This past Sunday Kustom Bikes held the second round of their winter series at Avil Ball near Minehead, North Devon. Unfortunately the weather forecast was against us and was predicted heavy rain and boy did it rain.
I knew the track pretty well as I had done an uplift the weekend before the last round was cancelled and was anxious to see what a race on that track would be like as the track had a good variety of sections.
Dropping off the fire road the track is thrown right at you with a couple of tricky corners that caught a few riders out, including myself once! This part of the track is quite open and rocky, with a couple of line choices avoiding roots and tree stumps. Then after a fast drop onto the first fire road crossing, you followed the fire road for about 20 metres before firing off the road and into the middle section of the track.
The middle section was the most technical of the track and featured multiple line choices, off camber sections and lots of roots. With lots of rain came lots of mud and sections were found increasingly difficult as roots became slippery and some corners formed braking bumps. Before the next compression onto the second fire road crossing, there was a multiply line choice were if you were brave enough you could kick off a tree stump and try to miss a pile of roots. Unfortunately in the wet this section caught a few riders out and their were some pretty spectacular over the bars crash's.
After crossing the fire road again an open muddy section followed, which seemed simple but was found quite tricky with some nasty roots and stumps in places. After the third and final fire road crossing, the track became very dark and tight with some close trees. This section was near impossible to see as a stream of water ran through the track. Then followed the final field section, there was a wooden kicker after leaving the woods but in the muddy conditions most riders opted to go around it as pedalling around would probably be faster. Another wooden kicker followed after a few corners, which was defiantly faster to drop off, before the last corner and sprint to finish line.
Unfortunately due to the bad weather and possibly valentines day the day after, entries were low. Which is a real shame because these events are always superbly run and organized by Don at Kustom Bikes. It would also be a great shame to lose this race series because of the amount entries, so keep your eye out on our events page for the next round and get entered!
To view all the photos from the event
click here
Results:
Hardtail:
1st: Anthony Bishop (1:44.844)
2nd: Greg Berry (1:45.322)
3rd: Ash Brown (1:48.603)
Juvenile:
1st: Joe Scutt (2:12.475)
Youth:
1st: Owen Willicombe: (1:32.397)
2nd: Tom Proffitt: (1:34.842)
3rd: Sam Marzetti (1:36.789)
Junior:
1st: Moss Macriner (1:26.262)
2nd: Jay Williamson (1:26.708)
3rd: Curtis Saunders (1:35.465)
Senior:
1st: Nathan Vials (1:23.682)
2nd: Zak Hurrell (1:25.731)
3rd: Ashley Mullane (1:28.177)
Master:
1st: Julian Jacobs (1:40.077)
2nd: Jim Davage (1:42.721)
3rd: Lee Pattemore (1:53.529)
Veteran:
1st: John Cobb (1:32.270)
2nd: Darren Kneeshaw (1:39.330)
3rd: Keith Saunders (1:47.485)
Words:
Greg Berry
Photos:
Carl Billinghurst
