Forest of Dean
661 Mini DownHill
5th & 6th March 2011
Jenna Woodruff
Forest of Dean, 661 Mini Downhill – 23rd January 2011
It was a nice easy start to the 2011 race season, kicking things off at Forest of Dean. Bright early start with a 4:30am departure from Manchester, it was going to be a long day! The track was quite slow, very pedally at the top and more technical and rooty towards the bottom. There were several Elite riders entered so it was good to get some advice from them and pick up some tips.
The Results...
Jenna Woodruff 7th Ladies Category
Greg Horrocks 31st Youth Men Category
AJ Howe 33rd Senior Men Category
Overall it was a great day, first race nerves are out of the way and it was a nice warm up to the season ahead.
Forest of Dean, 661 Mini Downhill – 20th February 2011
After the last Forest of Dean race in January we thought it would be wiser to set off on the Saturday and get a look at the track before race day, it also saved us from the 4am start on Sunday morning! We arrived in plenty of time to get in some practice and have a good look at the course. It was a new track from the start that hadn’t been ridden, this joined onto an existing track further down the hill. It was very wet on the Saturday and as the track was new it changed dramatically through the day as riders sessioned it over and over again, ruts started appearing and roots were torn up. This track looked much more technical and enjoyable than the January track. The end of the course was over a huge table jump and road gap into a rooty finish area. After a very chilly night sleep on the car park (dedication!!!) race day came. The track was still very wet so the mud tyres stayed on. With AJ on team support duties this weekend he offered to push the bikes up the hill for the race run’s, it’s all part of being in the team :P Race runs went very well, the Saturday practice defiantly paid off but the legs were very tired!
The results...
Jenna Woodruff 2nd Ladies Category
Andrew Smith 19th Veteran Men Category
So it was the first Team NCA podium of 2011 with 2nd place for Jenna. Another great weekend at Forest of Dean and the team are starting to work very well together, it’s a very positive start to the year.
Jenna Woodruff