One Vision Global Racing - Fort William World Cup

Fort William World Cup. The big one for all British riders! And of course a huge one for us at One Vision Global Racing! Last year the weather really let us down, but 2016 looked like a different story with beautiful weather forecast for the whole week! The stage was set for it to be a fantastic event and we couldn’t have been any more excited.

We arrived in a sunny Fort William on Thursday morning and thanks to team manager Phil having already set the team pit space up, all we had to worry about was bike preparation and a course walk. We all had a few things to change after the Bala BDS, to get the bikes ready to tackle the brutal Fort William course! Stiffer suspension and longer reach were the main changes we go for to make The Bill more bare able! Here is our track walk video full of banter and stupidity as usual.



We were lucky to have Chris Porter, owner of Mojo Suspension and one of the teams’ main sponsors, with us for the weekend to help! We spent a lot of Saturday testing various settings and options to try and make the bikes more stable and faster. The lads had a great first day. Jack and George both did solid timed practice runs both clocking 4.57 and Will was feeling positive after his 6 morning practice runs. Everyone was excited and nervous moving into qualifying day. Here is Jack Reading's timed practice run:



More great weather waited for us on Saturday morning. All of the lads managed to fit in three practice runs and were feeling great on the track except through the new woods section. However this section was that difficult because of all of the exposed roots, everyone including the top few guys were struggling and crashing during practice. The guys were saying that in qually, their only focus through this section was going to be ‘stay on the bike and keep moving’. Throwing a foot to keep the bike upright really wasn’t a problem, but having a crash would be! Times were going to be tight with the dry fast conditions.


Jack was first up, and with a good smooth run and no mistakes he qualified comfortably in 27th with a 4.52. He felt like he had a good amount of time left in him, so was excited for finals the next day. George next and also with a smooth run he qualified in an amazing 10th place with a 4.49. He was really surprised as he also felt like he could go much faster come his race run. We were all nervously awaiting Will’s qualifying run. He was on pace in Lourdes before he crashed, and we were all hoping he could push hard enough and hold it together to make the top 80 and finals. As he came into view over the big jump into the arena, we knew he was going to be close to the required time and it was a nervous 15 seconds watching him approach and cross the line. He went into 76th place with a 5.03 and only about 14 riders left on the hill. Thankfully his time held out and he qualified in 76th place! We were all absolutely buzzing! It was also the first time since One Vision Global Racing started that all of the team’s riders have made it through to finals at a world cup!

The excitement going into race day was through the roof, and it was apparent watching the lads ride during the morning practice session. They were all super fired up and wanting to up their game. Will used the morning session to follow Jack and George so that he could try and find more speed to bring his finals time under 5 minutes. Jack and George were both aiming for top 20 results, so were pushing their lines hard to try and find the edge.

Race time. Will first and he started very well going through the top section 2 seconds faster than he had in his qualifying run the day before! Unfortunately having a very close to crash moment in one of the rocky sections and almost flipping over the handlebars, he tightened up and lost a lot of time. He went slower in the end and did a 5.06 and finished in 68th place. It was great he qualified and he now has all of his required points to race the rest of the season in the One Vision Global Racing jersey rather than on the British Cycling team.


Jack next and hungry for that top 20 he was fired up and ready to give it everything. Unfortunately he ended up over braking in a few sections, probably because in the back of his mind he wanted ‘a result’ after the disappointment in Lourdes and Cairns riding injured. He went faster, but only by 2 seconds and did a 4.50 that was good enough for 30th place. Despite not achieving his top 20, overall Jack was happy with his weekend and a top 30 (just).


George to wrap things up for the team, and after his 10th qualifier we were all excited to see what he could do in finals. He had a good run, and did exactly the same time as his qually run, a 4.49. He also felt like he could have gone a bit harder and made up more time, but was keen to get a good result on the board and didn’t take any big risks. George came home with a career best position 27th!


So what a weekend for the team!! All three of the guys making finals and all fit and healthy ready to carry this momentum into Leogang this weekend! As usual a huge thank you to all of the team’s sponsors, especially Chris Porter and Mojo Suspension for being on hand all weekend to help the lads with bike setup and line choice!

Nicolai, Mojo Suspension, ONeal, Schwalbe, Pacenti Cycle Design, Clif Bar, Hope Technology, MRP, Works Components, Dirt Factory, Stoneswood Construction, East Coast Air Brush, DNA Sports Performance, Rock Guardz, Mango Bikes, Mark Davies, Adey Bennett