Pearce Rd#3 - Bucknell

Mick Whyte and Nathan Foster attended the 3rd round of the Pearce DH series at Bucknell, here's Mick's report:

It seemed as though The Pearce race team had booked some sunshine for the weekend - nice.

I had a reasonable practice day on a track that doesn't really suit me; too short, jumpy and without enough techy rooty sections but it is a good fun ride.

I had a bit of a mare on my first practice of Sunday as my back brake decided to pack in just after the ski jump!  A quick bleed later and I did manage one run before practice stopped.

Race run 1 went ok but I knew it was a bit too steady.  2:20 and 9th place which wasn't as bad as I thought.

fellow RG rider and KTM rider Lee Pettitt pipped me on first runs with a 2:18 point something.

Second run was gonna be interesting so I decided to relax with a beer.

It must have worked as I felt a lot quicker but in fact was only 2 seconds quicker although this was enough to put me into 8th and just in front of Lee!  Sorry buddy.  Top 10 was a great result for both of us.

Nathan Foster was on fire all weekend (except for his first run!) and posted 2 very quick times of 2:09ish and placed 5th in a category where his and the top times were not far off the elites!  Well done mate.

 

BDS #2 - Fort William

RG Squadron Youth rider Nathan Foster headed up to Fort William for the second round of the British Downhill Series, possibly the best and hardest national series in the world. 

Nathan in the Hot Seat during Sunday's race

After a long drive arriving at fort William we went up on the gondola to have a track walk. I knew the track was long and hard but it still surprised me, After riding Saturday practice I hadn't got my lines and for some reason I wasn't riding to my capability. When Sunday morning came I just tried to put my self in the right mind set and went up for practice and as soon as I started riding I realised whatever was up on Saturday had gone and I was on form again. Even though i started riding better I realised that i didn't have enough time to learn the track. But I managed to put a descent time in and take 14th place. overall a good weekend and really enjoyed it.

An awesome debut national performance, Nathan will get the chance to improve at BDS #4 at Llangollen in June.

Pearce Rd#2 - Bala

With Chaz Owen out due to his wrist injury, last week, Mick Whyte and Nathan Foster attended the second round of the Pearce Cycles DH series at Bala:


Mick Whyte
After track walking a very dusty and dry course on Friday night I was really looking forward to a very different course to last year. However, the sound of rain on tent all through the night put paid to that!
Most of the course was just surface wet but the flat turns in the lower fields were like a speedway course and every rider had a moment or two. In the woods there was a very tough, rooty section peppered with trees in the fall zone that had a lot of riders off or tripoding down but I managed to ride this through on almost all of my practice runs.
It rained a little again on Saturday night so I swapped the front to a cut spike and did my first race run on this. It was going really well until the last turn in the lowest field when the back end came round on the front and I slid out! Grrr! This cost me quite a bit but I was still 10th and well pleased.
For my 2nd run it had dried up a lot so the dry tyre went back on the front. In biking you quite often hear that smooth and flowy is the way to be quick, well I was anything but; I was loose, sketchy and nearly lost it several times but it felt fast. I nailed the rooty section to a massive cheer and this just boosted me on. A decent lower section and I crossed the line 10 seconds quicker!! I was chuffed. I finished 8th, putting me well on course towards my aim of consistent top ten finishes this year.
Another good weekend’s riding with Squadron rider Nathan Foster (3rd in youth and getting comfy on the podium again! Well done Nath) and Racers Guild/KTM/O’Neal/Shore rider Lee Pettitt (he has a lot of sponsors).
Good luck to the Squadron and Racers Guild regulars at Fort William this weekend.

Nathan Foster:

Saturday was a bit messy first thing in the morning and I went down plenty of times. around mid day i started to pull things together and make it smooth and a decently fast. When Sunday morning came round the top half of the track was really greasy on the rocks and I couldn't get the roots either. When it came to race run the rocks were still greasy but the roots weren't to bad so I had a steady one down and put a time in that was good enough to put me in 4th place. It dried out by second run and I tried to attack a bit more and managed to get my podium only missing out by a second on 2nd place. Mick rode well to take his well deserved top ten he has been after. So overall a good weekend and another good result.

An excellent weekend for RGsquadron and hopefully it's a sign of things to come. Nathan heads off to Fort William for the British Downhill Series this weekend, best of luck mate!

Pearce Rd#1 - Bringewood & North-West 2 - Farmer Johns

A busy weekend for the RG squadron with two races drawing our attention. The cancelling of the first Pearce round due to snow meant it was rescheduled for the same weekend as North West Round 2.
Mick Whyte, Nathan Foster and Chaz Owen went to Bringewood for the rescheduled Bringewood race, Mitch Ingley went to NW2.

Pearce #1 Bringewood
Nathan Foster: 3rd Youth, 2:17.958
"On practice day it was a case of making the lines i found on Friday work and make it flow. I realised on Saturday that it was not going to be easy to get the top five i entered the race hoping for when I saw the amount of new and team riders that were in the race. I had the odd mistake on practice day but in the end I felt super fast and confident. When Sunday practice came round I had a crash up top and decided to nut a tree after going too tight on the fast corners.

In my first race run i just thought that I'd put a good safe run in and just do a nice flowing run but came over the line to hear that I was holding 2nd place! Getting ready for the second race run at the top of the track i realised that I would have to go all out when all I could hear from my competitors was that they were hungry for the podium. So with help from Shaun I got my mind set and managed to get the podium I wanted by improving to a time of 2 minutes 17 seconds which has been a great start to my season."

Mick Whyte: 14th Veterans, 2:36.000
"The bottom section of the track was nicely altered from the usual (well done Pearce track team) and the dry weather made for a nice surprise and a super fast course. Practice day went well and I felt pretty settled and was hitting the road gap and doubles on each run. Nathan looked really sharp and fast all day. Big up to another RG regular, Shaun Tandy, who was riding well all day but had a nasty off at the bottom and ended up with a broken rib or two for his efforts. Heal well mate. Same to Chaz Owen who banged his wrist up and had to miss race day.
My first race run didn’t go entirely to plan as I was a bit sketchy on a couple of sections and seeded 11th. My practice partner Lee Pettitt had a similar run but pipped me by 0.16 second.
2nd race run felt much smoother with less stupid mistakes but was in fact 0.4 second slower! 14th in the end. It’s going to be real tough to get a top 10 in vets this year but I’ll give it a go."

North West #2 - Farmer Johns

Mitch Ingley: 2nd Senior, 1:13.11

"Practice was awesome! Got up to speed really quick and got all my lines sorted, the track was rolling really fast and you carried loads of speed into the woods at bottom! The woods were tape really wide and had some really slippy lines, but they just got better and better through out the day!

First race run was quite good at the top, I could have pedalled a little more but managed to carry all my speed well and hit every thing clean and smooth, when I got to the woods I just hung it out!! That was the best bit of the track, me and Elliot had an awesome line which was so much faster and got the crowd going! I manage to get into 1st and stayed there for ages and the closest time to mine was 3 seconds back, unfortunately SPS rider Jack Read, a local pipped me by 0.8
It rain for second runs which was a bit crap but I stayed focused and was aiming to get fastest time of the day even though it had rained! I hit the top section sooo quick and was smashing it until I sent a step down to a corner and wash out big style! It knocked me out for a few seconds and cracked my helmet, but I still manage to come away with second. "

Overall, a classy weekend for all concerned, with two riders on two podiums at two races and a strong ride from all team riders. Chaz Owen's tumble on Saturday has put him out for a few weeks with a wrist injury, but nothing too serious.

Next weekend: Pearce Round 2: Rhyd-y-Fellin (Bala)

BDS #1 - Combe Sydenham

RG Squadron/Works Components rider Mitch Ingley attended the first round of the British Downhill Series at Combe Sydenham in his first race for the team since rejoining for 2013: 

"Saturday practice was awesome and felt really good in the morning and the track was fast! Then by the afternoon with the rain coming down it was start to get tacky and slowing everyone down. I only did three runs of practice but had three good runs and sectioned parts too.

Come Sunday, race day, I did one practice run and sectioned a few bits in the morning but the track was getting rougher and ruts just got deeper, qualifying run was kinda chilled and an eye opener to how the track was. I qualified 7th and was 2seconds off the podium.

In my race run I messed up on the second corner which meant I had to push every where else and pedal hard! I managed to beat my seeding time by 3/4 seconds and was only half a second of the podium which was kinda annoying. I'm still pretty happy with a solid 6th place and it's still early in the season so I'm happy!"

Tom Gafney's edit from Mitch's 2012 season is always worth a watch:
Mitch Ingley 2012 from Tom Gaffney on Vimeo.

Forest of Dean Summer #1 - MIJ

Squadron junior rider Will Homer attended the first round of the MIJ Summer season at the Forest of Dean, here's his race report:





My first race of the season was 7th April at the Forest of Dean. MIJ, the organiser had laid on an awesome event, the track was wide open, flat out with big jumps and was running really fast. The conditions were perfect, dry and dusty with masses of grip but it was physically hard with a long flat sprint to the finish. It’s a good fun track but possibly not the best track to race because of the uphill in it!


My first run I had taken it easy just to get a decent time under my belt, clocking a 1:57, 8 seconds off the pace and placing me in 12th after first runs. In my final run I pedalled in every possible place and I had taken over 3 seconds off my previous time moving me into 10th! I was 6.510s behind winner Liam Jones and only 2.322s behind Myles James in 2nd, the times were really close!


I'd taken time to get my Nukeproof Scalp running perfectly before the race and it performed perfectly. I am really happy with 10th as a starter and I am getting faster every race.

Thanks go to the organiser, MIJ, and my sponsors, RG Squadron, Works Components and Oneal Clothing

RG Squadron 2013

RG Squadron is a volunteer run team with a mission of growing and developing competitive downhill riders from our region.
We're supported by fantastic sponsors Works Components and O'Neal Europe along with Racersguild. who have helped us put together the best support package ever.

Riding for RG Squadron this year:
Andy Hughes - Expert
Chaz Owen - Senior
Mitch Ingley - Senior
Mick Whyte - Veteran
Will Homer - Junior
Nathan Foster - Youth
Alex Thompson - Senior & Team Manager

Make sure you follow us on Twitter @RGsquadron, Facebook  and keep an eye on our pages for more news soon!