661 Mini DH – Forest of Dean – Race Report
Ant Jones was at the opening round of the 661 Mini DH series this past weekend at the Forest of Dean. Race report ahoy.
On the weekend of the 6th of December the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire played host to the opening round of the 661 mini Downhill winter race. Due to being a dedicated family man now I didn’t make it to the practice day but instead decided to warm up the legs on the BMX down at my local park. Brandon Love joined me despite not being on a BMX since he was little (well younger, he is still little!). After a couple of hours in the cold we packed up the van and headed up to Frome to stay the night with my sister Ellie and the Mr’s to BTR Fabrications Paul Burford.
We of course went to bed early to prepare our bodies for the race the next day and didn’t go anywhere near a pub… and with that we were up bright and early to get to the venue. This was the first time I had ever raced at the Forest of Dean and I was certainly in for a treat. The weather was looking to be nice and dry until we were 10 minutes away and a huge rain shower came through, changing the track from nice and dry to rather damp!
With nearly 300 competitors attending the race the atmosphere was great, large crowds around the track meant loads of encouragement for all the riders. The race organisers had the uplift running which meant that we could get quite a few practice runs in. The uplift was really quick and made our lives much easier.
The track was awesome, a little pedal at the start to get some speed up leading straight into nice flowing corners, fast straights; covered in roots and rocks. It was easy to maintain speed all the way down, so not too much pedalling needed. The last section is nice and quick with a few jumps and large berms to finish up.
After practice it was time to get the race underway. The race itself was a credit to the organisers as with the amount of competitors in attendance it didn’t take too long to get through the riders. After my first run I felt really good but the timing didn’t agree and I was quite a bit off the pace. I still had my second race run to try and claw some time back… no sweat! After my second run I hit almost the same time and was still off the pace! Despite my final result being awful I had such an amazing day riding the track. I will definitely be speaking to the Mrs nicely and trying to attend the rest of the series! Although with a little more effort put in next time to bring home a much better result.
For full results see – https://www.rootsandrain.com/race3065/2014-dec-7-2014-15-661-mini-dh-1-forest-of-dean/
On the way home we called in to BTR headquarters to check out whats new with them and take a sneak peak at something Brandon has in the pipeline.
I want to thank all that spent time organising the day, despite my rubbish result it was an awesome day and I hope to be attending the next race on the 25th January 2015!
Words and Video – Ant Jones
Images by Ricci Walker
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