Race season is ON!
Team Wideopen’s first big race of the season was the British National at Cwmcarn.
Team Manager Dave Konstanz reports on how it all went down.
Photos by Ian Lean and Jamie Edwards
Wow – did the race-season really just start again?
We’ve been helping fast, young, talented racers for nearly 10 years now and you never get used to how quickly the first National event sneaks up on you.
April always seems miles off and then you’re at the first big race of the year before you know it!
We’ve always used Team Wideopen to help fast, young, talented riders… but this year we really zoomed in on the young guns. We made the DH side of the team all about fast Youth riders. It’s those guys that are the future of the sport so we got Chris Cumming (back for his second year on the team) and newbies Dan Cope and Connor Smith onboard.
All of those guys are under 16, they’re all pinned and they’re all National Champions or race winners in one way or another. We’re stoked to have them!
Friday is filming day
We started the race weekend with a little filming session with our mate Callum Philpott. Whilst Dan and Connor only live a couple of hours apart, Chris is from Ireland so it’s rare to get all three together.
They all came to South Wales a day early, had a shred of some local trails and we stacked some clips of the guys for an edit. The guys gelled really well and were almost instantly shredding turns for the camera – Dan Cope knows that place like the back of his hand!
Friday night saw up feasting at Casa del Cope with a serious garage session to get the Nukeproof Pulse bikes tuned up again ready for race day.
Practice
We were a little unsure what to expect coming into the race. The organisers were a fresh-start for National Downhill racing and weren’t the tried-and-tested team that we new from the British Downhill Series, organised by Si Paton.
We needn’t have worried though – we got a warm welcome at the gate as we rolled in and were given a great spot for our team pits, right next to the finish line. Perfect!
On Saturday morning we were greeted on site by friendly faces and classic Welsh weather. Let’s make no bones about it, it was absolutely pissing down. Everyone retreated to their campers and sheltered in the pits and no one was keen to get drenched in the first hour of practice. It was going to be one of the races where those days of Winter riding would come in useful!
A nice little touch was that our brand new Alpinestars race kit turned up just in time for Saturday. Alpinestars are a brand new sponsor for the team and have treated the guys to custom jerseys that you can’t get anywhere else. The guys were over the moon to get them and get on track. They’ll be running those with Bell Helmets, Xforce goggles and Giro shoes.
We made a tactical judgement to skip the first hour or so of practice and it paid off. A couple of hours later, the rain had shifted on and the lads headed up to put some laps down.
Its fair to say that everyone was stoked on the track from the off. Sure it wasn’t the most technical but it was flat out and had some big old jumps at the end. The guys were throwing down from the first run and Chris was doing whips that rivalled the top guys that were there.
The mechanics worked tirelessly testing different options to make the bikes as fast as they could as it was clear that with the speed of the track it was going to come down to small margins come finals on Sunday.
The guys are running Nukeproof Pulse Comp bikes with Conti Tyres, Sprung Suspension tuning, Funn Components cockpits, Nukeproof pedals and wheels and Fibrax goodies. Mudguards come thanks to Mudhugger.
Race Day
The schedule is always the same. Two practice runs, qualifying and then race runs.
The track was pretty slippy for the first of the practice runs but we had no issues and everyone felt great on track. Qualifying went well. Danger Boy Dan Cope was first of the team down and slotted into 12th place in his category, but was the 3rd fastest of the first year youths.
Connor put down a solid seeding run landing in 5th (he’s also a first year youth) and Chris smashed out a fantastic run that put him into first by nearly 3 seconds. He was pumped, as was everyone else in the Wideopen pits. Things were looking good for finals.
With seeding runs in the bag, the mechanics got to work like men possessed. Mechanics Chaz and Dru are probably the hardest working two guys on the team on a race weekend. They want the riders to win and they’ll do everything to make it a reality… including plenty of sneaky pro-hacks that they’ve learnt from years of tweaking race bikes.
Race runs
Before we knew it, Chaz and I had our Camelbak packs loaded up and we were heading to the top. We always head up top with the riders to help them warm up, get them mentally in the zone and make sure any last minute surprises aren’t last minute problems. You can read about the sort of gear our mechanics pack into a race-day Camelbak here.
We got to the top in good time but red flags on track (waved when a rider crashes) had put back the start times by an hour.
With a delay, the main aim was to keep everything as chilled as we could and keep the nerves in check. Chaz told crap jokes, we had a laugh and there were good vibes. The scene was set.
We knew what the guys would be able to do on track, so now was their time to shine…
Danger Boy Dan set off first and bettered his quali time by over 3 seconds. With the entire elite pack separated by just 6 seconds, that’s pretty significant. Nice one lad!
Connor smashed his run holding onto his 5th qualifying place and grabbing the last spot on the podium. He also finished as fastest first year youth. That’s a wicked start to the season mate.
Chris Cumming was the star of the show though. He had been shredding all weekend and after his fast quali run he was there to win. And win he did.
Chris absolutely demolished the field, taking the win by nearly 1.5 seconds. Not only did that win youth but it would have landed him the win in the expert category and top 15 in elite. It’s fair to say that he absolutely smashed it.
Thanks to all of our awesome sponsors for making Team Wideopenmag happen and for helping us support British racing and young talent. Next stop, Fort William National British Downhill!
