The red white and blue jersey holders for 2001 were decided on a sticky and slippery Shropshire course this weekend with honours going to rising stars and hardened campaigners alike;

1stOLI BECKINGSALE (SCOTT UK)02:16:162ndBARRIE CLARKE (DIAMONDBACK)@ 01:163rdCARL STURGEON (BE ONE BIKES)@2:37

1stCAROLINE ALEXANDER (SPECIALIZED)02:11:522ndSUE THOMAS (TEAM Y2K)@ 07:463rdJENNY COPNALL (BERGHAUS/BIANCHI)@ 09:38

1stROB WARNER (GIANT)02m 36.866s2ndWILL LONGDEN (TEAM MBUK)02m 41.398s3rdED MOSELEY (ANIMAL/ORANGE)02m 45.038s

1stFIONN GRIFFITHS (ANCILLOTTI UK/ZEAL)03m 03.711s2ndTRACY MOSELEY (TEAM KONA/FORD FOCUS )03m 09.659s3rdADELE CROXON (ANIMAL/ORANGE)03m 25.864s

 
And now here’s the report on the weekend’s action from Russ at Team Kona Ford Focus.
Hi All,
Well it’s turned out to be another great weekend for the team. Everyone was feeling alittle drained from all the traveling but this was Scott’s and Tracy’s home track so they had to get a good result.
Practice started on Friday and luckily it wasn’t raining, practice went well for us and we had no problems – a couple of crashes but nothing major. We were also testing wireless radios for the riders as we wanted to be able to tell the rider if they were up or down on the split time of other racers, so this was a good time to test them and the riders liked using them.
Unfortunately on Saturday morning the rain came and it was a quick panic trying to decide the best tyres for the conditions.
Darren was our first rider down and had a good run, he was looking for a win here but it didn’t happen and was pleased to finish 5th. Pete had a flying run, he was really enjoying this course and finished 31st, he was the 6th fastest no elite rider.
Ross had his luck against him, before he went up for his run it was still raining so he decided to run mud tyres, but as he got to the top the rain had stopped and as this course was very hard pack it dried up quickly, so had a hard run on those tires and finished 82nd.
Then it was Tracy’s run, she was getting on ok with the course and was really wanting to keep her jersey, but disaster struck as she came into the top wooded section of the course, she couldn’t see as the light went and crashed into a tree and went over the bars. Tracy picked up her bike and crossed the line in 2nd spot, to Fiona Griffiths. She was disappointed but I think this will just get her more fired up ready for next weekend!
Scott was then our last rider down, it had been raining for a while now and everyone was crashing and having real problems, but Scott came across the line with great time and took over the hot seat, and he managed to stay there for a while before Ed Moseley came down and beat Scott’s time by .6 of a second. Scott eventually finished 4th overall, his best ever National Championship DH result!
After this event Scott and Tracy also took part in the London to Cambridge Bike Ride to raise money for “Break Through For Breast Cancer”, they were a bit tired before the start of this event but were very pleased they took part at the end.
Next week we are in Japan for the next round of the Tissot World Cup, I’ll let you know how we get on.
See Ya, Russ.
Watch this space for Caroline Alexander’s report of her total domination of the womens Elite XC event shortly.