Pinners at Inners...The well known downhill trails up at Innerliethen, played host to the first round of the 06 SDA series last weekend. From the start the track proved to be a technical and challenging one tight twisty, rooted and rutted were the name of the game with a few more open sections and corners to break up the tech as the course wound its way down the hill. When riders began to get complacent there was always a root or rut handy to give them a wake up call. Despite some rain the track remained fairly dry for the most part with only the odd section suffering from lack of grip. This all made for some very fast and exciting racing.
Racing saw Fergus Lamb put in a fantastic ride, keeping it pinned all the way to take the first spot in the Experts category taking the win by just over three seconds ahead of Ben Stephenson and Robert Pollock who took second and third respectively. Despite a minor mechanical, Dave Young put in a strong run which placed him 5th in Elite.
Nick and Jack Geoghegan, of the astonhill devo team rode hard and came away with a well deserved fourth place in Junior and Youth respectively only a few seconds of the top three and a place on the podium for both of them. A brillaint result, Well done to them both. Nick came so close to earning himself a UCI point which would have given him a chance to race at the Worldcup next month in Fort William, available to the 15 fastest riders over the weekend, he posted a time which placed him 16th fastest overall. So close !
With the guys putting in runs like this, things are looking good for the next round of the NPS which will take part at Innerleithen in only a few weeks time. The next round of the SDA will be at the fast and rocky AE forest check back soon for a report. Well done to all the guys for another great weekends racing.
It wasnt't all good news over the weekend however Paul French crashed heavily in pratice. The crash left him with his shoulder seperated from his chest. We all wish Paul a speedy recovery.
