British Downhill Series 2016, Round Two, Fort William - Video
It wasn't water that rained down on the picturesque mountains of Scotland this weekend, it was beams of glowing sunshine. Nukeproof rider, Jacob Dickson told me he'd been riding here for 15 years now and he'd never seen it as sunny as this. Not only that but not a midge to be seen. If the world cup has weather half as good as this, we're in for a treat. Riding kicked off and spirits were high as the first tyres made their marks on the dry white dust that coated the top section of the world famous Fort William World Cup track.
Danny had been loving the track all week and it paid off. The previous world champion took the win by a solid 1.7 seconds.
Every single run down this lad would pick something out that would make him faster, so many lines that other people just hadn't spotted that built up to a pretty special run. I think I heard from someone say that it may even be the track record, but don't quote me on that.
Rachel seems pretty unstoppable this year, and that didn't change this weekend. Putting nearly 8 seconds into Manon in second place. It seems to be rubbing off on Rachel's new protege junior rider, Norway's, Mille Johnset as she destroyed the junior women category.
We caught up with Loic Bruni's mini me Finn Iles for a quick chat...
How did you get on this weekend, Finn?
It was pretty good, I'm new to the track so I don't really know it. I felt like the goal was just to test the bike and I tried a new line so that was new, I'm pretty happy with how it went and I'm looking forward to the world cup so I can push it, really push it.
You've got a little bit of a rivalry between yourself and Matt Walker. How do you think that's going to go this season?
Yeah, I think right now it seems like he's definitely one of my main competitors. He's first in the overall right now and I think I'm about 40 points behind, so I think it's going to be a good race for first place.
Cheers Finn, good luck at the world cup in a couple of weeks. See you there.
Yeah, thanks, man.
Kade Edwards. What can we say about Kade Edwards? If ever I've seen a rider with a death wish... this is him. But it seems to be paying off for the lad, the Atherton Academy rider stomped down a mega run which put him in second place in a stacked youth field.
I don't think the Giant rider, Marcelo Gutierrez had the weekend he was hoping for. Ending up in 44th place, the bright side is he got some well-needed runs before the world cup in two weeks time.
Again another rider who had a less than desirable race run, Brendog flatted somewhere on track in his final run and was spotted sheepishly wandering back to his pits while the crew was setting up for podiums.
Can't keep a smile off Tahnee's face. Ending up in a very respectable 3rd place, Rachel, Manon and Tahnee are without a doubt the fastest three women in the world on a mountain bike.
Final Results
Schwalbe Tyres Elite Men
Danny Hart - 4:36.82
Gee Atherton - 4:38.62
Loic Bruni - 4:40.88
Schwalbe Tyres Elite Women
Rachel Atherton - 5:12.72
Manon Carpenter - 5:20.18
Tahnee Seagrave - 5:22.11
Spank Junior Men
Matt Walker - 4:54.76
Finn Iles - 4:57.47
Charlie Hatton - 4:59.7973
Rachel Atherton Junior Women
Mille Johnset - 6:40.08
Cairn Bell - 6:56.31
Aston Tutt - 7:05.01
X-Fusion Expert Men
Kye Forte - 5:05.16
Marc Cunningham - 5:05.18
Daniel Tay - 5:06.14
Uberbike Open Women
Deborah Primrose - 6:36.90
Tara O'Boyle - 6:44.43
Ellie Dewdney - 7:54.72
DMR Juvenile Boys
Harry Barrett - 5:42.42
Luke Mumford - 5:43.76
James Elliot - 5:45.46
Kore Components Grand Veteran Men
Alastair Maclennan - 5:44.31
Jean-Pierre Bruni - 5:56.28
Richard Binns - 6:27.17
Dainese Veteran Men
Chris Whitfield - 5:23.75
Will Longdon - 5:26.37
Mark Weightman - 5:39.02
Super Alloy Springs Youth Boys
Henry Kerr - 5:02.75
Kade Edwards - 5:05.80
Alec Geyer - 5:10.37
NS Bikes Master Men
Adam Smith - 5:19.39
Jason Shill - 5:27.35
Paul Birtle - 5:28. 41
PRO Tharsis Senior Men
Kieran Davies - 5:17.34
Tom Coles - 5:18.05
Simon Cheung - 5:18.99
Next round will be on the 27th to the 29th of May at Rhyd-y-Felin
Photos by Yasmeen Green & Dan Hearn
Film by Taylor Smith
MENTIONS: @TheHillsAreAlive / @FilmSmith / @danhearn / @BritishDownhillseries
Author Info:
Member since Apr 28, 2014
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"Rule 1.4 Whilst attending the podiums, all riders must wear their race kit or a copy of. Neck braces must not be worn on the podium. (Not invited onto the podium)."
Also bad example by Danny wearing it without a helmet on, this is the one thing you must not do!
doesn't ride during the summer then
(ᶜᵃᶜᵗᵘˢ)