The first round of the Braefoot Summer Series took place on the 17th of April. A mates race type event, with dry, dusty trails awaiting the riders a great race was to be had.
Video and pictures inside...The first round of the Braefoot Summer Series got off to great start with a track that would even challenge the top racers as well as be easy enough for the young novices to get down without injury.
James Dornom getting loose
The track began with a short pedal off the start, and then took right into a path gap. A high speed straight with roots with an offcamber extremely loose turn followed by another fast straight. Pedal across the fireroad and onto the new bus stop. With the faster riders taking a hip drop into some steep loose turns. A short pedal into a hip jump followed by two flowy switchbacks. A quick sprint along the fireroad then you dive into the next section. Take your line over the the most technical section of the track, a rock garden with a drop straight into a sharp left hander, then a sprint to the final step down jump and finish.
Lewis McLaughlin
With practice starting at 10.00, riders arrived and began practicing the tracks. The turns up top quickly became blown out and the the riders to beat were clearly evident.
Morgan Gulland on his way to 7th place in Elite and fastest hardtail
With seeding runs also counting as one of the three race runs it was all to play for all. In the novice category, John Shiel seeded third, just behind Zach Delaney, but John Hutcheson took an early lead to be first.
John Hutcheson taking the smooth line through the rock section
The elites set off and young pinner, riding for Propain bikes and co-organiser of the race, Andrew Elliot came in third, Lewis McLaughlin seeds second, just behind Greg Gilfillan.
Jonny Black pinned just before the fire road
After third runs and times being closer than ever (even some tied runs) the novice category remained pretty similar, but with Zach Delaney getting the better of John Hutcheson, by a small margin of 0.3 seconds.
1: Zach Delaney : 50.7
2: John Hutcheson : 51.0
3: John Sheil : 54.6
4: Domonic Simmons : 54.8
5: Ethan Thomson : 55.7
6: Robert Ellis : 59.8
7: Robbie Mclernon : 1.01
8: Ben Murphy : 1.02 (.3)
9: Dean Stevenson : 1.02 (.4)
10: Mike Smith : 1.06
Zach Delaney pinned on the rock garden
Cameron Kilgour scrubbing the last step down
On such a short track, times couldnt be closer and it was definitly shown in the elite category. With the initial seeding positions not changing, the times did get far lower than seeding, with Greg Gilfillan lowering his initial time by two seconds.
1: Greg Gilfilan: 45.4
2: Lewis McLaughlin: 46.3
3: Andrew Elliott:47.4
4: Johnny Black: 48.3
5: Christopher Gallagher: 48.8
6: Mark Clark: 49.6
7: Richard Gray: 50.5
8: James Robb: 50.7
9: Morgan Gulland: 51.3(hardtail)
10: Ross O'Reilly: 51.4
11: David Cassells: 52.0
11: Martin Kennedy: 56.3 (hardtail)
Greg pinned on his way to the win
Andrew Elliot on his way to third
Christopher Gallagher on the final step down
Thanks everyone for attending the event, and we hope to see you all and more next time.
Christo
Forth Racing ProjectVideo Provided by Alistair MasonAll photos by Scott MacphersonArticle of previous event can be found
here.