Race Report: Mini-Enduro Caersws, Mid Wales
When practice officially started on the Sunday, after two airlifts the day before due to nasty accidents, we all knew we were in for a corker of a race! A load of us had been there on the Saturday, when the two riders had both got a bit carried away on one of the jumps and ended up in a heap, not surprising really, as Caersws really isn’t for the faint hearted. Although it’s only a tiny hill, it has been host to many a national and regional DH race over in the heart of Mid Wales, so trails are steep, tech and can be nasty. You seem to get a different breed of Enduro rider whenever Chris holds one of his awesome Mini-Enduro races at Caersws, definitely not a place for the pedalers, more a haven for ex and current DH riders, wanting to test their pace out on their shorter travel, lighter Enduro steeds.
Stages consisted of 1 and 4 being the same, and 2 and 3 sharing the same ending. All the stages ended in the same finish arena, which was handy, as live timing was always available, with your current standings on show from start to finish. Tops of stage 1, 3 and 4 were worn-in, gnarly, dry and dusty hard-pack, with doubles, drops, roots and rocks to contend with. Stage 2 (Seen here on my Hedcam 1080) the top was a bit fresher cut, had a big uphill pedal then a scary flat-out quad track down, over a double then through a tunnel, it was all great fun and pretty lairy! After all the different directions all the stages met over the victim-taking table-top, right took you up into the field for the amazing flat-out field section (seen here) this was just so much fun! Straight on over the table and you hit the fresh-cut, final very tricky off-camber corners (seen on end of 1st vid) It was all real skills and bottle testing stuff adding a real grin factor to the day.
The transitions, as usual for a Mini were slack and steady, plus with all stages finishing in the same place, lots of people chose to guzzle drink and not bother with a pack, more opting for the safety of the full-face lid. The way up was ride-able but most opted to push, helmet off, battling the fierce heat, which just got hotter as the day went on, this was like a carbon copy of the previous year’s race. Many were suffering at the top, huddled together in any small pockets of shade on the sparse open de-forested Welsh hill. We all had our race runs on the Sunday and the day was over, it had been fantastic, well run as ever, with lots of riders feeling they had really been put to the test in the form of technical ability.
Top female was Claire Bennett. In Juniors Elliot Heap (King of arena stoppies) took the win, Thomas Garrick was fastest Hardtail rider. Super Vets saw Tegid Humphreys win, Andy Sadler was fastest Vet, Ex-Atherton mechanic Andy Lund was quickest Master. Quickest Senior rider was Rob Newman, as was Joel Moore in the Pro-Am. For full results check- http://www.scribd.com/doc/229778408/Mini-Enduro-Caersws-Results-2014
Things worth noting were- There was a massive influx of fast South Wales riders, could this be their new niche? One of the South Wales boys was Ex-DH rider Gareth Hopkins, he was leading Masters on his 1st ride for Blazing bikes, till a huge helmet splitting crash took the wind out of his sails, dropping him down to 10th. SPS rider Vini Crighton-Poli fresh to the Senior category, posted a 2nd fastest in one stage, a big crash also cost him and took him down to 8th. Best of all was my great mate Andy (Coop Dog) Cooper, who smashed his Tracer down to 2nd overall in Seniors, behind Rob Newman to Coop’s 1st podium in 10 years! Also showing his face was Ex-top 3 UK Moto Enduro star Si Wakely, he was on his dad’s borrowed bike and still came in a respectable 9th Senior. Times were close in Pro-Am, with not even one second separating 1st and 2nd of Joel Moore and Jono Jones, now that’s tight racing!
Words, Jim Buchanan
Pics www.anna-photography.co.uk , Jim Buchanan
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