Southern Downhill Championships - 423 Aston Hill

Posted: Sep 18, 2009

15th of March 2009 was the last time we were down at Aston Hill and a lot has changed since then. A brand new track appeared thanks to Jon Holbrooks hard work. The sun shone and with more British Cycling points to throw a stick at, the race entry flowed over 320!

Even Scott Beaumont pulled into the car park Sunday morning, dropped three practice runs, one race run and then drove over to Chicksands. Why? To pick up the National 4x title.

Any championships race, English, Welsh, Northen, Southern, Scottish etc.. carries loads of points, from first to fortieth. A standard regional race has points from first place down to fifteenth.

Points add up to your rankings on the BC website, plus they give you the chance to enter and race the National series next year! Hence the big turn out.


Saturday was practice for everyone followed by Sunday's race day giving you two timed race runs. No uplift, good old fashioned walking up wasn't that bad, or was it? I remember walking up Inners back in 1996, that took an hour. Aston Hill takes around 15 minutes and the time passed swiftly as everyone chatted on the way up. Notice the only part of uplift path that was groomed was the 50 metres we shared with golfers? True.


Saturday evening we headed over to the 4x track which to be fair has seen better days since I last raced a NPS 4x there back in 2003? Best ridden on you DH bike and make sure you pull up for that last step down.


Sunday morning was another dry day, not as hot as the day before a the car park filled to the top. The start of the race was just a brief roll from the pits which meant there was no finish arena down the bottom. Now you could say thats a bit crap, what it does mean though is everyone is on the course spectating and cheering!
The track was lined top to bottom, you can't get better than that can you?

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The start was a quick pedal affair interrupted by a nice kicker onto the fire road. Plenty of drifty corners next, all fresh and loose, to be fair they could have done with a spot of rain. Wetscreams or Highrollers? Definitely not Minions, don't argue! Small roots started to appear as the day went on and the real highlight were the super tight and steep switch backs at the bottom. Ankle deep dust these were a real challenge for everyone just to stay on whilst turning on a dime.

The track blew out a little which just made riding more interesting. How many went faster second run? Not many, only those that binned it first run we're guessing.

Hardtail
The Simms and Deakin show with the others some four seconds off the pace. Deakin took the lead run one and then went over one second faster come run two. Simms watched all this from the sidelines as Deakin had to fly into battle so left early. Simms untouched by Deakins display made 0.11 seconds count and took the win.

Stephen SIMMS Derry Air Cycles
Ben DEAKIN Royal Marin / Muckoff
Ash BROWN
Andren GARDINER
Oli WAKEMAN Descent-Gear.Com


Juvenile Men
Goode was lying in third first run down, no pressure then? He made good come run two with over a second lead. Halcomb and Farrington were both on 1:19.12 exactly first runs. Farrington got it all wrong run two and opend the door for Farrington to take the silver.

Matthew GOODE
Max HALCOMB
Bill FARRINGTON
Henry YOUNG
Jevan WILLIAMS Skirt Chain Lbs


Youth Men
Was a two horse race, Wakefield was almost three seconds up come run ones printed results. Kynaston worked hard and brought the gap close to a whisker but still no cigar and 0.6 seconds off the top slot.

Sam WAKEFIELD Swiss And Swallow
Dave KYNASTON
Louis SAUNDERS
David TRASK Solid/Oneal
Dom KNIGHT


Junior Men
Molloy ran away with the show today and was four seconds up on the first run. Hammond closed the gap to under two seconds after his first run disaster.

Harry MOLLOY Last Bike
Ross HAMMOND
Charlie COLLINS
Pete ROBINSON PS Cycles
Danny BRADFORD AW Cycles/Fox Racing


Master Men
Anyone remember Pageys old mate Kirkman? Pretty sure I last saw him on a red Turner at the bottom of the old, old Bringewood course (the other side) in 1998? Ten years off and lands with a thump. Ex mini bike demon onboard a triple ringed Nomad can only be Tunstall.

Michael KIRKMAN
Tristan TUNSTALL
Alexander BAYNE Derry Air Cycles/Morewood
Daniel MILNER
Scott TANKARD


Veteran Men
The Trevor Harvey show continued, he pulled the pants down of everyone of us masters with his winning time, beating all the guys over ten years younger than him. Simpson onboard that BOS equipped Morewood was close, where was Jerry Twigg? Webb races both hardtail and Vets, is he insane?

Trevor HARVEY Aston Hill
Richard SIMPSON Bikeactive.Com/ISO2
Tim WEBB Redmist Racing
Mark NEAL Redmist Racing
Andy LEDDEN


Women
Wareham waltzed this one home with four and a half seconds to spare. The big battle was between second to fifth with only one point five seconds splitting them up.

Emma WAREHAM Leisure Lakes
Nicky BELTON H2O Mudnsnow
Claire FAULKNER
Rosa MARTIN
Sarah Jane HEWITT Minx-Girl.Com


Senior Men
Burton takes the win with a comfortable one second lead. Gray didn't finish run two, what happened fella?

Ollie BURTON Axo Super Star
Chris GRAY
Micky BOSWELL Southerndownhill.Com
Duncan PORTER Red Mist Racing
Roger VALLER


Expert and Elite were combined.
Did Vials crash out run two? I know he's pulled out of Rheola. Two seconds up on the rest of the field is impressive. Shucksmith and Flinders arm wrestled over two hundreths of a second for the third spot.

Nathan VIALS Solid Bikes
John HOLBROOK Swiss+Swallow
James FLINDERS MSC Bikes
Sam SHUCKSMITH
Joe WINSTON Banjo Cycles


What was clear to see was Richard Abbott and Co put a lot of hard work into this race and it was a great weekends riding they provided. Pretty sure any volunteers would be more than welcome to help maintain the place; cutting grass, picking up litter, trail maintenance and even promoting the event. If your a local then it's down to you to, "To do your bit".

Aston Hill has plenty of DH trails all sub 90 seconds with less than a 15 minute push up. You won't go wrong with your all mountain rig, just think of it as good training for the Megavalanche!

You do have to pay to ride there,


Mrs.P comes home the other week and says were baby sitting a puppy whilst her work mate goes away for a few days.

Monday night I greet Mrs. P and low and behold, in the car is little Buzz. Can we keep him? Now knowing I spend 35 weekends a year away it's all a game of give and take. Could I have said no? Not a chance...

Everyone say, "Hi" to the latest family member, to be seen roaming the pits in search of your food, be warned...


Stay Unclipped.

Si Paton..
Descent-Gear.com
Free next day delivery on every order.

News just in:
Celebrity Chef James Martin, host of BBC One's Saturday Kitchen, said in the Mail on Sunday he had intentionally forced a group of cyclists into a hedge causing them "sheer terror".

It was the best thing he had "ever seen in my rear-view mirror", he said. Knowing they wouldn't hear me coming, I stepped on the gas, waited until the split-second before I overtook them, then gave them an almighty blast on the horn at the exact same time I passed them at speed.

Martin, 37, spoke of his "hate" for cyclists in the column in the newspaper's Live magazine.

"That's one of the reasons I live in the countryside, where birds tweet, horses roam, pigs grunt and Lycra-clad buttocks are miles away," he wrote.

He said he had spotted the group dressed in "fluorescent Spider-Man outfits, shades, bum bags and stupid cleated shoes".

"Twenty minutes into my test drive I pulled round a leafy bend, enjoying the bird song - and spotted those damned Spider-Man cyclists.

"Knowing they wouldn't hear me coming, I stepped on the gas, waited until the split-second before I overtook them, then gave them an almighty blast on the horn at the exact same time I passed them at speed."

He added: "The look of sheer terror as they tottered into the hedge was the best thing I've ever seen in my rear-view mirror."

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I just called his management team, best bet is to drop them an e-mail they said. All mails get forwarded on, please don't swear he said. limelight.management@virgin.net

Now don't forget to ask for a written reply.