British Downhill Series - Fort William Race Report

Like a mini World Cup, the largest majority of the top WC riders usually head to the Fort William round of the BDS. This year was certainly no different

Travelling up to Fort William from down south I could not wait to get there and get racing. With the help of Ian Warby (B1ke) in my corner it was set to be a cracking weekend of racing!

The track at Fort William was looking super fast and rough come Saturday, with plenty of riders making the journey up earlier in the week to get laps in on the days leading up to race day, and it didn’t disappoint. It was probably taped the closest any BDS has ever been to the full World Cup track, with only the wooden road gap half way down the track not taped in.

I could have done with a slightly better start to my day of practise. First run I was feeling pretty good on the top section, just trying to get accustomed to the flat out nature of the track and being that it was so dry; how loose it was. Further down the track I decided to try and scrub off a drop in the middle woods, not quite getting the landing I wanted and going OTB! Fortunately, it’s probably the softest part of the track so a quick line adjustment and all was good.

New tweaked jumps on the motorway section were a welcome addition for everyone, making the whole track real fast!
5 runs down and that’ll do for Saturday! Monkey hands and all!

Sunday was a little bit cooler, and a bit overcast. Practise started nice and early, with the quick uplift meaning there was no worries getting extra runs in if you wanted. I was happy just to get one run in, to get my eye back in but to try and save energy (still not having done a full run down the hill yet). After a pretty moving and appropriate tribute to Stevie Smith with a huge crowd present, qualifying started. This was the first time I’d done a full run of the track all weekend, I decided I’d take it pretty easy and save as much energy for race runs as possible. Going steady I was pretty happy to qualify in 11th with a lot left in the tank.

Before long it was time for racing! The track was still changing with holes and corners blowing out so I knew just to keep it smooth. Unfortunately going across the top boardwalk it became pretty apparent that something wasn’t quite right. A few turns later I’d figured out that my chain had come off! The uphill to flat section before the motorway bridge and jumps at the bottom of the track was a struggle! 13th would just have to do.

Overall it was an absolutely wicked weekend. We were all treated to some spectacular weather and an awesome track, with some great competition!
Massive thanks to Ride It Out for housing us this weekend and working hard to keep mine and everyone else’s bike running slick as!
Roll on round #3!