Caersws Cup – Final Round

I trekked up to Caersws in the very early hours of Saturday. The course was apparently the same as the national the week before but I walked it to find out there was a fair few little changes in places that meant changing some lines. I also checked out a jump that I wanted to do that I thought that I lost out on at the national.

Practise was pretty relaxed for me. I practised the new bits and with it being a fairly short course anyway there wasn’t much to learn. The dust picked up through the day with it being a very hot sunny day. I liked the course again even with the changes and the dust made things a lot better for me.

I was fairly annoyed to find a few riders standing in the course at a tight and fast section. They had made the rider in front of me fall off and then I fell off trying to miss the guy that had fallen off before. Luckily I wasn’t hurt and just got an annoying graze on my knee that my pads rubbed on. I only did 6 runs in practise but got all my lines done in my first run apart from the jump over a stump on a fast corner. I plucked up the balls to do it in my last run though.

After a trip to Newtown listening to some gangster tunes with Ross and Max I hit the hay pretty early to get my necessary 10 hours sleep.

I did 3 runs in the morning to go that little bit faster. On my last run I missed a corner completely in the fast open section after the last road and where I would usually jump about 30 foot over some ruff ground I went straight into a load of cut down tree’s and just managed to get back on course. Dad managed to get a picture as he thought I was going to stack it. Ross was following me down and he nearly landed on me as I cut back on which was pretty surprising to see him in the corner of my eye.

My first run went well and I had a fast but relaxed run down. I made a few small mistakes but in what kind of race run don’t you. I came down with a 2min 40.01 seconds I was leading by 6 seconds until Ross came down and took me back to school with a 2min 37.9 seconds. The misty rain began to start and i thought for a second that I was going to have to put spikes on but it stopped and stayed pretty light when it returned.

Before my second run I was determined to go that bit faster and push harder. I pushed it but stayed in control. I was pretty happy with my run and I didn’t really make any major mistakes. I came down with a 37 seconds which just beat the time that Ross did but then he came down again and beat me with a better 37 seconds. It was pretty cool with it being so tight and then a fair gap between us and the others. Matt Simonds had a 39 seconds in his first run and he went up with the thought of juniors winning the fastest time of the day so he was going to pull something out, and that he did; he came down and took another 3 seconds off of our times.

I was 4th overall which I was happy with and I was also happy to see myself improve with my time being closer to seasoned world cup racers like Matt.

Here are a few pics of the weekend;










Here is a vid of me at the bottom


I am on my way home now writing this in the van. I just can’t wait to get back and ride these new dirt jumps me and Oli Burton have made. We only rode the first massive hip before we went to the race but we finished another 3 before we came and they are looked awesome so expect to see another blog up soon about them!

Thanks to Last, DMR, Rezurgence, Lifestyle Ford, 2026 distribution, Funn, Bell, Thor, KMC, Nike 6.0, Mojo suspension, and Shimano.

NPS round 4 – Caersws

I travelled up to Caersws on the Friday and arrived in the early afternoon. I was really looking forward to riding the new track that everyone had been talking about but as it went the tape was wrapped around an old course.

The course was pretty much exactly the same as a previous national a couple years ago. It was taped different in some places though so a few different lines were opened up. I only walked the course once as I knew where it went I just had to practise new lines.

The weather on Saturday morning was far from what I wanted. It was that infamous misty rain that got you really wet. The course was hard packed and the rain made the wooded sections fairly greasy and the field section as always in the wet resembled ice.

As practise proceeded the rain stopped but strong winds kept up. This dried out the field and the track began to get dusty. I did about 6 runs on the Saturday as I felt really ill. They went well and I was up to speed but felt physically drained.

I watched a DVD on my laptop with Oli and the Leadbetter family and friends and took an early night’s sleep.

I felt a lot better in the morning and it wouldn’t affect my riding half as much as the day before. I did just 2 runs in the morning. Both were pretty reasonable runs. I heard about a jump line after practise had finished and I think I was losing some time not doing it. I considered just doing it without looking at it but decided to just do what I was doing.

Seeding runs came around really quick and I went straight up. I took a smooth run down and decided to not pedal the field and brake before the line which was a silly idea because I seeded 3rd with a 2 min 40seconds. After elites went down the fastest time was a 2 min 36 seconds so I was happy with my time and felt confidant.

My race run was awfully sketchy. I tried way too hard from the start and went really fast but didn’t carry the speed I had very well. I got to the steepest part of the course and as I hit the berm at the bottom my rear tire rolled over and made a pretty dirty noise. It was somehow a fair bit softer than usual. Luckily there were no rocks in the course. I had a pretty good run for the rest of the woods section. I lost some speed at the bottom drifting in a berm but apart from that all was good. I pedalled my hardest to the line and ended up going 2 seconds faster but was a second off of Gareth Brewin and Harry Heath. I was happy with 3rd but at the same time no one goes along to not win.

Here are some pictures I managed to get off of teammate Fraser;


- the Junior podium

- the rather large huck in the field
- Fraser in the hot seat

- Fraser just after the drop in the field putting the power down.

- Myself on the drop

- the final pedall to the line

It’s back to Caersws for the next round of the Caersws cup this week and I am looking forward to it!

Thanks to Last, DMR, Rezurgence, Lifestyle Ford, 2026 distribution, Funn, Bell, Thor, KMC, Nike 6.0, Mojo suspension, and Shimano.

661 Mini Downhill and NPS 4X at PORC

Mini DH at PORC;

I had a nice 20 min car journey to the venue which was a fair bit different.

I walked the course when I got there. It was pretty simple and pedally but had some really good turns in it and with everyone wanting to win it, it was going to be very hard. One mistake on such a short course puts you well out of the chances of doing well. I decided to move into the pro category to make it harder for me.

In practise I did about 6 runs and concentrated on some of the bits were its crucial to carry speed. The track was quite fast for a PORC track and this made it fun and felt like you were on it everywhere.

My first race run went ok. I went down looking to have a smooth and fast run and that was what I did. I set the fastest time so far with a 44.2 seconds. After everyone had been down I was still leading by just half a second. Nathan Vials and I being the only ones on a 44 seconds.My second run was going really well. I was just going to go all out to see how fast I could go. I hit a section no brakes and it felt so much faster but when it came to entering the bottom section I drifted out and went around in a circle. It was clearly over for my second run so I pinned the last bit and did a big jump for fun. Luckily when I came through the bottom know one had beaten my time so I still won the overall time.

- the Dad was straight in for the win!


- Katy battled it out and came out on top for the girls.


- I managed first in elite and first overall.

- Ross Hammond takes the win in Junior with the 2nd fastest time of the day! and closely followed by DMR's own Sam Reynolds

- of course Brandon Love won the youths with an awsome time of 46 seconds


- pretty awsome fish and chips truck turned up!

With an unprofessional 3 hours of sleep, I went to the national 4X the next day. It definitely took some getting used to riding my hardtail at the speed that PORC 4X has to offer. I did a few gate practises with some of the best elite riders and figured my snap out was good but with having flat pedals on I couldn’t put the power down as well. I concentrated very hard on the first corner instead. I knew that if i was put against good people they would be out ahead and battling for the first corner. I should be left to take a wide line and cut straight past or into them.

My first moto I did just that but unluckily the 2 riders ahead crashed and I rode straight into them. The other rider sped past us all leaving us to scramble about. I pedalled fast to catch up and the other guy wasn’t doing the triple’s at the end so I overtook him in the air. I lead the race to the bottom.

My second moto I was in 1st out of the first turn and played it safe the whole way down just blocking the person behind from overtaking.

My 3rd moto I managed to cut across from 4th to 3rd nearly falling off in the first corner. I managed to gain another position after the first 2 straights where i took the inside on a corner.
My 4th moto I managed another 2nd place again thanks to the first corner. This meant that I got to the semi finals which meant that the worst I could do was 8th place which I was happy about.

The semi finals were really good. I got ruined out of the start but picked my line again through the first corner and got into 2nd. I nearly managed to get into 1st but didn’t want to make any chances as all I needed to do was keep my position to get into the A finals.

Luckily for me the other guys picked the inside lanes for the start which were admittedly better but for me who was beaten every time out of the gate it was best to be on the outside. I again did the predictable and went inside on the first corner which got me to 3rd. After the first straight my mech jammed up but then loosened after the second straight. I nearly caught up again on the last corner and pedal but it wasn’t enough. I was happy with 3rd too!

- Here are 3 starts... I was pretty bad at gates as everyone else is on clips, but going into the first corner changed things every time.





- nice meat!

- the youngen's

- Hatch takes it for Last bikes! no surprises there though.

- Gunny takes the win in the Vets

- Katy Curd makes a come back from injury

- Max took a clean sheet of wins the whole day and I got 3rd.

- the weekends winnings for the Molloy household



thanks to Last, DMR, Rezurgence, Lifestyle Ford, 2026 distribution, Funn, Bell, Thor, KMC, Nike 6.0, Mojo suspension, and Shimano.

World Cup Round 7 – Bromont

Bromont took longer to get into than Mont Sainte Anne and the first day’s practise was wet so it was very hard to ride. I injured myself in practise and my knee swelled up pretty big. I carried on with practise the same as I would have to keep it moving but it was painful to pedal.

The course was pretty short I guess for a world cup track. However for what it lacked in length it made up for in intensity. It was a full on course without breaks between sections from top to bottom.

Here are the main highlights of the course;





















The practise that I did before my qualifying went very bad, I fell off and hit my knee again and got pretty winded. This happened on my 2nd run down and I only wanted to do 2 runs to conserve my energy but I went up for a 3rd to get things right.
The weather was getting better but in my opinion the course was getting worse. The mud was sticking to the rocks and making them really greasy; rather than the rain constantly washing it off. The rocks are very similar to the Fort William rocks. When they are wet without dirt on them they are gripy.

My qualifying was smooth and I kept my speed well in most sections. I only had one major mistake which was a flat corner before a long pedally section which I knew I would be losing time on the whole section as I messed the corner up.

Practise before the race was good and I managed to just do my 2 runs. I concentrated on the corner I messed up in qualifying.

My race run didn’t completely go to plan but it was smooth in most places. I had one moment where I dropped off a section a bit too far wide and it was a bit harsh. Otherwise I held back quite a bit. I tried to whip the last jump and absolutely pinned it to the finish line which was quite a good feeling.

I got 53rd in the end which I was happy with. One place better that the previous week so consistent I guess.





Here are some photo's;























Thanks to Last, DMR, Rezurgence, Lifestyle Ford, 2026 distribution, Funn, Bell, Thor, KMC, Nike 6.0, Mojo suspension, and Shimano.

Mont Sainte Anne World Cup Round 6;

It was a bit of a worry from the start because as the plans stood I would be getting to Mont Sainte Anne on qualifying day. Luckily it was possible to get an internal flight to Quebec and I would get to the venue from there. I got to the pits around midnight on Wednesday and managed to find a place on Berny’s floor to sleep on. I got up around quarter to seven to see the course. I didn’t realise that it was one of the longest courses on the circuit so I probably wouldn’t have ran up the mountain if I knew but it definitely warmed me up ready for practise.

I had to sign on still which delayed my practise but I only missed the one or two runs. Right from the start I loved the course. It was a course with every characteristic a World Cup DH track should have, and very fast and rough. As of today this is my favourite track. I managed about 6 runs on it and luckily managed to pick up on the time I missed out on at the start. After practise I had to wait for Dad and Jamie to turn up with the R.V.




I did just 2 runs before qualifying on Friday. It had rained loads over night and the course was very greasy. As I was going up the lift I looked down at Dan Stanbridge going totally sideways through the open berms so I knew that they would be bad before I had ridden. My first run I went through the section very cautiously but still nearly drifted out of the corners. The day was nice so I knew that the course should dry up but I just wasn’t sure how much more before my qualifying. I decided to go with dry tyres which I think was a good decision in the end.

My qualifying was good. My run could have been better but I didn’t fall off and I just had fun with it. Besides the course being quite pedally and doing a full run was very tiring, it was still very fun the whole way down. I was at the end of the pack being set off so I would pretty much know when I went through the finish if I would have qualified or not. I came through into 64th place. I was really happy to qualify but I must say it was more of a relief for me more than anything.



Race day – Saturday; I was in a good state of mind and felt absolutely no pressure to do well as I had already achieved what I wanted. There were so many more people and photographers around in practise and everyone riding had a very high level of riding. I guess I am stating the obvious here but it was fairly daunting at the time. I did 3 runs down just going over the lines that I wanted to do. These runs went well and I was confident about racing.

My race run started off a bit too conservative. I just didn’t want to fall off and ruin what work I had done to get into the top 80. Going into the middle section I hit a rut that very nearly sent me over the bars in probably the fastest section on the course. The bottom was fast and smooth and in all I was pretty happy with how my run went. I came through the finish and ended up 54th overall. I was pretty happy with that and it was a nice relieving feeling going on to Bromont for the next weekend.


Here are some highlights of my time in Mont Sainte Anne;

- there was an awsome after party!

- Jamies new shades

- myself doing my favourite jump in the track



- Sam Hill

- after qualifying


- a nice view over looking the track


Thanks to Last, DMR, Rezurgence, Lifestyle Ford, 2026 distribution, Funn, Bell, Thor, KMC, Nike 6.0, Mojo suspension, and Shimano.