Round two of the Halo British Downhill Series took place at a sun drenched Moelfre in Wales last weekend and, with temperatures more akin to California than West Wales, a hot and dusty track was to be the setting as the Steve Peat Syndicate guys set themselves up for a full on weekend of racing.
Pitted alongside the Santa Cruz Syndicate, SPS riders swapped notes on race lines amongst themselves and the Syndicate stars, Josh Bryceland and SPS team boss Steve Peat, again demonstrating the ever-growing team spirit in the camp.
For anyone visiting the pits between runs, the sight of the Santa Cruz Syndicate and the SPS team bikes lined up alongside each other powerfully reinforced the dominance of the Santa Cruz V10 in downhill racing with fifteen of California’s finest rigs lined up together.
Nathan Vials continues to be a star performer in Expert for SPS following his strong ride at Nant Gwrtheyrn in round one. Now on his way to compete at the World Cup in South Africa, Vials prepared for his senior world debut with a flying second place and missing top spot by just 0.2 seconds. His performances on the bike so far this year have really highlighted just what a talent he is for the future of British downhiling.
In the Junior category, Josh ‘Loosedog’ Lewis demonstrated just what hard work and training can do for your riding. Always a talented and committed rider, his career best 6th place finish at Moelfre proved that he’s now got the consistency and fitness to back up his natural riding talent. Few have worked harder than Loosedog in preparation for the season, and in the Moelfre sunshine, the rewards for that hard work started to show missing the podium by a hair’s breadth.
Fresh from his second place in Elite and sporting a brand new TAG Heuer watch for clocking the fastest speed in the speed check, Peaty had this to say: “What an awesome weekend. The SPS pits are shaping up to be a great atmosphere with everyone having fun, learning and improving.
“When I was out on track doing practice runs, it gave me great pleasure to see the SPS guys representing themselves and their team by helping each other, talking lines and bike set up. It’s a funny feeling getting excited for those guys about to do their run whilst getting excited about my own performance at the same time”
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