ZealOptics NPS Round 6 - White Horse Forest, Waterford

October 05

The long awaited final round of the Zealoptics Irish NPS (Round 5) took place on Sunday 9th October in White Horse Forest, Co Waterford. Home forest of Tom Power, the track attracted almost 100 riders to battle it out for final positions in the Irish Downhill NPS.

A wet start to Saturday morning saw most riders finding it difficult to even walk the course, and force them to opt for the mud tyres, although a blustery Sunday morning saw riders quickly change tyres as the track dried up at an amazing pace.

The Track

Off the 10 foot starting gate get a few peddle strokes in and your straight into a double, land then you pump into a bomb hole and Bern out of it into a rollable drop on to a rock garden followed by another rock garden jump out and you have a choice of 2 lines into small jump into another bomb hole, jump out and straight into a switch back with beautiful berms, out of the second berm, into a hip jump then get set up for a drop into berm, drop off, hit the berm, jump over a wall into a rock garden, then into small technical rooty switch back, choice of 2 lines to line you up for the table top, land then over a wall-rock garden tight corner into very tricky steep rock section, bit of a technical section, into berm over a roller into rock garden, then there is choice of few lines for a series of bermed corners then into straight steep sprint for "the gap", 12 x 25, into big berm, to tight technical rooty corner, then a sprint for about 15 seconds, over a hump into a very fast rooty bit with nice line choice, through a couple of pumps then FINISH on the beach.....

The Racing

U14

The U14 category was as always, highly contested, with the usual faces showing up. Congratulations to Robert Duggan who took his first win of the year, followed by David McManus, who managed to get his second consecutive 2nd place position. Watch out lads for next season, newcomer to Irish DH racing, Brian Grant, took 3rd position, knocking some of the usuals off the winners podium.

U16

Seanan O'Riordan was back to winning form in the U16 category with a time which would have placed him high on the Juniors result with a 1.47.60. Jason Murphy took second position, closely followed by a first time podium for Ewan Doherty in third position.

Vets

A highly contested vets field saw Dave McManus taking the winners position, followed by his closest competitor this year, Tom Clogher who managed to step up the pace in his second run and take second position. Fresh onto the scene from a MotoX background, Paddy Serridge took third position in his first ever race, despite a big crash in his first run, and a spectator running out in front of him on his second run. Peter Popham took fourth followed by Vincent Bradley in fifth!

Ladies

It was great to see Aoife O'Donoghue give Michele something to worry about when her first run time beat Michele by one hundredth of a second, however, not one to take defeat lightly, Michele stepped it up a gear in her second run to win by 20 seconds!

Senior

Series leader Ricky Lawrence went home happy as he took his 4th win of the year riding as a senior..... What category will Ricky be racing in next year? Rival Mark Smith stepped up the pace in his second run, but couldn't managed to put Ricky off the hot seat. Cork lad Damien Daly followed Mark Smith to hold on to his third position for the third time this year.

Masters

The most talked about category of the weekend, as Downhill legend Dave O'Hara re-appeared to the scene. A broken chain on his first run meant he didn't finish the run, although his second run time still wasn't good enough for series winner and his 5th occasion on the winners podium for Marty McGuigan. Ian McIntrye went home happy and 'unharmed' with his third place position followed by Mark Dickson, who unfortunately went home after a crash in his second run and a possible broken shoulder.

Junior

The junior category was once again blown away when Dan Wolfe took the fastest time of the day with 1.33.66. Again this is Dan's impressive fifth win of the season. Dan was followed by Paul Cummins on 1.39.63 and Stephen McClintock who took third position. Elsewhere in the junior category, Richard Smith was seen limping as he crashed on his first race run and went home with a suspected fracture in his foot.

Elite

As most of the elites turned out for the first time this year, the category was overcome with talent, with everyone trying to prove their abilities. Gerard Wolfe came home with a time of 1.34.58 followed by track builder and race organiser Tom Power on 1.34.61. Andy Smith, who came third with a 1.35.65 couldn't be beaten by Irish top pro Glyn O'Brien who finished with 1.38.40.

An excellent race organised by the Waterford crew, with excellent organisation, great uplifts, a great track and plenty of wind to keep the riders going faster! This race saw the conclusion of the ZealOptics Irish NPS league, one of the most successful leagues to date. Riders interested in their overall position should check out the IrishNPS league tables in the results section for up-to-date standings.

A big thank you to Zeal Optics who provided excellent prizes for the winners in each category, including top of the range glasses, t-shirts, caps and gloves. Other sponsors of the event included Gatorade and Grossman. Although the event couldn't have went ahead without the permission of the local land owners, and without a doubt, this made the event the success that it was.

A full selection of photos will be available in the gallery soon, courtesy of Nigel Elder. Anyone wishing to obtain copies of Nigel's pics can do so by e-mailing him on nigel.elder1@btinternet.com. Photos cost £10 each.

For a full list of results click HERE