News 25/11/03
Its about time I did an update. There hasn't been much
happening recently to write about, but hopefully with the season starting to
get into gear it will give me some motivation to update the site.
The first Moneyscalp was on two weekends ago and from what I heard it went pretty well. Were hoping to make the trip up this weekend for the 2nd round. There's a new track for this round so it should be interesting to see what is in store for us, rumour has it that its a bit pedaly.
There was also two training days organised last weekend. One was in 3 rock run by Niall Davis and Jamie Popham, I'm sure anyone who went was able to pick up at least a few pointers to improve there riding. The other was down in Dunmanway run by the Rebel Racing crew with John Lawlor doing the coaching. Dave and I where at it and both found it really good. The track is one of my favourites and John was pretty good at pointing you in the right direction if you had a problem. There was a good turn out on the Sunday, I wasn't there on the Saturday but I heard there was more people around then. From what I saw everyone is flying this year. Greg O'Keefe was definitely keepin her lit, making John look slow in some sections, Tom Power wasn't hanging around either and with a UCI point under his belt is planning on hitting a few World Cups this year. I can't see it being long before Greg picks one up and joins him. It was cool to see Pat Loughnane back on his bike again after breaking his leg very badly at the Moneyscalp NPS last year. Sunday was a pretty good days riding for everyone, fair play to Richie for organising it and cheers to John for doing a spot of coaching.
Team news is that we have a new member on board for 04. Niall Wolfe has joined the fold, We also managed to get our hands on some pimpin transport for this season probably won't have it at Moneyscalp, it still needs a bit of work but it will be at all the nps rounds. Will try and get a pic up soon.
2004 Provisional Calendar 17/11/03
I just got the provisional race calendar in the
post today so here's the dates set for dh events next year. Things will
probably change over time they usually get shifted around a little so don't
blame me if they change.
Feb 15th Moneyscalp Winter
Series 1
Feb 29th Moneyscalp Winter Series 2
March 14th Moneyscalp Winter Series 3
March 28th Moneyscalp Winter Series 4
April 4th Munster DH Champs Venue to be
confirmed
April 25th Ballycarton NPS 1
May 16th Ravensdale (same place as the race was this
year) NPS 2
June 20th Three Rock NPS 3
July 18th National Champs Killrudery, Bray
Aug 8th Dunmanway NPS 4
Aug 22nd Butter Mountain NPS 5
Oct 3rd Corrin Wood NPS 6
At last an update 6/11/03
News, well there's lots and none at the same time.
I'm sure you all heard about Glyn getting 3rd in the Red Bull Rampage in Utah. Fair play to him, from what I've read the rampage was nucking futs and Glyn put in a great run with a bit of a dh racer style and showed most of the north shore boys how it was done to take a well deserved 3rd place.
There's rumours flying about at the moment that where trying to get a World Cup round to our shores for 2005 for a start and possibly a few more after that. Gerry Dawson is the man with the plan and hopefully all goes well and we will see some more International riders gracing our shores over the years to come.
BMX racing might be on the cards for the future. So get practising if your interested and a trip to the Olympics might be your reward. Seen as its a new Olympic sport Cycling Ireland will be showing a bit of interest in it, but the trip won't be till 2008 or somewhere way off in the distance.
Team news. Well everything is up in the air at the moment but its looking like we will be a much smaller outfit for next year. Mark is disappearing down under for a year and is having his going away bash on the 15th in O'Reilly's behind Tara St Dart station. Steve is doing his finals in college so is going to miss out next year and Simon is contemplating hanging up his wheels. So at the moment where trying to sort out some deals and see what comes of it fingers crossed.
I've got loads of stuff for sale.
03 Boxxer Race forks, hardly any use perfect
except for cosmetic scratches. Converted to 7inch and recently serviced new
oil etc. 450 euro or best offer.
DMR Trailstar black.
z1 crs, azonic pdw bar, woodman stem, brand new wtb headset, xt shifter 105
r mech, profile cranks, blackspire chaindevice, hope c2 rear brake no front
brake, Mavic 321 and new 521 rims novatech disk hubs. 650 euro or best
offer.
Fox RC Shock about 4-5 months old 2.8 inch stroke 230mm eye to eye 550lbs
spring. 350 or best offer.
I need cash so no part exchanges. Make me offers and I'll see
what I can do as long as there within reason. Drop me an
email if
your interested
Final Round Clashnacrona Dunmanway 30/09/03
Well the season is over and it went out with a
bang. I think most of you will agree that the track was one of the best of
the season. Ok there was a bit too much fire road in the top section but the
bottom of the course more than made up for that. It had a bit of everything
big jumps and drops, fast flowing corners, roots and rocks galore. Fair play
to the lads for putting in a stupid amount of work to build the track. Those
of you who missed out should be very disappointed as it was well worth the
long trip down and I'm sure the organisers appreciated anyone one who did
make the long journey. Results wise here's a quick run down on what I can
remember.
Elites 1st Colin Ross 2nd John Lawlor 3rd Simon Lennon
(but he didn't race)
Juniors 1st Jamie Popham 2nd Greg O'Keefe
Seniors 1st Dave Egan 2nd
Niall Hunt 3rd Emil Bjorsell (Jev) 4th Mark Tiernan 5th Dennis Corkery 6th
Joe O'Niell
Masters 1st Carl Young (bananna man)
Vets 1st Peter Popham
U16 1st Darren Quille
u14 1st Niall Wolfe
Ill have the rest of the results at some stage not sure when I think the cork boys will have a week long hangover after the session they had planned for Sunday night. Keep an eye out for the pics from the weekend on www.freezefocus.com as Vic is probably all photoed out after the weekend.
Sorry for the distinct lack of updates over the last month. I've been up to my eyes and this has been the last of my priorities.
Morzine Trip 26/08/03
Just got back from 9 days in Morzine it was
amazing. It was my first time there and I didn't want to leave. The riding
is amazing so much to do and so little time especially when injuries get in
the way. I was off the bike with my ankle for a day and Dave busted his back
up so he was off the bike for two days. We had planned to race the Dragon in
Les Gets while we where there but it was cancelled due to some guy in the
French Cycling Federation not doing his job right.
The courses are amazing. Morzine is class real fast big floating jumps and the 10% to scare the crap out of you. Super Morzine was fairly mad with really fast rooty sections all natural and made for a change from the other courses we road. This was the death of Dave after a rear pinch flat made him attempt a road gap not for the feint hearted only to land on one of the guys we where riding with. Les Gets 1 was really easy great if u where feeling lazy and just fun to ride on the other hand Les Gets 2 was a completely different kettle of fish. This was crazy, easiest way to describe it is jump, berm, berm, jump, berm, jump, jump, berm, jump. I'm sure you can figure the rest out. It went on forever and the bottom section kicked the crap out of you with savage braking bumps that really tested out your bike and your arms.
There was a fair bit of death and destruction on the bike front in particular Dave cracked the front of his bullit pretty badly, Richie cracked the swing arm on his super 8. I trashed a front and rear wheel and a couple of mech hangers. The guys we where riding with killed the shock on a super 8 and the swing arm, Cracked a 222 at the shock mounts and ovalised the head tube pretty badly on it as well.
will have some pics and videos next week.
Bray Head 11/7/03
Well the penultimate round of the NPS is over and
done with and what a race it turned out to be. Steve Peat, Marc Beaumont and
Paul Angus made the trip over along with some other UK riders to contest the
various categories. The track was brilliant and I don't think anyone had a
bad word to say about it and there was something there to test everybody
(excluding Peaty). It wasn't much of a surprise when he took the win with
Beaumont in second and Glyn taking 3rd. In Juniors honours went to Jamie who
looked like he was cruising when I saw him, Ben took second with Andy Sweeny
of Athlone DH putting in a great time to take the last UCI point of the day
congrats. Seniors went to Keith Brock followed by Joe O'Niell and our own
Niall Hunt in 3rd. All the rest of the results can be found
here , and I'm sure Vic will have
some class pics up on
www.freezefocus.com as soon as possible. The race was great and the
après race was even better with many a beverage consumed in the Porter House
we headed on to KOO next door where lots of stuff happened but I can't
remember. Those of you who turned up for paintball cheers I think everyone
had a great day I know I got shot to bits and am now nicely bruised. It was
my first time playing and I loved it so if you weren't there and want to
give it a go check out www.crossfire.ie Fun Guns 25/7/03
In conjunction with our main sponsor Crossfire Paintball Games we are
organising a game of paintball for the Sunday after the Bray Head race on
August 10th. The game will cost 30 euro plus extra paint and we are
collecting 10 euro deposits from those who want to play. For more info on
Crossfire follow the link at the top of the page. If you want to put your
name down for the game
email me.Fort William 04 25/7/03
Just got an email to say that the UCI have confirmed that there is another
triple header set for Fort William next year. The dates are the weekend of
the 5th and 6th of June 2004. Planning Ahead 23/7/03
The Dates for The Moneyscalp winter
league 2004 have been released already. They are as follows
Sunday 15th feb-2004 -Rock drop
course, Sunday 29th feb-2004- New course, Sunday 14th mar-2004- Bus stop
track and right into forest, Sunday 28th mar-2004- Bus stop and right into
forest. The course's will have start ramp and one day licences will be
available at sign on. Nationals 21/7/03
After all the hype and speculation about what the track was going to be like
the Nationals have been and gone. It was a good weekend with some good
riding to be had. There was mixed reactions about the very technical course
and it seemed to be a case of you either loved it or hated it, me taking the
latter opinion. It was a very tough course and line choice was very
important especially through some of the really tight rock sections. I think
most people found it pretty hard to get a clean run on the course which made
it very difficult to get into a rhythm. Anyway thats enough about the track.
Results that I can remember are. Elites : Colin Ross, Glyn , Honcho Seniors: Dave Egan, 2 welsh guys took 2nd and 3rd
Juniors: Ben Ried, Andy Smith, Jamie Popham
Not sure who took the honours in the other categories. Ill have pics up by the end of the week so check back
Gross Mountain World Cup 13/7/03
The Irish where flying over at the
this weekends world cup. Lawlor got 20th and Glyn 22. Jamie came down
placing 30th with Honcho and Andy Smith in 52nd and 57th. Rain played havoc
with the usual suspects and caused quite a different podium, when it started
chucking it down before the top thirty got underway. Gary Housman took first
in the men's with Fionn Grifiths taking first in ladies. France 11/7/03
Where organising a trip to Les Gets or Morizine at the moment and where
looking for some people to make up numbers. Where heading off on the 6th of
September for a week and a half possibly two. If your interested in going
drop me a line on abracing@eircom.net
ASAP and I will need deposits in the next week. Update 6/7/03
Not much has been happening lately
so there hasn't been much happening lately. I hope everyone will be making
the trip to Rostrevor for the nationals. Don't forget to get your entries
in, get the form here. Any news on the
track? if so drop me a line
abracing@eircom.net. I've been doing a fair bit of riding over the last
week thanks to new found enthusiasm brought about by the arrival of my new
machine. There was a good turn out last Wednesday night in 3 rock. Same time
same bat channel again for this week. We got a good bit of riding done, Dave
got hit by a walker with a ski pole which made for some entertainment and
then on to the Blue Light for a quick pint after. Anyone interested in
joining us see the post below for details.
Was up Bray Head and 3 rock with Mark and Niall Egan today. Where is everyone? I didn't see any other of the usual DH Heads that you would expect to see.
Three Rock 30/6/03
I'm heading up 3 rock on Wednesday
night meet at the car park at 7ish (I'll probably be a bit late as usual).
There should be another couple of people out. So if you want to head over we
can try and get a big group out. Mont Sainte Anne 29/6/03
Steve Peat took the win from
Minnaar and Gracia. The Irish had some very good results with Will Corry
following up from his brilliant Norba result to get 26th with a time that
had him under 6 seconds off Peat. Lawlor got 39th followed closely by Jamie
in 41st and Honcho getting 49th grabbing some of the last available UCI
Points. Andy Smith and Dale where placed 70th and 73rd.National Champs News 26/6/03
News on the National Champs is that
they are happening in Kilbrony, Rostrevor, Co. Down on the 20th of July with
practice happening on the 19th. This is a pre enter event, you can get the
forms here its in pdf format so you will
need adobe acrobat to read it. Its being run by same guys as last year so it
should be amazing if its near the standard of Tollymore. See you all there.
New Forum 25/6/03
The forum has changed. Thanks to Brock from
braydownhill.com
for his work there. Check it out there's no nasty popup windows and its
looking slick.
Forum New Bike 25/6/03
My new bike arrived yesterday. Its
sweet, for those of you that don't know I have been awaiting for a damn long
time the arrival of a Norco Team Race frame. It's sweet like an M1 but at a
fraction of the price. I'm going to build it up tonight and will be up 3
Rock on Sunday with it. If anyone wants to go riding up there on Sunday I'll
be at the car park at about 12 so if we could get a good group of people up
it would be class. Nationals 22/6/03
The National Champs are coming round quickly.
There happening In Rostrevor on the 19th and 20th of July. If anyone has any
info on the track, location, directions etc send them here
abracing@eircom.net News 22/6/03
If you haven't seen the results for NPS 3 get
them
here.
There's been loads of jumping going on down in Enniskerry jump spot
recently. If you haven't been down there check it out. Pics up soon.
NPS Round 3 Moneyscalp 16/6/03
Well round 3 is over and done with
and an eventful round it was. Loads of injuries and the odd bike snapping
here and there. Steve broke his wrist, Patrick Loughnane form
Killarney broke his
leg badly (get well soon) there was a couple of busted shoulders and a
snapped ATX 1. The course was the one with all the drops with a nice step
down added in for good measure. Not sure on results as yet but here's the
top 3 from Seniors. Keith Brock 1st Emil Bjorsell 2nd and Dave Egan 3rd. I
think Ben Reid took the win in Juniors with Jamie making some rare mistakes.
Greg O'Keefe took the win in under 16s. Will post the full results when I
get them.Other News 16/6/03
Not much has been happening lately
so apologies for the lack of updates. I was away and then really busy so it
was a case of update the site or try and get out on my bike so guess which
won.
Adam
has fecked off to France for 3 months to work in a resort near Les Gets and
taken his bike with him. Rumour has it there's a bird on the scene but he's
very vague about that. Niall was away in Germany so he missed out on
Moneyscalp as well.
Fort Bill 16/5/03
The count down is starting to the
UCI World Cup. First round kicks off on the 1st and 2nd of June at Fort
William in the Ben Nevis Mountain Range Scotland. There's a big Irish
contingent heading over to race including all the usual suspects and
hopefully a load of supporters as well. For more info check out
www.fortwilliamworldcup.com.
Cycling Ireland Magazine 16/5/03
Anyone seen the new Cycling Ireland Magazine. Downhill got a real good
mention with Andy Smith of SMG Racing making the front cover, the Steve Peat
training day took up another page and the Three Rock 1st NPS got a good
mention too. If you haven't got it get yourself a licence and you will get
it in the post every three months or so. Moonrider 15/5/03
The Moonrider is kicking of this Saturday at 1pm in
Glenarm estate, Northern Ireland. It sounds
like its going to be completely mental as if last years wasn't mad enough.
I'm well pissed I'm going to miss it but there will be an AB Racing
contingent making the trip no doubt they will have some news, pics and video
from it. For more info check out
honchodesigns.com
2nd NPS in Waterford 12/5/03
Well NPS round 2 is over and unfortunately it will not be remembered for
the good track although a little easy, good timing and other things that
meant the race could of gone off without a hitch, even the rain held off for
it. what it will be remembered for is the lack of first aid that caused the
second run to be cancelled.
This mean that the times from the first run will stand for the results which is a bit crap if u messed up your first run or had a mechanical. Cycling Ireland have stated that this decision will not be reversed and have taken similar action previously where events have had to be stopped after the first run due to whatever circumstances.
Results are available from waterforddownhill.tripod.com and im sure Vic Lucas will have some pics up soon on freezefocus.com
The race went reasonably well for us with Dave and Niall taking first and second in seniors, myself and Mark where a little disappointed to say the least with the lack of second runs due to mistakes in our runs leading to poor times. Steve pulled out a respectable time after coming back from cracking a rib in practice at Three Rock to get 9th in Seniors at his first NPS race, Simon was a little disappointed with no second run either. Adam didn't make the trip due to injury, torn ligament in his knee as a result of many failed 360s on his snowboard while he was away. Which meant I had his Morewood, cheers for the lend of the bike your not getting it back ever. Niall Egan didn't make it either due to dreaded study.
Cool stuff u might of missed over the weekend.
We got a big street session going in Waterford, hooked up with a load of local bmxers who brought us on a little tour of some of the street spots around the place. Definitely worth a trip down if street is your thing.
Killtorcan Raceway and Skate/bmx park, we went there after the race for a bit of a rip round the go kart track in the wet. The pissings of rain made the karts a bit of a handful on the outdoor track it was so much fun sliding them round the track it almost made up for not having a second run. Then after half an hour of doing 40 mph with your arse and inch of the ground we hit the skate park on the downhill bikes (not sure if there allowed but they didn't say anything) until it closed.
Important Links
www.mtbireland.com
www.rebelracing.org
www.cyclingireland.ie