Scottish Championship

Ae Forest 18/19th August 2007

After setting up camp on Friday afternoon, Ben walked the course to find his lines and memorise the track. On Friday night the rain came and was still coming down on Saturday morning. Ben set out to the first uplift and waited at the top for the track to open.

The track is mainly made up of hardcore type ground with a few off camber sections and some jumps and drops. This race used the main track (see 2006 Ae Forest report) but some sections were changed. The first corner went round very wide and due to a lot of riders and a lot of rain the corner was muddy and boggy with one real clean line through it. The triple jump was missed out this time and the track went round it onto a muddy off camber type section. The track went around the main rock garden and was smoother with a small jump at the end.

Further down the track went right and through a very dark wooded section where the ground was muddy and off camber. Out of the woods and you come out into more open trees and onto a muddy off camber section with roots and deep ruts to avoid. round some switch backs and the track goes over a small double drop and then right across the forest down single-track type ground with lots of roots. To the left and the track goes off the step down drop and round the big berms before going to the left and back to the right around a set of tree roots. Over a hump and you drop down over a steep shute and over the finish line jump.

After the rain finally stopped on Sunday morning the track was very muddy and had formed a lot of ruts on places. In the first runs Ben put in a time of 2:42.741 and in run 2 Ben put in a time of 2:40.621. With two good runs Ben finished in 7th place in Youth Category.