Thetford MTB Race Report

Mike Thompson and Mark Grange entered the 4th round of the Whtye Winter Series which was held on Sun 28th Feb 2010.  The race took place in deep Suffolk - to be precise  firebreak 30 near Tunstall north of Ipswich.   Mike  in the 14-17 years category, a 2 hour race whilst Mark was racing in the 40+ again a 2 hour event.   Both riders arrived on Saturday in sunshine and with enough daylight to ride the dry course set over 6 miles consisting on single tracks and forest breaks.  A recce of the route is always recommended so that there is no surprises and quick lines can be checked out.  This event usually has a part on the loop which gives an option of two differing sections labelled with a tortoise and hare sign but on  riding them both the tortoise option was clearly the faster section.  We arrived back at the car and spoke to the event organiser who asked if the course was drying out well..it was not destined to stay like this.  With the ride and recce finished it was time for a quick trip back to the travel lodge. We met one man at the lodge who was racing the next day as well and thought he had travelled a long way from Derbyshire!  We managed to beat his distance by around 90 miles.

We awoke on Sunday to heavy rain  it was bad very bad…wet and windy.  It was going to be a hard slog over a very muddy course.   We arrived at the event in plenty of time and signing on sheets were lacking signed up riders.   A warm up consisted of a sit in the car with heaters on full blast and heated seats on…with 10 mins to go we rode a quick warm up on the bikes .  Mike was off first with the Juniors going 5 minutes before the main field.  However Mike managed to miss his start and arrived a few seconds late much to the joy of the PA who announced to all that there was a late starter.

Mark went next and managed to avoid the two large crashes 15 metres from the start which took down several riders and he made the first single track in the top 15 riders - a good start. 

Mike rode the 2 hours event well and managed to catch up with the main field and then showed his skill in riding in thick rutted mud routes and soon cleared the field to reach the first few riders.  He overtook the series leader Bradley Burbridge who had won the last two races.  A duel then ensued between Joshua Hannan and Mike for first place, Joshua was a more powerful rider but Mike made ground with his skill.  The race finished close with Mike taking second and Joshua first by a 6 seconds lead over Mike which he made in the last few hundred metres of the course. Third place Bradley Burbridge finished around 16 minutes behind.   

Mark meawhile had a good first lap but then was struck with almost constant chain suck which meant pedalling 3 revolutions and back pedal one, so after 2 laps retired.  However it was clearly a hard race for everyone else as he still managed to come 13th in his category.

Mike has had some good results in the series and in the three events he rode he has had a 3rd, 4th and 2nd  place.   Mike Thompson is due to start racing in the British National Points Series this March.  He is currently being coached by our club coach Mark Grange.

Comments are closed.