I had never been to Avill Ball before but had heard good news from mates of a good gradient, slippery roots, very loose ground and technical sections.
It was all true and a recently made track was marked out meant that the course was unbelievably loose and drifty! The track used the best of the hill keeping speed throughout. My first run down involved my pedalling off the start tower and one other place on the course for a split second. It was just turn after turn of off camber or flat corners. These eventually got deceivingly soft berms round them from all the riders breaking loose.
Under the layer of dirt were really greasy, thin roots that seemed to always be in the opposite direction of the course. This made line choice crucial and the hardest off camber part of the course very tricky to pick a line that got you through the section at all.
My first race run saw me in 2nd place. I took a conservative run down the hill to get a time well within my limits. It all went as expected but I really should have used this run to put in a better time. I was just 1 second off of the fastest time of the day and half a second off of 1st place in junior.
I took my anger out on my 2nd run. I got through the first part of the course and down onto the road and felt like I had made up the time already. I went into my favourite part of the course; You scrub off of the side of the road to the right and land in a drift to get round the next right hand turn. You had to get up high out of the turn as the left hander after was very tight. I over shot the drop off the road more than usual but kept it drifting all the way round. It wasn’t until I put my foot back on to push off the end of the berm to set up for the next turn when I lost the front wheel in the soft stuff. I got up quick and tried to stick the next corner but slipped out again. I knew over this short course I wouldn’t be able to make up the time I had lost so I had some fun with the rest of the course.
I stayed in 2nd place in junior and 1 second of the fastest time of the day. Here is the top 20 overall, just under 90 took part.
Rank Bib. Name Category Run 1 Run 2 Time Gap
1 68 Huskinson Lee Senior 1:16.05 1:16.05
2 45 Ball Luke Junior 1:17.32 1:16.20 1:16.20 0.15
3 63 Gray Chris Senior 1:16.30 1:20.25 1:16.30 0.25
4 4 Hooper Olly Senior 1:21.20 1:17.43 1:17.43 1.38
5 56 Molloy Harry Junior 1:17.76 1:40.92 1:17.76 1.71
6 49 Hurrell Zak Senior 1:17.91 1:19.22 1:17.91 1.86
7 65 Gould James Senior 1:21.82 1:17.94 1:17.94 1.89
8 3 Price Adam Senior 1:19.63 1:17.96 1:17.96 1.91
9 2 Stark Ian Senior 1:19.64 1:18.61 1:18.61 2.56
10 5 Boswell Micky Senior 1:18.97 1:31.48 1:18.97 2.92
11 32 Wright Andrew Hardtail 1:23.58 1:19.35 1:19.35 3.30
12 18 Mullane Ash Senior 1:19.73 1:19.39 1:19.39 3.34
13 115 Stark Rob Youth 1:20.32 1:20.65 1:20.32 4.27
14 128 Keen Sam Youth 1:21.27 1:20.92 1:20.92 4.87
15 149 Charles Chris Senior 1:22.44 1:21.24 1:21.24 5.19
16 6 Whant Tom Senior 1:21.79 1:23.44 1:21.79 5.74
17 112 Macriner Moss Youth 1:23.23 1:22.22 1:22.22 6.17
18 82 Green Chris Master 1:23.28 1:22.23 1:22.23 6.18
19 10 Lee Harry Senior 1:30.19 1:23.07 1:23.07 7.02
20 116 Williamson Jay Youth 2:05.49 1:23.53 1:23.53 7.48
Here are some pictures;
Thanks to DMR, Rezurgence, Lifestyle Ford, Last, Mojo, Nike 6, Twenty26, Funn, Maxxis, KMC and 661.
