Big day today for the Wideopenmag team at the Fort William World Cup.
We’ve been up in Scotland since the Innerleithen BDS race and have spent the week sampling some gorgeous Scottish trails. This weekend though it’s strictly business and we’re focussing on Rich and Jay’s first World Cup of 2013 … Jay’s first World Cup ever in fact.
The track has had plenty of work since the last BDS but despite that – you guessed it – it was still rough as hell for yesterday’s practice with lots of big, harsh square hits meaning lots of punctures and a late night for our new mechanic Oscar getting the bikes tuned up for race day.
Today was the first of two big days with both of the guys getting a short practice session in the morning and then moving into qualifying. If they make the top 80 in qualies, they’re through to tomorrow’s big final meaning the pressure is on.
Jay’s practice went well and there were none of the punctures we were seeing in Friday’s practice. He did manage to keep us busy with plenty of wheel fixing though with a hefty smashing dished out to his back wheel. Rich also had a tough practice session yesterday with a big crash just after the Deer Fence. “I took off the drop and the wind caught me, spinning me 180 and eating the dirt. I went down hard!”. Despite that he managed to crack on today with just a stiff neck to contend with. We had a bit of trouble with pedals but the guys at 2Pure/Crank Brothers stepped in and offered a free of charge service on his Mallets and nursed them back to life. Cheers guys!
Being in the ‘A’ group Rich went first in seeding and crossed the line feeling a bit unsure whether his time would stick. “My run was tough – I found it tough to loosen up and felt a bit stiff on the way down”. It did the trick though and he made the cut for race day.
Jay set off late in the day feeling strong and looking to build on his great result at last weekend’s National race. We watched for him dropping into the view from the finish line … and we watched and we watched. Race MC Dan Jarvis announced his name but there was no sign and the next rider dropped into view. Something had obviously happened on track. Eventually, after the last man had finished Dan Jarvis piped up “here he is, Jay Williamson!” and Jay whipped his way over the last jump and crossed the line looking.
He had slid out dropping into the Hazard’s Hoofer (a gnarly wooden gap jump), hit his head hard and then had to chill the rest of his run. “That was the hardest I’ve ever hit my head! I thought my Fox helmet would be destroyed from that one but it kept me safe! After that I knew it was game over for my run so I cruised the final section and pulled a massive whip for the crowds!”
So – tough day – but a solid ride for Rich and a first World Cup timed run in the bag for Jay. Lots of lessons learnt and lots to build on for next weekend’s race in Val Di Sole.
Massive thanks as always to our amazing sponsors and to mechanic Oscar for working like a bloody grafter all weekend.
Roll on Sunday!
