So it was upto the highlands of Scotland for the annual stop of the World Cup Series in Fort William. The classic venue on the World Cup tour that always provides a fantastic atmosphere for all the riders. It is a special place for British riders aswell to race infront of their home crowd.



The track remained unchanged for this year. There was alot of exposed rock and loose material on the track, but it was riding well. The rock section was in for Thursday and it was alot of fun. Most riders were jumping it and it was pretty spectacular. However, when riders walked the track after Thursday practice, it became apparent that the section was really one line and there were no options to move off that line, making the racing processional all the way to the finish, something the riders, spectators, TV and other media do not want to see. So a decision was taken by the organisers to revert the track back to the old race track adding 2 more corners for racing and the opportunity for more passing.

The vast majority of riders liked the change and could understand the reasons for it. So into Friday's qualifying and I was battling against my injured foot once more. It was still swollen and the ligaments were just not recovering. But it was the home World Cup and after the disaster of crashing at Maribor, I wanted to get my campaign back on track. Qualifying did not go well - a perfect run, but just no power from my injury - 15th position.

Onto race day. Practice was going well until I punctured in my last practice run and destroyed a rear wheel. No problem as we had my spare bike ready to go. 1st race no problem, winning the race and moving onto the 2nd round. In the 2nd round rear punctured again and destroyed another rear wheel. Managed to still qualify though into the quarter finals!



Knowing my spare bikes rear wheel at the start was destroyed I raced back to my truck, grabbed a third spare wheel and got a lift to the start. I was late and lucky to make it in time, but had to go straight onto the start gate for the quarter final. Unfortunately my gears were slipping for that whole race and I went out – finishing 15th for the evening. I felt I was riding alot better than this but bad luck comes in three's and I had my full quota that evening!

From here it is onto Willingen for the European Championships next weekend.

Quite a short update about this race as it was one to forget for me!

Having sustained my ankle injury in Maribor only 2 weeks before Harthill I was literally on the back foot for this race. My left foot was pretty swollen still but I decided that I wanted to race for 2 reasons - 1. to race at the Euro round and represent the UK and 2. to see how the foot was with one week to go before the next World Cup in Fort William.

On Saturday at the National I was riding really well. With Wichman, Prokop, Slavik, Fischbach, Tschugg, Mechura, Atherton and Kovarik present it always going to be a tough day - especially as I couldnt even walk properly!!

Anyway, 2 wins and 2 second places put me easily into the quarter finals. Unfortunately with the luck of the draw, it was a tough race at any time of the year, let alone carrying an injury aswell. I lined up and knew that on another day this could have been a World Cup final! I made an ok start, and got stuck in, but the end result was out in the quarter finals to give me 9th position for the day.

Onto Sunday and the World Cup format was used - 1 qualifying run followed by knockout. I had a pretty good run but went tight on the last turn and should have railed it after watching everyone else, which lost me a little time, but aside from that a good run. I placed 7th in qualifying.

Going through the rounds I made it to the semi final but unfortunately got knocked out at this stage, placeing me 7th for the day. Again, with the level of competition on the day - everyone was racing from World Cups with the exception of Graves and Rinderknecht, and carrying the ligament injury I had, it was a great result.

Onto to Fort William now......

British fourcross legends Dan Atherton and Scott Beaumont will face World-Class competition this weekend as Joost Wichman, Tomas Slavic, Guido Tschugg, Micheal Prokop and Chris Kovarik line up for the European Fourcross Series, marking the opening of the new Harthill track.

With round two of the British Fourcross Series on Saturday and round four of the European Fourcross Series on Sunday, both races represent a landmark moment at the newly developed Harthill fourcross track.

Built by World Cup track designer Phil Saxena, the track is best described as big and fast, with lots of overtaking opportunities and massive jumps providing great racing and action for spectators.

The stars of World Cup fourcross are coming to the UK a week prior to the Fort William World Cup; this weekend providing the perfect opportunity to prepare - with confirmed riders including Joost Wichman, Tomas Slavic, Guido Tschugg, Micheal Prokop and Chris Kovarik; with the British Champion Scott Beaumont, World Cup winner Dan Atherton and 2006 British Champion Will Longden racing for overall series prize money of 5000 Euros.


Essential Info

May 29: British Fourcross Series Round 2
May 30: European Fourcross Series Round 4

Location

Hale Superbole,
Harthill nr Tattenhall,
Bolesworth Estate,
Chester,
Cheshire,
CH3 9LQ.

Schedule

May 29 British Fourcross Series Round 2
10.00am to 12pm Practice
12.30pm Qualifying Motos
3.30pm Finals A, B
5.30pm Podium Presentations
7.00pm Party
Live bands and dirt jump competition.

May 30 European Fourcross Series Round 4
10.00am Practice
12.01pm Timed Qualifying
1.00pm Rookie, Master races
3.00 pm Eilte Race
5.00 pm Podium Presentations
6.00pm Live bands & Closing Party.


Spectators

Bring all the family to watch the race action from a massive grass bank just for Spectators where you have spectacular views of the whole course from Start to Finish. A large spectator area has full view of the whole course to watch this spectacular race action through out the day. Spectators entry is £6 per day or £10 for the weekend, includes live bands on Saturday and Sunday nights with licensed bar onsite, hot and cold food, refreshments and toilets.

Qualifying happened earlier. 21st! Not a good day. The track got rutted and then the rain arrived and made things even worse. I didn't ride good and made a huge mistake low down on the track. It mean't I had to roll all the double jumps on the last straight and just lost too much time.

Tomorrow is a fresh day though and the weather forecast is horrendous. Storms are coming, no doubt on and off the track!!

Check back for results tomorrow.

SB.

Maribor World Cup started today at the classic Maribor venue in Slovenia. The track here always provides great racing, but this year I think it could be very unpredictable.

It has been raining here for 2 weeks solid. The track is really holding up well, but there is more rain forecast for the weekend. Everyone today was riding on spikes with Neoguards and fenders keeping the mud off the goggles.

For sure it will be an action packed race with plenty of surprises.

Qualifying is tomorrow night, so check back for an update on the results.

SB.