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Tidworth Freeride DH – Hooper Hooner 2014

The Hooper Hooner is a bit of a classic now and it’s a perfect way to end the racing season. Rideitout’s Ant Jones entered the race.

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For a lot of riders Tidworth Freeride – Hooper Hooner marked an end to the racing season. Run by Tidworth Freeride Club the bike park has been running for nearly 10 years providing a fun place to ride for all the locals. It is tucked away amongst the woodlands of the Salisbury plains but easy to access from the main roads for those riders travelling from further afield.

I was asked a little while back if I wanted to attend the race and, as I hadn’t had much chance to race this season it seemed a perfect opportunity to get out on the bike. I started the Saturday race day nice and early after an alcohol free Friday (can’t say that often!) and picked up France’s finest Lee Huskinson on the way. With an athlete’s breakfast consisting of a sausage and bacon roll provided by potheads catering, we were ready to check out the track.

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It was a very wet and dark morning especially with the coverage of trees but the venue was already packed with lots of people walking the track and checking out the lines. Being nice and wet gave me the opportunity to run my spikes which is always fun. The track started off on a long straight pedal section through tight trees and rocks then dropping into some tighter corners and then it was onto a massive root section that came blasting into 2 amazing corners that you could absolutely smash. After that it was off a drop and into another straight section over a load of nice jumps then a long sprint to the finish.

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The track was suitable for all abilities whilst still giving the expert and elite riders something challenging when going flat out. It was all about the stamina at the top and bottom so it was definitely a race for the fitness boys. With some riders in fancy dress the atmosphere was awesome with an amazing turn out of spectators cheering everyone on and getting everyone to the bottom of the track.

The first race run was hard work showing that for the top boys it was all going to be about who could pedal the hardest, The standings in the expert/elite category after the first run were so close…

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During the second race runs, I was knocked off the 3rd podium spot by some silly amount but I wasn’t having that so had to find a little more in the tank to try and claw it back, managed to regain my 3rd place podium spot by 0.01 of a second on my 3rd run.

The podiums were again met with lots of spectators cheering everyone’s efforts. In the Youth Men category, Jack Miller (Blue Chip Data Systems) took the win closely followed by Matt Newington in 2nd and Mathew McGovern (Sutton CC) taking 3rd. Wendy Merrifield (Tidworth Freeride) took the win in the Women’s category beating her competitors by a big margin of 7.99 seconds with Megan Wherry (Dame Cycling) and Marcia Ellis (Dame Cycling) taking 2nd and 3rd.

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The Junior Mens category was again won by a big margin with Tom Dunford (TF Tuned) winning by 5.16 seconds with Ollie Hooper (Pedal Progression) and Joel Anderson taking 2nd and 3rd. Senior Men was a lot closer with Toby Down (Ti-Springs) taking the win and Warren Field and Zak Hurrell coming in on the same second and sitting in 2nd and 3rd.

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The Masters results came in as Giles Austing (Mulebar) taking the win followed by Andrew Gardiner (Gravity Project) and Guy Chandler (Merida). There was a good turn out for the Veteran category with a close top three, Shanr Maciak (Woodsmen) in 1st followed by Graham Goodyear (Gravity Project) and Paul Evans (Gravity Project). The second to last category was the Hard Tails with Simon Nash (MB Swindon) taking the win followed by Stephen Jones (Malvern Cycle Sport) and Hash Brown (Curtis Bikes/ Charge Clothing).

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The final category was the Expert men this was my category and time to find out if I had managed to beat Sam to 3rd place. Ben Deakin (who according to the race results is sponsored by himself!) came in 1st with France’s finest Lee Huskinson (Torico/Scott Sports/Shaperi) coming in 2nd. Now for 3rd place… I came in 3rd but only by 0.01 of a second pushing Sam Marzetti (Bournemouth Cycle Works) into 4th!

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Great prizes were given for LOADS of different things including, all categories, best fancy dress, spectator fancy dress etc and the top 3 fastest riders of the day got a massive home made trophy.

It was a worthwhile day out and a good end to the season. Thank you to all at Tidworth Freeride club for putting on a good day and as for me I was chuffed to be back on the podium again! And in the words of Isaac Anderson (Jucie Lubes) “You’re not bad for a Dad!”

Full results are here- http://www.mikrotime.com/mtb/tid2014/tid142.html

The Words – Ant Jones
The Pics – Wil Colins wilcollinsphoto.co.uk  facebook.com/Wilcollinsphotography

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