2009 NPS Round 3 – Fort William
This weekend was another long trip up to Fort William on the Nevis Range. Setting off early on Friday we had a slow drive up with plenty stops to keep the caffeine levels high. With mum coming along this weekend we could share the driving and give dad a break for once. Arriving around 3pm we set up the van and pit area which was considerably smaller with Steve being at Glastonbury and also a lot tidier with john being away for an operation.
The track was the usual fort bill track going over the hip jump and the berms and boardwalks at the top. For this race, after the world cup, the track had been swept so there was a lot less loose gravel on course. Also due to the recent world cup, some new lines had developed and they had done a nice job of taping all of these new lines into the track. After the boardwalks the pinball section was very rough with large holes developing and rocks being taken out all weekend. Under the gondola and its down the fast open section to the deer gate.
After the deer gate there were a lot of sneaky inside lines over the grass and through some deep ruts, this section appeared to be rougher than last year and by this point you could really feel the fingers getting tired. Now for the woods and the new world cup section had been taped and very wide. The outside line was generally fastest with the roots and ruts being the only things to watch out for. Dropping down the steep banking into the big wallride and back into the woods leads you down through the stumps and to the stream crossing. After this they used the world cup line once again, jumping into the motorway over the wooden kicker.
The motorway was in very good condition and was fast all weekend with no breaking bumps appearing in the hip lander. Over the doubles and tables and it’s a sprint into the tissot jump where throwing a whip down was a good part of the weekend. Dropping down the off beat wall to jump into the 4X leads you over the final triple and through the finish.
On Saturday the weather was very hot so keeping hydrated was essential. This was maybe where I let myself down this weekend and I woke up on Sunday to a splitting headache and a nauseous feeling. After a few practice runs on Sunday morning my head felt like exploding but I went up for my seeding run. This was very good and the adrenaline kept me going, sprinting the motorway I came through the line in 5:21 (a personal best for this track) and 8th place. In the race run I was feeling terrible but I set off and felt okay by the boardwalks. Just after the first bus stop I was railing the lines and lost the front end in the loose gravel. This was probably not good for my head so I coasted down slowly and saved my energy for the Tissot jump whip competition. This went well and I was winning up until Cathro came down and threw a monster whip down beating me to the Metallica tickets.. Bad times =[ but still at least I got some monster goodies to make up for the 48th place finish =] good times. 33 hours of sleep later and im ready for next weekend at Scratchmere Scar.
