NDH Rd 4 Kidlandlee Alwinton
Big thanks to Carl for putting on an event which many organisers would have cancelled due to the low entries. The riders that had entered were either hardcore regulars that knew what they were letting themselves in for, or other new riders who had heard word of mouth of the potential of the track and were up for the challenge.
This time round, the track line changes seemed to make all of the difference instead of being hard work it was fun to ride, but still that worrying feeling which should be on every track.
The weather stayed bright all weekend which always helps and the track was drying up as the weekend passed.
From the top the track dropped into a series of corners in the trees which were previously full of grip but seemed to have dug down past the fine grippy roots into a slick peat which meant you headed into the open faster and as the gradient steepened up you were kicked faster again into the next flat right then flat left. If you ran wide on either there was a nice pile of shredded grass and nettles to suck your front wheel in. The old foot out on the left was mandatory to scoop the front wheel back as it had become so blown.
Next was the start of the steep rocks with a choice of a long tricky left (previously called a chicken line but that’s the wrong description considering how off camber it is), scary middle with a drop then battle to brake before the left or a slow into, right which set you up good for the next left. All three spat you out onto a left which was where round 3 race went wrong. This time instead of the steep right notoriously lethal left we now head across the gradient left off camber into the trees, with no brakes for grip there was a high left or low right around a boulder before hitting a long fresh dusty right then left joining the old route.
The middle section seemed to have dug down to good grippy gravels between the tree roots but the ripped out loose wet peat seemed to have built up on the corners with deep ruts. This led to riders looking for high lines and cuts which were possible in some, but the safer option was often the railing the rut with a foot out.
Into the dark the only thing that was visible were the tapes and the freshly polished white roots. I took a no brake approach here to avoid loosing the bike and saved the braking for when the lights where back on.
The next section was a stump field which seemed easy in practice but come race runs seemed to have caught a lot of people out. Many ended up off line and off the bike, stuck in the sticky pile at the bottom.
Over the bridge up the other side before crossing the awkward wobbles before right left.
Over the diagonal roots onto the final shoot hitting the small bridge and the valley floor faster than you where comfortable with.
Steven Turnbull showed how he got the fastest time of the day here with a nice hop over the roots into the shoot which seemed to please the crowd gathered at the bottom.
Thankfully injuries where minor, although both paramedics did show presence on the hill on Sunday. After a roll in the nettles Dave chose to return back to the safety of the smoking 4×4 for even more cigarettes. Arthur stayed on the hill to offer words of encouragement to riders and was heard to shout “Take it steady” and “slow down” to riders. Next race take five minutes for a bit crack with these two they really are characters.
Slowest time went to Michael Elstob. Michael managed to crash on his first race run and took the opportunity to wait for fellow joker Ali Hudson to pass him, so he could chase Ali taking the piss all the way. Ali run was ruined due to not being able to breath for laughing.
Results:
Youth
1st Matty Leggett 1.56.76
2nd Rory McRitchie 2.01.83
3rd Mike Newbould 2.08.21
Junior
1st Calum McRitchie 1.39.95
2nd Joe Young 1.50.96
3rd Rowan Buckley 1.53.79
Veteran
1st Shaun Kelly 2.04.66
2nd Alan Turnbull 2.13.99
3rd Michael Strangeways 2.15.60
Master
1st Phil Grimes 1.49.03
2nd Owen Allison 1.59.71
3rd Mark Purkiss 2.02.30
Senior
1st Steven Turnbull 1.38.41
2nd Matthew Hakes 1.40.35
3rd Chris Hakes 1.45.99
Expert
1st Nick Turner 1.43.90
Big thanks to the Scottish boys who travelled south of the border and well done to Junior Calum Mcritchie for a cracking 2nd fastest time of the day with a 1.39.41 only pipped by Team CHR rider Steven Turnbull with a 1.38.41.
If you did race and you did enjoy the track and weekend please pass on the good word as we need to pull more riders together to better the series.
By the way, next uplift we should have extended the track above the existing start to give an extra 20 seconds. Uplift dates are 4-5th September, 2-3rd October
Many thanks to:
The usual gang of Carls family and friends!
Ian and Trevor and all marshals
Rich Easton from www.moto-photo.co.uk for the photos check his site for more.
Sponsors: Hope and Switchbacks for there top prizes.
Switchbacks holiday prize draws were won by Alan Turnbull and Martin Nairn.