If the crowds that turned out to watch Friday evening’s World Cup 4X qualifiers at Fort William are anything to go by, the “real” racing on Saturday is going to be massive. The qualifiers are a simple one rider, one run, one time deal – the times are used to sort the riders into four-man heats for the main event.

They also give the crowds a chance to suss out the best spectating spots – there’s a berm up near the top that riders are jumping into and it’s getting pretty cut up. We expect the course crews (who’ve spent most of today sweeping, grooming and buffing the course to perfection) will sort it out before tomorrow’s racing but it’s bound to get interesting as the heats go on. What’s also pretty obvious is that, although there are a lot of options, there’s one distinctly favoured fast line down the course. Which will, naturally enough, have four people at a time heading for it…

No big surprises in the qualifying times, with 4X specialists Wade Bootes and Mike King heading the table. Britain’s Steve Peat is in third spot ahead of Chris Powell. Other notable Brits include Dave Wardell (14th), Gee Atherton (19th), Scott Beaumont (23rd) and Steve Atkins (25th).

Over in the women’s event, Anne-Caroline Chausson is top of the tree ahead of Celine Gros. Big shout to Britain’s Joey Gough in third, and also to Kim Boffey – she had a big stack in practise but eased down the course to get a qualifying time. Unfortunately her bike’s bust – the call’s gone out to source a replacement for tomorrow…