Pearce Rnd 1 - Bringewood

April 4-5 was a glorious weekend. I've never seen a Shropshire track in such perfect hardpack condition. Bringewood was runny fast and sweet, lacing down through the tight trees and clear fell areas like one long BMX singletrack. I was seriously wishing I'd signed up for this one, but instead I'd just driven up to watch Andy and Greg.

The Pearce series is a finely oiled machine, and Si Paton was bringing us the times and placings as it happened from within eyeshot of where the track emerged from the trees and dropped into a nice big crowd pleasing tabletop and sprint to finish.

Unfortunately, Andy would become a victim of his own aggressiveness as he overcooked both runs. In his first he'd caught the previous rider by the split, who wouldn't let him past for a few hundred metres of track. Once passed Andy twisted the throttle to make up for lost time and blew out the last corner. So the pressure was on for the 2nd run, and he wanted it so bad he went a bit toooooo fast up top and 180-ed a corner. He ended up 33rd out of a field of 90 Seniors, so it certainly wasn't a bad finish, but it wasn't his day and he's looking to avenge himself at Moelfre this coming weekend. I just hope he takes a deep breath and relaxes a bit!

Greg had a much better weekend in the Junior category and dialled in both runs. His first run was clean except for an incident with the race tape, which blew over his head and slowed him right down. Coming in with a 2:25 landed him in 6th place in a competitive field of XX, and awesome result with a time he knew he could beat. But the times always come down in the 2nd runs. Greg pinned it all the way down for a 2:23 to keep his 6th place finish. It was a brilliant peformance showing how well Greg is getting along with his Session 88 and how his riding is progressing. Believe it or not, Greg's time would have put him 5th place in Seniors!

One other rider definitely deserves a mention, and that's the Racer's Guild young phenom Elliot Gill who landed a 4th place with a 2:47 in the Juvenile category, only 4 seconds off a podium and 10 seconds in front of the next guy! He'd definitely got some speed and talent, and he's not even been riding that long. Well done Elliot Jr!

I've got to admit, it was hard to watch and not race. It was such a good race on a good track that I've sent away for my BC race license and hopefully I can score some BC points and get into some NPSs. Can't wait! -Aaron

Here's a link to the Team Boon Productions video from the day: http://www.pinkbike.com/video/69385/