Kade wins four out of four rounds for
Atherton Academy
A sunny weekend at Llangollen saw a
double victory for Gee and Rachel Atherton for the second consecutive year, and
Atherton Academy rider Kade Edwards secured his fourth victory out of four
juvenile races. Taylor and Marc were disappointed with 11th and 15th
places respectively.
Rain before
practise day on Saturday had resulted in ‘absolute carnage’ in the woods. By
the qualifying runs on Sunday the track had started to dry out but there were
still some very slick areas that required huge nerve and concentration from the
riders.
In the
Women’s qualifying it was clear that the race was going to be between Rachel
and Manon Carpenter. Rachel qualified first with a time of 2.34.9, Manon was
second with 2.49.19, then there was a huge gap to Jess Greaves with a brave
5.53.46.
Gee
qualified in third place with the fastest top split but Series Leader Marc
couldn’t find his groove this weekend and qualified 11th.
In the Finals
the Juveniles were up first. Kade had qualified in second, 7 seconds behind
Luke Birkett after a two small crashes in the top section, but in the actual race
he put all that behind him and was 7 seconds ahead of the field by split 1 and
took the win with a 2.42.61 – 10.7 seconds clear of Adam Beatty. Birkett came
in 3rd.
Kade commented:
“I stayed cautious, let it flow, no stops. It’s quite dusty up top now with a
few tacky sections, the bottom was nice and smooth and very flowy – I enjoyed
it!”
The Women
raced next, and with track conditions a little better, they all improved their times
but positions held - Jess took third, Manon took second with 2.40.06 but Rachel
came flying down the hill in 2.30.67, showing the form she has been struggling
to recapture since South Africa and the illness that followed – a massive 9.39
seconds in the lead.
Rachel commented: “I prefer this track to a lot of the
World Cup tracks. It’s so steep and technical but so much fun; I love riding
for this crowd, Manon was pushing me hard – it feels great!.
In the Junior race Taylor Vernon overcooked a blown out
corner at the exit to the woods, he span 180° and had to walk his bike back up
the track, losing valuable time. A fast bottom section pulled back some seconds
but it was a disappointing 11th place on the day.
In the Men’s race Slugger Beaumont suffered two
off-track excursions and finished 15th overall.
Gee was third last down the hill and looked strong all
the way – almost three seconds ahead a split one – he maintained this pace to
cross the line at 2:08.13. Second qualifier Joe Smith was 2.7 seconds behind Gee
for second place, and fastest qualifier Josh Bryceland couldn’t get into
contention, finishing fourth at 2.14.39.
Gee commented: “A pretty intense weekend at Llangollen
as usual – the crowd was awesome, the track was wild – stoked to take the win
and stoked for Rach and Kade.”
Gee takes the Series lead from Slugger, and Kade
maintains his first place in the ranks.
Results
Men’s Elite
1 Gee Atherton
GT Factory Racing 2: 08.135
2 Joe Smith
Chain reaction Cycles/Nukeproof 2:10.84 + 2.71
3 Danny Hart
Giant Factory Off Road Team 2:11.54 +3.40
4 Josh
Bryceland Santa Cruz Syndicate 2:13.63 +5.50
5 Sam Dale
Madison Saracen Factory Team 2:14.23 +6.10
Women’s
Elite
1 Rachel
Atherton GT Factory Racing 2:30.67
2 Manon
Carpenter Madison Saracen Factory Team 2:40.06 +9.39
3 Jessica
Greaves Team Skene 5:12.18 +2.41.51
Junior Men
1 Reese
Wilson Alpine Bikes/UNIOR tools 2:21.84
2 Matthew
Barrett J-Tech/Pearce Cycles 2:25.37 +3.53
3 Jacob
Dickson Orange world Dirt Team 2:26.13
11 Taylor
Vernon GT Factory Racing 2:36.23 +14.38
Juvenile Men
1 Kade
Edwards Atherton Academy 2:42.61
2 Adam Beaty
Keswick Bikes 2:53.31 +10.7
3 Luke
Birkett We love Mountains 3:06.12
Marc’s mechanic, Mark Maurissen said: “That was a man’s track this
weekend! GT’s BMX rider Mike Day is here – he said it was the steepest track he
had ever ridden!”
