Race Report | Red Kite Mondraker Enduro Round 2
Back in the late 90’s there was a UK DH race series which stood head and shoulders above the others when it came to gnarly tracks. It was called the Welsh Dragon and all the races were held in the south of Wales. Their emphasis was to create tracks that would really test riders and help bring on their skills, enabling them to take on the scariest of tracks worldwide. Over in the barren forestry landscapes of Mid Wales a new series has started up (named after the local predatory bird of prey) that shares that same adventurous spirit, wanting to be know as the series for racers who want to improve their skills. We took the trip across with a big Shropshire crew to see what The Red Kite Mondraker series was all about; what we found really was a breath of fresh air!
The format itself was one I had not experienced before and a great idea at that. Racers had a choice of riding either Saturday (4 stages) and Sunday (7 stages) so 11 stages in total. Or they could just do the 7 stages on Sunday, so you either entered the one or two day event. We chose to do the two days for the full experience, this meant practice in the morning and racing in the afternoon Saturday on stages 2, 3, 4 & 5, then Sunday stages 1 (ridden blind) 2, 3, 4, 5, then 6 (ridden blind) & 7 (7 being stage 4 repeated). For the ‘Sunday only’ racers all stages were ridden blind; I hope that all made sense!
I was kept company with my main riding/racing buddies Coop, Doose and Coynie on the Saturday, as we headed up the fire-road climbs, which were mostly repeated for all but two of the stages. We practised the four stages in the glorious sunshine all dressed in lightweight single race tops with the fresh smell of summer in the air. The climbs were fairly short, but after riding and racing all four twice each we still managed to rack up an impressive 26.7k with 1,190m of climbing.
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Tracks were pretty awesome to be honest, we really weren’t expecting anything as tech, but what a treat of loam, steepness rocks and roots we were given, with the main question we were asked by other riders during the morning being ‘have you ridden stage four yet? It’s mental!!’ We wondered just how gnarly four could possibly be, but I have learnt over the years to ignore comments that these bringers of doom can bring and just see for myself.
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The ominous drop-in to the very steep stage 4.
THE STAGES
There were six separate tracks in all, all were made to take riders slightly or totally out of their comfort zones, with no soft options. With riders on the Sunday riding stuff blind there were no big gap jumps or doubles, which could have given riders a quick one-way ticket to the local hospital. Instead the toughness was in the fact there were just so many steep turns and off-camber root sections. All tracks (except stage 6) required a minimum of pedalling, which was great, and some of the open turns in the forested areas like the top of stage 5 were just so tricky to get right, if it had rained it would have just been plain bonkers! Stage four was definitely the steepest, sporting tricky off camber loamy switchbacks all the way down, where one dab of the front brake on the turn would send your back wheel overtaking the front in an instant.
Stage six was the different one, this was the only hard-pack stone section, absolutely flat-out top gear straights with a couple of very nasty switchbacks near the top, one of which nailed Enduro Motorcycle world ex-pro rider Si Wakely on the Sunday and took his lead away. As we were using wrist mounted timing chips and there were no start times, we were doing some stages as a train, four of us wheel to wheel at full speed down the tracks. Stage six with it’s open fast terrain was the only one where I could keep up with Coop, Coop being on a short travel loaner bike, whilst he awaited a repair on his Canyon. Down there as Coop sprinted his 140mm travel Fox 32 equipped Marin I was in pursuit on my big travel Marin equipped with the new Marzzochi 170mm forks which just lapped up the high speed holes, as I caught him whilst tucked and free-wheeling; Coop was under-biked for sure, but still riding fast.
A FEAST
After the Saturday Coop was running fourth Senior (there was no Elite) Doose was fifth Master (only his second ever Enduro) Coynie was comfortably mid pack and I was second Vet. The organizer Neil Delafield had put on a pasta party, as part of the entry, this was held in a real nice pub (The Drovers Rest) in the local town of Llanwrtyd Wells, reputed as the smallest town in the UK. The pub overlooked the river, with the landlord being the town mayor and a real character, plus a pretty awesome chef; things like that really are a nice touch. We chilled by the river and filled our hungry bellies as the days riders came in to feast and relax in the evening sun on the pub’s balcony, what a mint finish to the day.
DAY 2
After camping in basically a local field we were up and at’um again with a real cold fresh start to the day, as the Sunday’s and two-day competitors arrived, including a big hoard of Shropshire riders. With the fuss-free format of timing chips and no start times we were able to ride together all day; we battled through the seven stages with plenty of stops in-between making for what seemed like a pretty long but fun day in the saddle. Day two saw us totting up 26.4k with 1,174m of climbing, almost exactly the same as the previous day, quite bazaar.
The day went on and apart from a small mistake I kept her upright, unlike Coop and Coynie; Doose being smooth as silk as ever. It was a brilliant testing day of riding with mates, not restricted to riding in any category or group, making it the most social, type of riding. The organizers may not yet be in the realms of big race village set-ups, sponsored marker tape and signs with a marshal on every turn with an abundance of prizes, but the tracks really are second to none; as testing as you can get. I would say if you want to do a series that will test you to the limit and bring on you’re skills level, then check it out, you wont be disappointed. As for them becoming Enduro’s answer to the old Welsh Dragon, then I think they are bang on the money, this series can only get bigger and better.
RESULTS
When it came to the Shropshire lot, we came, we saw and we conquered, taking nine top three positions back home from Wales; Coop and I included.
SUNDAY ONLY
Winners were (Grand Vets) Simon Kirkham, (Vets) Giles Austin, (Masters) Jason Powell, (Seniors) James Owain.
SAT/SUN
Winners were (Juniors) Oli Hooper, (Masters) Peter Jordan, (Women) Emma Wareham, (Veteran) Sean Grosvener, (Seniors) Luther Griffiths
Full Results – http://www.sportident.co.uk/results/2015/RedKiteEnduro-Round2/
Words | Jim Buchanan
Pics | Doc Ward | Jim Buchanan
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