Stars Warm Up for Fort William in Style
Chain Reaction NPS Downhill Round 4
Caersws, 2 September 2007
Images: Jamie Watts
Link: other reports from the series: National Series Homepage
Elite podium - from the left, Fairclough, Chamellini, Gee Atherton, Mark Beaumont and Ralph Jones
Gee Atherton warmed up in great style for the World Championships with a good win in the fourth round of the Chain Reaction Cycles Downhill NPS series at Caersws in South Wales. He beat off the challenge of Frenchman Julien Chamellini by over a second, with Marc Beaumont just a tenth further back in third. Ralph Jones, in his first year as a Senior had his best result to date with fourth. Brendan Fairclough was fifth.
Gee has now extended his lead at the top of the series standing, though he'll have to wait till October and the final round at Innerleithen to find out if he can clinch the series.
Rachel and Gee Atherton made it a family double in the Elite categories
Danny Hart once again underlined his promise, recording the fastest time by a non-Elite rider to take the Youth category and 13th overall.
For those of us with one eye on next weekend, it was great to see Rachel Atherton get another race safely under her belt - she was the only Elite female rider on show, but her time was quick and she was looking good.
Marc Beaumont looks in good form ahead of the worlds
Working through the categories, Mark Scott took the Juvenile race from arch rival Lewis Buchanan - one or other is going to take the series, but it's anyone's guess who! Danny Hart's probably got the Youths sewn up - it'll take a crash to stop him after he maintained his 100% record with some ease.
In the Juniors, several of the top riders opted to miss the event with the Worlds looming, but Sam Shucksmith wasn't letting that bother him as he took the race by half a second from Jack Geoghegan. Jack, however, now looks well placed to take the series after a consistent season.
Honda stars Brendan Fairclough and Matti Lehikoinen
Paul French took his third win of the season in the Vet's race, but having missed a round it looks like Seb Ramsey will grab the series after second at Caersws. In the Masters, Chris Whitfield was the winner - his first victory of the season!
Gavin Black and Danny Hart turn on the style
The various Women's categories had a pretty small turn-out, but there were still a couple a couple of stand-out performances, with Habyblu Cann taking the senior race and recording second fastest ride by a woman on the day. Katy Curd continued her impressive development with a steady ride in the Junior category.
The senior Men's race went to Peter Williams from Nick Platt, with Alex Stock winning the Expert race ahead of Adam Brayton.
Caersws is steep, steep, steep in places!
