Northern Downhill Series round 3 – Scratchmere Scar

Round 3 of the northern series was held at Scratchmere Scar near Penrith so only a short 90 minute drive was a welcome break from last week at fort bill. We arrived on Friday afternoon and found a nice flat parking spot in the field next to Stevie Boyd and then set about walking the track. As the hill was only small and the terrain wasn’t all that steep it meant that the track was short and pedally.

From the start gate the track went across the top of the hill and the ground was very flat and soft making for some hard and tiring pedalling. The first corner went round to the right where there was no berm and it was very tight leading onto a set of rocks with no fast line. This corner was probably the hardest part of the track to get right and many riders were caught losing a lot of time whilst wrecking mechs and pedals in the process. After this there was a rocky drop which landed onto roots and off camber rocks into a small berm. Here the track went across another flat section but you could carry speed out of the drop if you got the right line. Changing up a few gears ready for the middle section.

Dropping down some off camber bankings you go round a tight left hander and drop down the steepest part of the track through tight trees and off log drops. Making a mistake here would cost you a lot of time. Keeping speed up by pedalling round the next berm you hit a step up then step down onto a rough section with breaking bumps. Round the sweeping right hand berm and pedalling across the boardwalk leads you into a sudden tight left hand corner. This drops down and comes back up the banking at the end meaning staying on the top line was essential. Railing the rock slab and the double drop leads you off another step down and over the rock double into the road crossing.

Here you jump the road jump and drop down into the bottom section. Here the track gets flatter once again so pedalling was the name of the game for the top racers. After landing the road jump its straight left on the inside line to miss out the sketchy outside line and Brayton’s nuts rock jump. Pedalling out of this section is hard as the ground is littered with loose rocks and some roots. Hucking the next double lands you into a left had berm and then you are faced with two options. The high line here was best, keeping all your speed out of the berm and onto the next drop. Over the rock double and another tricky rock garden leads you into the finish field and across the finish line.

After doing a lot of practice on Saturday I was happy with the course and the lines and the weather seemed to be dry and sunny all day. Speak of the devil… down came the rain from around 6 up until 5 am on Sunday morning. Despite the rain the track stayed almost completely dry and the conditions were back to normal again with the sun beating down once again through Sunday. Race run time and I was last off in my category. Run 1 went well with no real big mistakes and I pedalled mainly where I could. This gave me a time of 1:18.94 and first place so far. In run 2 I knew the other riders were chasing my time down so I pushed it on the steep sections more and through the bottom. This only proved to be less than a second quicker with a 1:18.69 but this was enough to get the win by a good 3 seconds. This was also the third fastest time of the day, only being beaten by 2 of the elites so a good race after the disasters of fort bill.