The 2010 race season kicked off today at Rheola in South Wales to blazing sun and dusty trails with a packed field of elite riders.
Today’s race was the end result of something like 7 months of hard graft by Si Paton, Dave Francoisy and the rest of the BDS crew…. Rolling into the pitts it was clear the hard work was worth it, with tonnes of companies rammed into the finish line and enough elite riders floating about to give it a genuinely world cup vibe.
The elite line up includes Matt Simmonds, Gee/Rach/Dan Atherton, Ben Reid and Dan Stanbridge (both in brand new Dirt /Norco kit)
Rheola is infamous for shite weather… but the ย BDS crew’s order of sunshine turned up on time and we were treated to a shit load dusty trails.
Saying that, it was still wet and loose as hell in the technical woods section. This is one of the new sections that was built by James and the WDMBA team, just in time for last year’s NPS final. Here’s Ben Reid again, taking the jester’s kit off the rock drop.
Scott Mears… looking pinned all day.
And just to prove it’s not all about the elites… here’s South West web-edit superstar Luke Ball. There’s a lot of debate around this kid, is he quick or does he just look awesome? We’ll see pretty soon…
Last but not least, here’s Jack Reading banging out the all new step down. Every race has got a feature thatย separatesย the men from the boys and this is it. It’s about 6ft high with a transition about 15ft out, into a corner. It’s gnarly! ย It was good to see Manon Carpenter and Aimee Dix both stomp it out, whilst a lot of the fellas were taking the chicken line!
That’s it for today… race day tomorrow for the first round of 2010 racing. G’luck folks!
… And don’t forget to check back Sunday night for results, more photos and more info on how you can win a Diamondback Sabbath frame AND a trip to Morzine with Riders Retreat!
