HSBC UK National Downhill Series, Round 3 Rhyd-Y-Felin

The Bala track (note the track is some 15 miles away from Bala) so no idea why anyone calls it Bala but they do! The venue is actually located 1 mile down the road past Revolution Bike Park. Just outside the village of Llangynog in North Wales. The track is one of the BDS racers' favourites; high speed up top into some tricky fast bus stops before you hit the big jump section littered with tasty berms as sculpted by Gareth Brewin. Then we adjust our vision and dive into the dark woods, avoiding tree stumps, navigating roots and choosing one of several lines before you hit the open section and a minefield of tree stumps. The final woods have been carved up nicely after last weekend's regional race organised by Pearce Cycles in what can only be described as wet conditions. Finally, we boost into the field, open her up, hold on tight before we cross the line, in under 3 minutes for the elite riders?


In the Schwalbe Elite Women's category, last weekend's UCI World Cup winner, FMD Racing's, Tahnee Seagrave will be looking to jump into the series lead as she currently lies in second place in the series, 130 points behind Radon's Manon Carpenter. With another 8 Elite Women still hot on her heels battling out for those top five podium places, make sure you pull up a deck chair on Sunday at that finish line.

The Schwalbe Elite men's category welcomes back CRC Mavic's Mike Jones fresh back from injury, interesting to see how he performs with his teammate Elliot Heap who is in his first year in the Elite category. GT's Sam Dale could well be in the running along with Hope's Adam Brayton who managed a 6th place here last year. Madison Saracen's Marc Beaumont is back after that horrific ankle injury at Lourdes UCI World Cup Round 1, Marc will be riding on Saturday and will decide if his ankle is up to racing on Sunday. The powerhouse that is Matt Simonds will also be in contention and will be hoping to go better than 5th place here last year. The dark horse predictions to look out for are the young gun, Intense's Charlie Hatton who is proving an upset in his first year of Elites especially after his fifth place at Nant G. Trek World Racings Graeme Mudd is super strong and will be putting the Trek 29er through its paces, could this be the first 29er win at a BDS, the first of many? Last but not least, could we see One Visions Jack reading on that Geometron take a second BDS win in Elite? We will know by 17:00 on Sunday!


The Spank Junior Men's category is tightening up with the top four already. Intense's Joe Breeden is currently on fire with 432 points on the scoreboard. Just 87 points behind is FMD Racing's Kaos Seagrave who will be decked out in that colourful and unmistakable Fox race kit. In third place is Madison/PandO Ferries/Shimano Conor Bates on 260 points beating off Madison Saracen Factory Team's Matt Walker by the slimmest of margins of just 6 points as Matt sits on 254 points.


Schedule:

Saturday 09:30 to 18:00 Practice.
Sunday 08:30 to 11:00 Practice, 11:15 to 14:00 Seeding Runs, 14:15 to 17:00 Race Runs.


For the full event details, please Click Here.Spectators are kindly asked to read the spectators guidelines by Clicking Here.

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MENTIONS: @si-paton / @GTBicycles

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