Jersey Gravity Series Round #2 – Report
So Jersey may not be known for its big hills, gnarly downhill or even its mountain biking in general but we’ve got it ! just on a smaller scale.
The weekend of the 24th of May saw round 2 of the Jersey Gravity Series which takes in a mixture of enduro and downhill events and this time DH rolled round and with a brand new course set to be the steepest and toughest yet with a good mixture of rocky tight switchbacks a big drop in the middle and then dropping into a minefield of a rock garden at the bottom before a brief sprint finish the gauntlet was set.
Practice got underway and things soon became clear that the course was the most challenging yet with carnage galore and the rock garden claiming the most victims with its multi line choice and tight corners. Further up the course only a few riders were hitting the big sender in the middle with Tom White of AT Cycles having the biggest moment after clearing the drop carrying far too much speed and getting a big scorpion OTB.
After run one times were sub one minute with a track that went from the highest point on the island to nearly the lowest point showing how quickly the trail dropped down the hill. Richard Payne of the Remap Clothing Allmountainstyle.com team was sitting in first after run one with Dan Darwood and Rhys Hidrio rounding out the top 3 but with a couple riders having issues like Jack Clayden getting stuck in one of the top switchbacks it was still all systems go for the sec on runs.
Second runs saw a lot less “moments” on the track with riders wising up to its sneaky ways and with Clayden putting in a good run moving him up to second and bumping Hidrio out the top 3 as Dan Darwood managed to improve on his time by just over a second and James Ollivier also improved on his time moving him up to 5th overall.
Results
1.Richard Payne – Remap Clothing Allmountainstyle.com Cycle Centre
2.Jack Clayden – AT Cycles
3.Dan Darwood
4.Rhys Hidrio – CCC
5.James Ollivier – Cycle Centre
Big thanks to the Channel Island Mountain bike Association for putting on the best event jersey’s had yet full results and future events can be checked out at: http://www.cimba.co.uk
Report by – Richard Payne