| NPS - Newnham Park Plymouth |
Sunday 11th
April 2004
Easter this year was spent down in Plymouth. With the national series opener at Newnham Park Plymouth. This year there is a new format and new sponsor. The first days racing is the "normal" cross-country with the second day being a longer course enduro event.
I never have much
luck at Newnham Park and this continued this year. I have been racing at World
Cup races here, going like a train but never getting the results. This year I
was going like a dog but my puncturing luck stayed with me!
The course was great, I would say the best I have ridden there. It was tough and technical. There was a new descent they called the mine shaft. If you entered it too fast you went tumbling as you slid you way down.
It was the first race for me for a while and the first lap I was suffering. I slowly moved up the field as we competed the 5 laps. As I reached the top of the course for the final time I had made it up to 10th place. A position I would have been happy finishing in. But oh no, I punctured. It took ages to change and I ended up 18th. This seemed to make many people happy that they had beaten me!
Category :
Elite Male
1. Oli Beckingsale
2. Nick Craig
+ 00:00:00:113
3. Steven Roach
+ 00:01:08:592
4. Adrian Lansley +
00:04:18:991
5. Stuart Bowers
+ 00:05:41:348
6. William Bjergfelt + 00:05:42:218
7. Paul Oldham
+ 00:07:27:302
8. Jody Crawforth +
00:08:29:385
9. Graham Warby
+ 00:08:36:239
10. Jamie Newall
+ 00:09:40:327
11. James Fraser-Moodie+ 00:10:29:985
12. Ian Wilkinson +
00:10:29:985
13. James Ouchterlony + 00:10:39:582
14. Lee Williams
+ 00:11:00:292
15. Richard Mardle +
00:11:52:729
16. Geoff Beetham +
00:13:22:860
17. Ryan Henry
+ 00:14:28:253
18. Barrie Clarke +
00:14:33:537
19. Paul Newnham
+ 00:16:03:055
20. Steve Hambling +
00:16:18:075
On Bank Holiday Monday the enduro too place. This is called the Trek 6-4-2 which means you can ride 6, 4 or 2 hours around a longer course. I had elected to do 6 hour pairs, good fun and better training. The lap times were up to about 45 minutes so this worked out well for one lap on and one lap off. the 6 hours just flew by. I came 3rd pair, as I was paired with Neil Walker the WCPP coach not too bad. And still in a fit state to drive back to Cumbria!
(written 15/04/04)