2019 HSBCUK British National Downhill Series
Round 1
Rheola, South Wales
Rheola. A true classic UK DH Venue.
It was first raced back in 1999 (won by Steve Barker and Fionn Griffiths) and here we are 20 years on racing it at National level again.
The first round of the 2019 HSBC UK British National Downhill Series was a huge weekend of downhill for the UK’s (and some of the World’s) fastest racers.
Here’s our first huge photo story from the UK race scene of 2019.
Words by Dave Konstanz, Photos by Ian Lean.
The track itself is a beast. Fast and rough from top to bottom, with technical roots, drops and the classic ‘Star Wars’ section. The top third is absolutely flat out, before dropping into tight and technical woods. As its matured its just got faster, rougher and more brutal.
It’s a proper downhill track, worthy of proper downhill bikes. It’s 205 seconds of the gnarliest riding you’ll find anywhere in the UK.
The HSBC National downhill series was born in 2018 and had a strong first season with plenty of success and plenty of opportunities to improve.
For 2019 there are 5 events hosted by two different organisers. For Rheola, our first race of the series, it was MIJ racing that took the reigns. By their own admission, MIJ found last year’s Rheola event tough. Credit where it’s due though this year, they absolutely nailed it.
The most important thing should always be the track. The MIJ team gave the whole thing a spruce up, got it running brilliantly and threw in a few little surprises to keep things fresh. Uplifts were run by Pearce Cycles, and were flawless all weekend.
The race village is always tough at Rheola but it did the job.
The measure of health for downhill is always entries, and round one is classically the busiest event of the year. Last year’s season opener at Cwmcarn hosted 310 riders. This year, 260 riders entered with 35 elite men and 11 elite women.
More isn’t always better though, with a bigger field adding potential for delays, queues and costs. We’ll see just how healthy downhill is as the year progresses.
Regardless of overall numbers, the elite field was deep. We often describe British nationals as a mini World Cup… and Rheola was exactly that.
These guys really are the top racers in Great Britain right now and with names like Gee Atherton, Danny Hart, Matt Walker, Laurie Greenland and Brendan Fairclough on the start sheet, you know it is going to be a good weekend.
It great to see the elite racers making the effort to turn up to the National races and to give the other riders there the opportunity to follow them down the track and ride with them, this really shows that UK DH is in a healthy place.
We asked earlier if UK riders should have to race British Nationals to make the World Champs squad and this weekend seemed to be a big argument in favour of that one.
A nice touch was a Friday night track walk by Laurie Greenland and Jack Reading with the young riders. It was great to see the top guys passing on their expertise to the next generation.
Thanks guys, more of this please!
Saturday is, of course, practice day. With lots of fresh bikes and kit in the pits, it was time to get them onto the hill and put down some runs.
With live timing all day, everyone had different modes of attack, putting down fast sections, teasing full run times and generally putting down laps.
With a rough track, it’s super easy to do too much practice and knacker yourself, but some riders managed to get in 10 practice runs, which is no mean feat!
Elite had an extra 30mins of practice at the end of the day, so could put down some full fast runs to hint at what they might be able to do come race day.
Gee Atherton topped this aboard his new Atherton bikes Prototype 5.0 DH bike telling us that he pulled out the stops to try and get a proper, fast, full run down.
For the female riders it was Rachel Atherton that put down a solid timed run. You can see the full timed practice results here.
S E E D I N G R U N
Race day. The day that matters.
After a couple of practice runs in the morning, it’s up to the top for seeding runs.
Everyone gets serious and puts their game faces on. In elite women, Rachel Atherton put in a storming time to take pole position by a whopping 11 seconds over Tahnee Seagrave.
For the guys, it was Matt Walker, followed by Danny Hart, followed by Welshman Mike Jones.
R A C E R U N S
Race runs. The last run of the day, the last chance saloon to show that your race season is on track and a final chance to prove everyone who is boss.
All eyes were on the Elite Men to see who would come out on top.
Laurie Greenland was down early and put in run that would land him in the hot seat for 20 riders, but with a time that was 9 seconds back on Walker’s qualifying time everyone knew that it wouldn’t be enough.
Ex-Wideopen rider and now Atherton Racing rider Charlie Hatton put in a time of 2.52, which was getting towards the sharp end of the times, but ultimately not quite enough for a podium spot, finishing up in 6th.
South African rider Christopher Philogene was the first to beat Hatton’s time.
It was great to see a fresh face on the scene and to see international riders coming to race the UK’s top DH series. Anyone remember when Piyush Chavan flew from India to race the Fort William race?
Gee couldn’t repeat his form from seeding and, by his own admission, just got beat. 3rd place and on to Maribor.
Danny Hart put in the second fastest practice run of the day on Saturday and rode 7 runs, exactly the same as Gee.
Seeding and race runs just didn’t quite go his way and Danny ended up in second place.
In the end, it was Matt Walker who put down the run that would top the board. He won the first National in 2018, he won National Champs and he won again at Rheola.
Walker grafted hard all weekend. He matched Gee and Danny for runs on Saturday, put in 3rd fastest practice run and then stepped up to go fastest in seeding by a second.
In his final run he was fastest through the first sector, lost time to Danny in the middle section, then pulled it back in the bottom third. When Danny pulled ahead, it was by 0.023 of a second. When Matt Walker crossed the line, he beat Danny by 1.9 seconds. Incredible riding.
Somehow Matt Walker still manages to fly under the radar. He isn’t always the one that is tipped for the top, but he once again proved to everyone that he’s an absolute force to be reckoned with.
Elite women then. Katy Curd was 3rd place in seeding and 3rd place in finals.
The ultimate question was what did Tahnee have for Rachel?
How would Rach cope with the pressure of the first race run since Lenzerheide and her first race run on her Atherton Bikes prototype?
Ultimately, Rach channelled all of that into a stellar run giving her the win by over 6 seconds. Rachel isn’t shy of admitting that she wasn’t keen on racing this year. When the Atherton Bikes project kicked off she knew that she just had to get stuck in.
Interestingly, Rachel told us that she doesn’t take British National results too much to heart. When you win, she said, you can get a false sense of security for World Cups. When you loose, they knock your confidence. Regardless of that, she told us that winning put her in a great frame of mind for the first World Cup.
We are really looking forward to the battle over the season between Rach and Tahnee.
Whilst we’re focusing on the elite battle in this story, it won’t stay that way all year. We’re hoping to use these race reports to shout about racing at all levels.
Deserving of a massive shout was Junior Men’s winner Luke Williamson who destroyed the field. At his first British National race on his new team he won seeding then won finals by almost five seconds. Amazing. One to watch for sure!
Don’t miss TRACKSIDE from Rheola, sponsored by Juice Lubes
Thanks to MIJ Racing for a great weekend.
The next round of the HSBCUK British National Downhill Series is at Fort William on May 11th and 12th.
Round 1: Rheola, South Wales – April 13-14
Round 2: Fort William, Scotland – May 11-12
Round 3: Rhyd-y-Felin, North Wales – June 22-23
National Champs: Revolution Bike Park – July 20-21
Round 4: Hopton, England – August 17-18
Round 5: Ae Forest, Scotland – September 21-22
