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Pearce Cycles Midlands Summer Series: Round Four
Bringewood, Shropshire
James - 27th September 2007
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The Midlands Series, along with the Scottish SDA are two of the best run mountain bike events in the UK, the SDA sells out in a matter of hours (not even days) and the Pearce Cycles team have a huge following, with massive waiting lists for each event.
This race was scheduled to take place at Hopton, but the Forestry Comissions '3 major events' rule to stop major disruption to the local population meant that the two races already held this year, plus a rally event automatically means Bringewood is the subject of this report.
Bringewood has long been on the calendar and the track for this race is most unchanged from the old Nationals course, starting up just below the trig point, dropping rapidly through the top woods, over the triple onto the fireroad, down off the fire road and sprint across the hill traverse and into a new middle section.
The dry weather meant that the dust was all over the place, and seeing as this new section hasnt been properly bedded in yet it was very slow and really added a lot of time to the racing, the two big jumps built before the section weren't even on the racing line so many riders cut the corner missing them out altogether.
It then crossed the fireroad into the familiar tight tricky bottom section, its wide enough to go flat out at one point but you have to grab the anchors hard for a tight 90 degree bend then drop into the finish arena, over the tabletop and sprint to the finish.
Seeing as this is the final riders have their final chance to make a difference to their overall standings. The results for the race can be found here on Pearce Cycles.
The overall winners of the Pearce Cycles Midlands Summer Series 2007 are as follows, each category winner is decided on their best results in 3 of the 4 rounds, if there is a tie the 4th round result decides it.
Hardtail
1. William Swinden - nocycling.com
2. Richard Robertshaw
3. Richard Acott FDHR
In the Hardtail category William Swinden has put together a consistent victory across all the rounds this year, with Richard Robertshaw very close behind with a points difference of only 16 out of 300.
Juvenile
1. Mark Scott - Ecosse DH Racing
2. George Belk
3. Sam Wakefield - Utopia Optics
Mark Scott takes max points in Juvenile with a full 300, unfortunate for George Belk who raced all the rounds and ends up trailing behind with 288.
Youth
1. Gareth Brewin - Descent World
2. Todd Kearney - Solid/Electric
3. Harry Heath
Youth is always very tight racing, but Gareth Brewin takes the win with a full 300 again, Todd Kearney just behind with 284.
Junior
1. Emyr Davies - MSC UK/Descent World
2. Alex Bond
3. Bradley Shields - Pearce Cycles
Veteran
1. Martin Crockett
2. Richard King
3. Trevor Harvey - harveyboysracing.com
Fortunately another year for the Veterans without major injury or hip replacements, Crockett takes a convincing victory with 1st place in 3 rounds for a full 300 points.
Youth Women
1. Monet Adams - The Bike Cellar/Utopia
2. Becki Telling - SMART coaching
Only two women racing at all this season in Youth.. come on lads get your sisters/girlfriends/friends on a bike!!
Junior Women
1. Kerry Wrigglesworth
Veteran Women
1. Lynda Davies - Ticket2ridebc.com/Descent Gear
Master Women
1. Nicky Belton - Astonhill.com
2. Lisa Humphreys - High Peak Cycles
3. Rebecca Webb - Just Riding Along
Nicky Belton takes the win in every round to take the overall!
Senior Women
1. Rachel Lewis - awcycles.co.uk
2. Harriet Latchem - High Peak Cycles/Kenda
3. Sue Mahony - Psyclewerx
Master Men
1. Scott Tankard
2. Alun Lewis - awcycles.co.uk
3. Colin Williams - mtbdirect.co.uk
Scott Tankard with 292 points takes the win, 12 points behind is Alun Lewis, a win at Bringewood last weekend boosted him to 2nd place.
Senior Men
1. Jack Reading
2. James Swinden - nocycling.com
3. Tim Pearson - nocycling.com
Expert Men
1. Alex Stock - MT Designs
2. Jonny Brain - Pearce Cycles
3. Ben Baker - Balfa UK
Winning last weekend puts Alex Stock in first place, with Jonny Brain 12 points behind and Ben Baker in 3rd with 272.
Elite Men
1. Phil Ashbridge - Descend Hamsterley
2. Liam Mason - Fusion Bikes
3. Scott Beaumont - Rocky Mountain UK
Being a regional race the Elite field is quite small, Scott Beaumont only managing to enter two events and still coming third. His win at Bringewood on the proto Rocky Mountain gives him 184 points.
The full overall results list can be found here: Final Standings.
Well thats the end of the series for 2007, many thanks to all the marshals, uplift drivers, Extreme Medics, Janets Jacket Potatoes and most of all Pearce Cycles for organsing a great series. See you in January for the Winter Series?!
We've got a gallery of race photos from this event available right here available for free in slightly bigger versions for your computer screens...
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