W Homer cycles with a time of 3:32.3. Winner here however was Ben Lovell with a 3:30.7, just over 2.1 seconds separating all three riders on the podium.


Juniors had Empire Cycles’ Brad Mather on a 3:16 for third having improved on his first run by nearly a minute. Gareth Brewin hit a tree in the second run and finished with a 3:09 for second although, without that mistake, he would no doubt have been a lot closer to CycleStore.co.uk’s Harry Heath with his winning 3:05.


Pearce Cycles not only run a brilliant race series but they also have a fair few talented riders on their team. Vet’s rider Jono Simpson was third 2ith a 3:36 whilst John Cobb slotted into second with a 3:32. Taking the win on the day was Trevor Harvey with a 3:26.


Absent from the podium with the excuse of a long drive to the South of France to race the Megavalanche, MTBDirect rider Sion Jones pulled out third in Masters with a 3:32, not far away from second placed Simon Baggott and his 3:31 for Derry Air Cycles. Dave List, having finally retired his old GT DHi took the win on the day with another stomping margin and a time of 3:15.

In Non-Elite Women, Lianne Bartleman stood on the third step of the podium with a 4:45 with Aimie Wills in second on a 4:41 whilst Rheanne Atherton (no relation to the other Athertons) pulled the win with a 4:40.


In the Elite Women, Emma Wareham was third for LeisureLakesBikes.com with a 4:13. For her first race of the year, Emily Horridge was pleased with her second spot and 3:51 for Intense/Sombrio/Revers behind winner Tracy Moseley and her 3:32 for the Trek World Racing team.


In Senior Men, Rhys Evans took a 3:21 for third, Pearce Cycles’ Tom Attlee a 3:20 for second William Jones the win for PS Cycles with a 3:18. Less than three seconds to separate them, again, Senior is a category where you can ill afford to make a mistake.


Expert Men is a hotly contested category this year and Jack Reading has more often than not been the man to beat on his mission to enter Elite in 2010. Not to be this weekend, crashes in both runs saw him down the order, leaving the way open for others. LeisureLakesBikes, having already had a rider on the podium, saw another in Expert. Richard Challinor took third spot with a 3:08, just behind second placed Ashley Mallor on his 3:02. Taking a well deserved win this Sunday however was Santa Cruz’s Emyr Davies with his 3:01, just pipping Ashley in the process.


Joe Smith in his first year of Elite has really stepped up his game. Third here this weekend with a 3:02 for Kona Factory, he wasn’t far off the elusive sub three minute time. Breaking that barrier for the first time over the weekend was Dave Smith with a 2:59 but putting the hammer down and netting himself fastest time of the day in the process was GT Bikes’ Marc Beaumont with a 2:55.


Keeping it brief, the UK Pinkbike correspondents are now off to Alp d’Huez for the Avalanche Cup race mid week and the legendary Megavalanche the following weekend. Expect up to the minute reports and pics once our hands recover from all the riding.


Over and out.

www.Descent-Gear.com
www.PearceCycles.co.uk
www.Eggraphy.com

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