Gravity Project – Honey Series Round 1 2013

Gravity Project: Honey Series Round 1 The first race of the ever growing 2013 GP Honey Series took place at the Gravity Projects very own HQ. A disused quarry somewhere in a field, Hampshire.

So this is how the day went… On arriving at the Hampshire venue we were greeted with a massive, almost spooky Mad Max style door. This led you into the chalky disused Quarry, which was quite a view for us non-quarry dwellers. Also as you drive in you can’t help but notice the undercover pump track on your left hand side, but we weren’t here for that, we were here to tackle the Quarry it’s self, and when I say we, I mean the good show of 80+ riders/racers.

This isn’t BDS or World cup level racing so you’re not going to find all the fun of the fair type attractions littered around the pit area. Saying that, Crank Cycles were on hand for any bike spares needed and Bowtell’s Farm Shop catering services would fuel us for the day. What you do get for your buck is a rider run, friendly, good value, fast, grass roots race series that will pop a smile on your face and leave you wanting more.

Race day threw in some early morning ground frost to add to the mix, making it a bit of a tyre clogger in places, but with the best of your 3 timed runs making the final placement and the track getting quicker as the day went on there was plenty of tight and exciting racing.

The track for the days racing is known as GP1 and stood in the right place, you can view the middle and bottom sections of track which is great for spectators and racers alike. The 15-20 minute walk up is also not to bad being able to take in the view and have a natter with fellow racers. For those who have not been I’ll break it down into 3 sections. Top, middle and bottom.

The Top
The start runs along the top of the Quarry with you leaving the start hill with a few good cranks of the pedals to get you moving, the track is up and down here so it’s a case of pedal, pump, pedal. Into the first little woods with a flick to the left and then to the right sees you pop out on to an open track which is where the pedals go down as you sprint towards the pallet jump. Once over the jump it’s into the second small section of woods. This is tight (830mm was measured between 2 trees), twisty, bermy and somewhere a good flow was needed. (Pump track skills). Coming from the “woods” it was then a right hand turn which took you out onto the middle section.

The Middle
Welcome to the Quarry. This is a great section of track, fast, rocky, open and carved down the side of the main quarry wall. This also has a left hand turn half way down which forced you to let off the brakes to hold your line on the off camber. After this a few more cranks set you up for a set of doubles to boost you into the bottom section.

The Bottom
This was a small canyon type affair below ground level with the track carving up and down the walls, at the end was a tricky 2 line sharp right into a sharp left then out over the little rock garden and over the finish line.

The top boys were smashing the 1 min mark with (Senior) Barry Dunstan (Bull Track) getting the fastest time of the day with a 0:54.24. 2nd place went to (Junior Finn) Tennant (Wiggle / Gravity Project) and 3rd place (Senior) Daniel Sibbick with 0:54.71. Our very own Mud Focker (Carbon Works) Matt Schofield put in a respectable 0:55.51 placing him in 6th overall. Racing was tight in all the categories with only a click of the fingers gap separating most of the top 3 or more. As well as the fast boys, credit must go out to the all the new racers and little shredders, you’re what it’s all about. For the full results check out mikrotime.com

This is a fantastic local series for anyone wanting to try their hand at downhill racing for the first time. It also has some pretty fast boys at the top for your more seasoned racers to test your skills against.

The next race is at a new venue that differs from the quarry. This will be a slightly shorter, fast, fun track set on a hillside in Alton, Hampshire. For more details and to enter go to britishcycling.org.uk. For more info on the Gravity Project hit up their Facebook page or visit the Ride.io forum.

Massive thanks for the use of the images. All images from this event can be found here ii10photo.com

See you at the next one!

Words – Dave Lane
Images – ii10photo.com