Orange Bikes
Friday, May 22, 2009 - posted by Alasdair MacLennan
Chris Hutchens wins at SDA2, Fort William
Event: SDA Round 2 Fort William - 17 May 2009
Fort William is one of those races that everyone looks forward to. Rough, fast and at times just plain scary, the track is the biggest in the UK and forces everyone to step up a gear when riding there for the first time that season. This year it was the turn of the SDA to start things off with their race just one week after the track opened for 2009 and just weeks before the World Cup circus hits the town. Never one to give sunshine if rain, wind and hail will do, this year was no exception with heavy wind on Friday stopping play early and much the same being forecast for Saturday. By the time practice finished on Saturday there were stories aplenty of riders having had some sideways moments because of the wind and some even being blown clean off the track.
With a World Cup round on in Andorra, some of the top boys were away playing but the competition was still as tight as ever.
With many of the top riders across the categories flying the flag for Orange, kicking it all off in Juvenile are brothers Ross and Stuart Wilcox who managed second and third respectively with support from iCycles. Bex Reilly of Uplift Scotland was second in the womens whilst Emma Atkinson of 777 racing took the win, both on 224’s. First and second in the Veterans were also an all Orange affair with the local Alastair MacLennan taking victory for Off Beat Bikes over Glentress Riders’ Neil Wilson. In Juniors, MTBCut’s James Scott put in a storming time of 5:17 for victory on his new 224 Evo whilst his team mate Chris Hutchens pulled out a 5:09 for victory in Elite. Meanwhile, Gary Forrest, onboard his luminescent yellow steed, came in third on a 5:12.
The next big race in the UK is round two of the NPS in Llangollen with the World Cup following a week later back here in Fort William.
Words: Alasdair MacLennan
Pics: Ian MacLennan and Ian Linton