This last weekend was meant to have seen the biggest DH race this country
has ever seen. And, for some riders who made the trip north to Fort William, it WAS
the biggest race ever. But with the exception of Crawford Carrick-Anderson, Matt
Farmer and Glyn O Brien, the field was thin. Not even Nico turned up, "at a
bike show" or "broken his bike" depending on who you talked to.



That doesn’t mean that people didn’t enjoy themselves. Matt and Fabien Barel were
the only riders to post a sub 5 minute time, and that 5 min run wasn’t on twisty
singletrack – it was on fullspeed DH track specially built for the event.



Scanning the entrants and finishers list, the only "PONTING" there wasn’t
Tim Ponting, Team Animal rider, but some lad called Steve Ponting. No other amusing
names, and few names you’d have heard before. Respect to the Planet X team (Fish,
Glyn, Kodak, etc) for making the trip from Sheffield, and huge respect to the team
who came up from Honiton in Devon in a Transit… HOW FAR????



What annoys me, and the others that made the trip up there is the blank the event
was given by the majority of UK riders. Most of the riders there were the hardcore
Scottish DHers who will dominate the UK scene in years to come. When the likes of
Rob Warner and other racers constantly moan about the quality of UK racing, then
choose to miss the event that hopefully would have given the UK a chance of hosting
a world cup round, a course that’s 5mins long, a course with Gondola access set in
on of the UKs only ski-resorts… that sucks.



Shame on you, all riders who chose to attend the SAMS race. Whilst we appreciate
the need for season-long points, Team Animal and the likes of Ponting, Robin Kitchen
and other riders like Stefan Gleed and James Allaway chose to ride a nice safe little
southern race, rather than help support the sport and increase the chances of a UK
World Cup round.



Hats off to anyone who rode the course and attended. You know how good it was, now,
let’s make everyone jealous!



Check out Descent-World’s and Gofar-mtb.com’s coverage of the race.



Pic (C) Gofar-mtb.com. Thanks lads