Pearce Cycle Round 1
Hopton 2nd/3rd April
2011
IAnother early start for Team NCA with a 5am departure from Manchester on route to Shropshire for the 1st round of the series. We arrived at 8.30am and got signed on, then made our way up the track for some line spotting before the course opened at 10am. The track looked mega fun, very fast and rooty with some big drops and jumps to mix it up at bit.
Greg, Sam and Jenna headed over to the uplifts for the 1st practice runs. The track didnt disappoint, it was very fast and dust (yes dust!!) was thrown up on every corner, awesome fun! After a couple of runs we were getting up to speed and feeling positive about racing. As we headed back over to the uplifts we heard news that the track had been closed as there had been a serious accident. As Greg was the last rider to enter the finish area the realisation soon hit that it was Sam who had been involved in the accident as he was following behind Greg. The track was shut for over an hour as medics tried to get him off the track as safely as possible. Sam was taken to hospital with suspected spinal injuries and the track was reopened.
After a night of heavy rainfall the track had got quite greasy and loose, it was so much different to ride than the previous day but it was still great fun, especially with dry tyres on! Race runs started at 12 with Greg going down 1st for Team NCA. He was happy with his run and posted a time of 3:05.42 with a speed of 25.75kpm through the speed trap. Jenna was up next for Team NCA, she took the lead at the 1st split and recorded a speed of 25.59kpm through the speed trap but lost a lot of time on the lower section finishing with a time of 3:13.61 taking 2nd place. With a 2 hour break between runs we had time to clean of the bikes, change kit and refuel. Just the 2nd runs started the heavens opened, the track was a mud bath and racing turned into carnage. It turned into a challenge of getting down the track without crashing rather than attemping to beat the previous race run time. Greg managed an impressive 6 crashes in his race run leaving him in 41st place. After pushing too hard through the wet rooty section Jenna took a spill and finished 14 seconds slower than the 1st run. That left us with another 2nd place podium finish for Team NCA in senior ladies.
Our thoughts go out to Sam and his family, we are all wishing you a speedy recovery and hope to see you riding with the team again in the near future.
Greg - 41st Juniors
Jenna - 2nd Seniors