Off to a great start - Wentwood Results

March 1st saw the Squadron pulling on their team jerseys for the first time for the season opener at Wentwood in South Wales. The sun was blazing, the bikes were shined up and ready to go thanks to team sponsor Swinnertons Cycles in Stoke, and the boys would not disappoint!

This was Simon Ward's first race after the disbanding of the Dragons, and it was great to see this fine track in action again. The track, all 2 plus minutes of it, might well have been as dry as it will ever get. The basic layout is fast and fun up top, dropping into some fantastic chutes before blasting into the open where the crowd pleasing road gap was situated, and finally dropping into the slightly slidy, tight and technical clay final third, with two tough bus stops thrown in along the way to keep the locals on their toes.

Greg Hampton was racing in the Junior category and had a tidy first run of 2:17. Always good to have one in the bag! The plan was to pull it out for the 2nd run, but it just didn't click. Greg's first run was certainly no sloucher thogh, even if he hadn't put it all together, and it was good enough for a stunning 6th place finish. To top it off, Greg is on a new bike this year and recovering from injuries in both arms!

Greg over the gap. Photo: Teejay05

On to the Seniors class, with team riders Elliot Machin and Andy Hughes. Andy made a mistake in his first run and came to a complete stop, but still managed a quick 2:17. The pressure would be on for run two. Elliot rode sideways the entire way down, fully living up to his nickname Mr. Sketch. It was deeply satisfying to watch the bewilderment when other's heard his time - an amazing 2:08, which would leave him 2nd overall for a while...

Andy's got wings. Photo: Teejay05

In their second runs, both Andy and Elliot improved. Andy had a great run and knocked 3 seconds off his time for a 2:14 to place him 12th place in Seniors, which is a great accomplishment considering he is relatively new on the race scene.

Elliot on his way to the podium. Photo: Teejay05

Elliot took another second off and defended his 2nd place position for the Squadron's first podium of the season! He was only 8 seconds of Rowan Sorrell's time...meaning he is 8 seconds away from racing at a World Cup level!

Elliot on the podium! Photo: Greg

There was a great presence of Racer's Guild riders there, which made things all the better. Aaron Tolley had a particularly good day with particularly fast times - you couldn't wipe the grin off his face! I was pleased to be sitting 5th in the masters class with a 2:22 after the first run, but some creative line choices in the seond run left me taking more soil samples and I ended up 9th. But I'm not comlaining! We can all only hope that every race will be this much fun...

Andy and Elliot will be racing in the first Caersws Cup next weekend before the team loads up for the first Pearce and NPS races of the year in April. By that time we should have our '09 Fox kit from Fox Europe! Stay tuned...

Big thanks goes out to Swinnerton Cycles for the great service and parts to keep the team running in the pre-season. We're finding that the Squadron is not particuarly kind of equipment, but Craig is always there to help us out. Cheers!

Wentwood Race Video by Boon Productions 2009: