Wideopenmag’s Jay Williamson reports from Rd3 of the Halo British Downhill Series after his first National podium.
Glencoe HaloBDS round 3. A track that a lot of people had to think hard about just going to. Despite the worries about the weather cancelling play, things were decent all weekend and looking round the pits you could see everyone was stoked to get on track and work towards getting that smooth and clean race run together.
Coming into the weekend I thought that Glencoe may not suit my riding and I was a bit worried about the risks you have to take to make up time in those gnarly sections of track. After a few steady runs down I really started getting into the track and was really enjoying having to be on top of my game when hitting certain sections of track – especially those steep rocky chutes that where causing lots of riders problems throughout the weekend!
Before heading up for seeding I did not really know what to expect with not really getting that many good full runs in during practice. Seeding did not go to plan for me and I crashed in my run and got mud all over my gloves and grips. I was covered in mud and with the gnarlyest bit of track coming up next I decided to let a few riders pass and role down the track and see what state it was in after seeding. Seeding run for team mate Rich Thomas also did not go to plan with have him crashing and having problems on track too. After seeding we both knew that the race run would be sketchy one and that both of us would have to ride wild and take more risks than we normally like to.
Just before my race run I decided to attack the track from the go. I had a really good smooth top section and started sitting back a little as the run was going so well. Dropping off one of the steep rocky sections though I lost the rear end and went down, I got up as quick as I could, had some problems clipping in to start with but managed to clip in mid way down the second steep chute (some sketchy moments in there). After the crash I knew that I needed to push hard and that it could not be much worse with crashing already. With the crash out the way I had a really good bottom section, with being 5th in split 1 I managed to pull myself back to 3rd in split 2 and noticing that I could be coming away with not a bad result after all.
I was stoked later on to hear the news from Rich Thomas that I bagged myself a 3rd place in Expert after what I had thought was a run that I chucked away. Bad luck for Rich though who that had caught a few riders up in his race run including a F1 style overtake shown on the Wideopenmag BDS video!
Wideopenmag Halo British Downhill Series Round 3 – Glencoe from Wideopen Mag on Vimeo.
I would like to say a huge thanks to: Jamie Edwards and Chaz curry (team mechanic) that where working flat out all weekend with the track being so harsh on the bikes! And all the sponsors that have been amazing so far this year, making focusing on the riding a lot easier! Wideopenmag.co.uk, Nukeproof, Fox Head Europe, Continental tyres, Tf- tuned suspension, Five-Ten, Action cameras, Unior tools, RoostDH and Fenwicks!
