Qualifying Report: British National Downhill Series 2023 - Fort William
Round 2 of the British Downhill Series arrives once again at Fort William and like in years before it has turned into a Mini World Cup round. This year Fort William plays host to the World Championships so there was more interest than ever from riders wanting to get time on the track before August. However, the World Champs track is being firmly kept under wraps with plenty of big changes coming before August. Until then sit back and enjoy some of the world's best riders battling it out alongside the UK's best today in seeding.
GT Viris' Caty McGowan keeping it pinned round the upper berms
Adam Biggins having some fun on the jump underneath the gondola. The Scottish highlands haven't quite come out of winter yet as you can see a little bit of snow on the mountains behind
Marine Cabirou seeded well today finishing up fifth in a very strong Elite women's field
There is something special about Fort William in the sun
Lisa Baumann leaning it in through the loose berm
Emily Carrick-Anderson swapping her XC bike for her DH bike finishing up third place in seeding. Could this mean we might see Emily racing downhill at World Champs?
Troy Brosnan was on the gas through the upper berms in practice
Greg Minnaar taking some time to look at lines in practice
The boardwalks were a rare moment for the riders to take a rest
Joe Breeden making short work of the Fort William rocks
The sunshine was amazing today
Thibault Daprela taking the tight inside line which seemed to be favoured by most of the World Cup riders
The exposed ridge lines are littered with rocks and were challenging in today's wind
Excellent work by the marshals today and all the team at SDA, keeping everything running smoothly. Also, it's great to see riders respecting the red flags out on track
Douglas Vieira gapping his way down one of the many upper rock gardens
You don't have to deal with rocks that you don't touch
A strong sixth-place seeding result for Trek Factory Racing's Bodhi Kuhn
It's crazy to think that before today Hattie Harnden had never done a run at the Fort William track. It'll be interesting to see how the Enduro rider finishes up tomorrow
The rocks are unrelenting in the upper section
Laurie Greenland has been in Fort William all week testing onboard his new Santa Cruz V10. It seems to be working just fine for Laurie with him finishing seeding in third
Ad Brayton is looking to back up a strong fifth place in the first round
Henry Kerr leaning it in through the upper rocks
Practice is the perfect excuse for the riders to stop and have a mother's meeting and talk rubbish about which line they are going to take
You have to get the power down through this rare smooth section on the upper exposed part of the track
The easiest way to deal with roots is to just not touch them at all
Which starts with this little gap off of the boardwalk
Anthony Harvey on his way through the wood section which, since the infamous muddy World Cup, is one long rock garden
Cathro powering through the woods
Jenna Fellows charging hard in her first year in Elite
Luke Mumford making his way around the new improvised section of track put in to avoid the ongoing work on the main track for the World Championships
Some last-minute advice before hitting the gondola
The view from the start hut at Fort William is amazing, please excuse the commissaries eating their lunch
Kev Factory Racing's Charlie Toomer will be looking to improve on his fourteenth seeding place result, but Charlie has a really fast first sector only to lose time further down
Jack Unwin hitting the first corner hard
A good seeding result for Stan Nisbet in a big Junior field of 50 riders. Stan finished up fourth in seeding and will be looking to make the most of that tomorrow in race day
Ros O'Keefe flicking his way through the berms
Although the wind was strong up top, the lack of rain meant everything was running fast
Andrew Donnachie having some fun gapping the rocks on his way to a strong fourth-place seeding result in the Master's field
The upper corners are fast and loose
The views from the upper section of Fort William are stunning
Not that the riders have much time to take them in
It's great to see the Grand Veteran Men out racing. Keeping up the Numbers' Richard Binns here powering his way through the rocks
Fortunately just one major red flag for the day with the rider needing to be evacuated from the hill using Fort William's rescue cable car. Although I'm assured by the medics that it wasn't as serious as the injury initially looked
The upper section of the track is so exposed and many riders struggled today with the wind
Fort William's legendary rock gardens are unforgiving but at least today they were dry for seeding
Amy White-Bensted out on the trail bike this weekend
Jane Page showing off her National Champs sleeve and having a close-fought battle with Vaska Prostova in the Women's field with the two riders being separated by just 0.1s in seeding today
Jessica Stone working her way through one of Fort William's many rock gardens
Mikayla Parton smashing her way through the rocks. Mikayla started the day with a migraine but managed to power through ending up seventh in seeding
Monika Hrastnik was among the many World Cup riders racing this weekend. A solid fourth-place finish for Monika in seeding
The fastest woman of the day Nina Hoffman was quickest by just 0.945 of a second. Could Nina make it back-to-back wins at the British National Series at Fort William?
Josh Gallagher making his way through the rocks heading towards the deer gate
Benjamin Hood was a solid seventh place in seeding today in a tough senior men's field
Thankfully the wind stopped after a lot of wind delays on track walk day, meaning the full track was able to be used. But if we do see a return of the high winds we'll see the start moved to the Deer Gate
There were some course changes from the usual World Cup track, with the National Series race not heading over the road gap, so after this berm, the riders headed right down a freshly prepared piece of track
The tight corners through the woods towards the river gap is always a great section of track to watch riders through
Despite changes being made on the track, the Fort William classic wall ride through the tree stumps is still in place
Cathro sending his way through some of the trail crew's fresh handy work on the section just above the motorway
It was great to see the man, the legend Sam Hill out on track this weekend
Down the motorway at Fort William you have 2 choices speed tuck like Andreas Kolb or
Get on the pedals and cranks hard like Bruni
We will be back tomorrow for race day!
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"it's great to see riders respecting the red flags out on track"
Why the need to mention this went though my head.....seriously, are there some who don't?
youtu.be/o-YBDTqX_ZU
@jprestidge: I don’t know. Seems like a reasonable comment in context — “Hey, while you’re covering this sport on one place, we sure would be interested to see you cover the same sport in another place.” In fact, given the forum, seems like the most relevant place to post this comment at the moment.
I could (and likely am) wrong.
No results for seeding or for the race runs.
Laurie Greenland broke the track record with a run of 4:25 and Pinkbike doesn't think people would be interested?
Nina Hoffman
Camille Balanche
Monika Hrastnik
Veronika Widman
Phoebe Gale
Marine Cabirou
Mikayla Parton
Harriet Harnden
Mille Johnset
Lisa Baumann
Jessica Stone
Becci Skelton
Jolanda Kiener
Jenna Fellows
Ramona Kupferschmied
Bethany Mccully
Dreadful.