Chicksands 661 Mini DH 31st March

So it’s finally come, the postponed race that everyone was talking about.

I went to Chicksands to check the course out early Saturday morning. Rezurgence's Will came along to do some filming and photography. I took a few runs down the course and had a mess around. It began to rain again so we went to Aston Hill to do some footage there. Aston hill's official demo day is this weekend coming so make sure if you’re not racing your there!

Dad and I were invited back to Richard Abbot's place for the night before travelling back to Chicksands for the race. He cooked us probably the best meal I have ever had! it was a chicken pasta dish with about ever vegetable imaginable in a mild sauce. Cheers Rich!

Sunday morning and we got to Chicksands about 10... Maybe a little late but I conserved my energy. The course looked a lot better even though it had rained through the night. it was sunny now however and I had a few runs down with my new spiky Geax tires on. They were gripping well now but the course was only getting dryer. I took my first run with 80 percent aggression. I came in 3rd just 0.02secs off of 2nd place with a 34seconds.

For my second run I put some dry tires on to keep rolling resistance low. I took it easy down and went a second faster with a 33seconds. I was still in 3rd place. I now knew it was down to the last run with the course being faster than ever.

Last run and I gave it all in most places. I got down in a 32 seconds. This bumped me up to 2nd place and also got me 7th out of all 171 riders. Nick Goehegan takes the overal win!The 17's and under podium.

After racing and prize giving I went to join some friends doing the well known dirt jumps of Chicksands. Had a jump with Rowan Sorrel for a bit too!
Thanks to DMR, Rezurgence, Lifestyle Ford, Mojo, Nike 6, Funn, Geax, and Mace.

PORC Easter race; 23rd March:

I went to P.O.R.C in the afternoon before race day to have a look at the course. It had rained the day before this and the outlook wasn’t great for the weekend so I left my spike tires on from the Caersws race the week before. Dad and I walked down the marked out course at about 5pm to find the lines. The course was really good. Flat corners that drop away from you and steep rutted sections filled the course. It was wet all the way down but especially the last turn. My runs weren’t great on the Saturday but I had all my lines sorted I just needed to learn them.

Sunday morning saw around only 50 riders turn up. Bit disappointing but I guess it was wet and Easter Sunday. It snowed for most of the day which added quite a cool aspect to the race.

I had about 10 runs in the morning getting used to my lines. This track was awesome for drifting. I think 90% of the course was ridden sideways.

First runs; I took it fast from the start but this made me miss a line into a corner and I lost some momentum at a crucial place in the course. The rest of my run was pretty good though. I got a 46.83. After everyone was down I was the only person on a 46 second run.

Second runs; My second run was a bit of a disaster. With an awesome run up right until the last corner where I nearly fell off and couldn’t get my foot on to pedal to the end. I got 47 seconds. My first run kept me the lead but with Bill only 0.3 seconds behind.

Third runs; My last run and it all went together pretty well. I nailed the steep section of the course and carried my speed through all my corners. I was made up with this run as i pushed the fastest time to 46.03 seconds. This ended up being the fastest time overall with team mate Lee also getting a 46 seconds. It was a good race for DMR with their 2 riders at the top step of the podium and also with the 2 fastest times of the day.
Darrel Harris in 2nd and myself in 1stLee taking the top spot and Johny taking 2nd. A goon shot of Lee to end. Haha!

Thanks to DMR, Rezurgence, Lifestyle Ford, Nike 6, Funn, Mojo and Mace.

Caersws cup round 1, 16th march

The first round of the Caersws Cup was about as wet as it gets!


Saturday; Practise was dry but the course was very wet due to the week of rain before. The course was hard packed until it began to rain at the end of practise when it got very churned up. The field section didn't have a chance of staying in a good condition from the start and few people were needed to ride the bottom before it turned into a total mud bath! Practise didn't go as planned really for me on Saturday. I rode the course as if I was riding down and it should have been as if I was about to race it. I got around 7 runs in as well and I usually do around 10 or more. At the end of practise it was time to get the spikes on the bike ready for a supposedly wet Sunday ahead. This is the result of Saturday night. Dad and I woke up to a total flood. Our easy-up was flipped over hanging on by one string and one massive puddle. This puddle covered most of the parking field and was about 6 inches deep. There was no doubt about it... My feet were going to be wet from the start. Practise went a lot better Sunday morning. I followed Nathan Vials down for a few runs to bump up the speeds a bit.

This was in my first run where I posted my best time. I got a 2min 37secs. It was an average run, I just wanted to get a secure time before pushing it harder in second runs. This picture was taken in my second race run by David Dower. My second run went really well until I went into the last field section where the mud was unbelievable. Line choice was critical to get a good time in the second runs in the field section. Although my top section was better than my first runs I think I lost around 5 seconds in the field section. I went 3 seconds slower than my first run. I ended up in 7th place and 10 seconds away from the best time of the day.



Thanks to DMR, Rezurgence, Lifestyle Ford, Mace, Funn, Nike, Mojo and Fusion.

Bringewood Midlands round 1; 2nd March

It started off looking like a wet weekend was ahead. To our pleasant surprise the wind kept the course dry through the light overnight showers. Both days though were dry and the course was kept hard packed and dry.

Just before putting my bike in the van to go to the race "Funn" had sent me new bars, stem, grips, seat and seat post for my DH bike, so I bolted these on quickly. It took a while to get the feel of the wider bars at first.

In practise I found that I was getting up to speed pretty quickly. I practised with Bill, Will, Sam and Nathan most of the day. All being fast riders and showing me a range of different attacks to sections. Bill had an interesting one... about a 3 foot hop over a tree stump; but ended up trying to go too fast too soon and flew over the bars the second time around.

After probably the longest sleep I have ever had (11hours) on Sunday I made an early start to cook some porridge and walk the course. I found a couple new lines and got them dialled in practise.

My first run; I told myself at the top... right just go down in your limits and get a time first. And I usually do. I kept it at a good pace all the way to the last road. I pedalled over the last road and back into the depths of the woods, stormed around the left hand berm, even getting a drift going on.

Unfortunately though I had the bike too laid over and saw the inside tree homing into my face and nothing else. My head was nearly taken off and I was well dazed to say the least. I got up and got on my bike. But stopped where there were some people to gather my thoughts and sort the bike out. my brake lever was facing down and my stem was out of line and the gear shifter was snapped off and in the front wheel. After a few adjustments and tucking my shifter behind my number board I cruised to the bottom, making sure I was composed enough to make some style points back on the last jump.

After my dad said, “well that’s it for today then...” I was well up for fixing myself and the bike back up to at least get an alright timed run. There was not a lot I could do about my helmet which was cracked inside and out. But with this in mind I went up again.

My second run; This time I really was going to take it easy. I literally cruised down and I was seeded on my first run so I was well down there. I caught a rider up that soon let me past. And I just took everything really easy. I got a time of 2mins and 33 secs. I was 7th now and I came 8th by the end of all the riders. Sam Dale won with a 2mins and 25 secs. So I was happy to know that I was only 8 seconds off the pace on a chilled out run.

So for a first race of the season it could have gone a lot better but it’s also comforting knowing that I have improved with the new bike at this early stage.

Well everybody likes some shots of people falling off...

Thanks to my sponsors; DMR, Fusion, Rezurgence, Lifestyle Ford, Mojo, Funn, Mace and Nike 6.0
Check out my new website... www.molloyracing.com ... coming soon!