December 19th - Tolley's Trail - Write up

Saturday 19th was about the ice, those roots and the ground you could never quite predict.

Aaron Neumann on Andy Hughes' bike?

Photo credit: Kitman (click for gallery) 

Frozen solid ground, frozen fingers, sheets of black ice in the ruts leading in to the steepest part of the track and the infernal Screams Vs Highrollers debate.

Before we started timing, all the focus was at the roots. A steep chute into an offcamber lefthander over roots that wanted to take you straight over the tiny catch berm, and if you made it that far, another two diagonal slippery snakes to shoot your front wheel away from you.

Alex Hill inspects the trail

Photo credit Stu Hopkinson (Gallery)

 First down the hill was the RG Squadron's latest recruit, Lee Gratton. All those tumbles in practice had clearly paid off, as he drew a line in the snow at 57.7 seconds. Big guns Andy Hughes and Elliot "Pants on the outside" Machin both failed to go under a minute at first, struggling to stay on the bike and stay pinned when you never really knew if the front wheel was going to hook up or not. Then, thirty minutes in, Adam Halling sent a shot across the bows with a 57.8. Adam was confident he had plenty left in the tank. Some time later he delivered, taking a half second lead out of Lee with a 57.1 and concluding with a storming 56.6. Lee's only reply was a 57.6, putting him in second a full second behind a perfect ride from Adam. Andy Hughes put in a strong show towards the end, scoring a 57.8, but not enough to usurp the winter warriors.

Luke Weston visits the 80s

Photo credit: Kitman

Meanwhile, over in the junior cat, nine riders lined up to take on the ice. With Joe Ellement, Sam Maddison and Mitch Ingley all over-age and bumped up to Senior, it left a classy Elliot Gill to take command and leaving the rest of the field wondering where they were going to find a full ten seconds from, with Tommy Jeffs coming closest.

Honerable mentions go to;

John Lee, taking the hardtail glory with a stonking 1.13.8 whilst still in his morning suit

Barrack Obama, who, taking a break from climate conferences, signed in as Paul Grocott and laid down a 14.4

Daniel Gibson, who posted a 1.17.8 whilst wearing a christmas present. Seriously.

Dan Gibson makes his presents known before gifting himself to the ground

Photo Credit: Kitman

With everyone retiring to the car to defrost, we wound up early, allowing the Squadron to get a photoshoot with their new team manager, John Lee.

So, it's goodbye to the 2009 season, and with it, goodbye to Aaron, who has turned Racersguild from an idea on the back of a beermat, to the monster it is today. We'll miss you buddy!

Media:

Photos:

DrifterJon's photos

Tim's photos

Paul's photos

Stu Hopkinson's photos

Kitman's photos

Video

Lance Netherton:


Ian@ Boon productions


See you all in 7pm, 2nd Jan 2010 @ Birches valley for the End of Season Party!