Flow Racing hosted the second round of the Irish DH NPS 2008 and as this was their first ever event and a new race location to boot there was perhaps some trepidation and expectation amongst the usual suspects

We were promised flat out track of 3.00 plus and that’s not far from what we got with only a handful of riders managing to break the 3.00 barrier. The track has been described by some as being the best in Ireland at the moment with a great deal more potential and there’s no doubt that if the weather had been more kind on Saturday and the track had stayed dry the times would have been a lot quicker.

But, this is Ireland, it’s only April, what do we really expect. The track changed with the rain and although large tracts of it dried out during Sunday some sections, and the last section in particular before the fire road finish, turned into a bit of a “quag-mare” with very few riders getting the jump onto the fire road due to lack of velocity caused by the sticky mud. Some bikes were coming to a standstill because of everything clogging up with mud and if you didn’t have spikes well……!

This was Flow Racing’s virgin event and there were some problems experienced, namely with the uplifts and getting the results out. The club did however react quickly with the uplifts and there was a dramatic improvement on the Sunday. The timing was probably an issue of inexperience and an eagerness to get them right….no harm in that and Flow has already said that their next event will have live timing. Let’s not let those flaws take away from what was an excellent location and well run event and it is refreshing to see another team take on what is not an easy job. If the Flow guys (and gals) didn’t know what it took before they certainly know now and they cannot be commended highly enough.

The racing itself was fierce and competitive and as you might have expected local knowledge helped a bit on the new course with the Flow boys taking a number of wins and podium places. Nearly 180 riders signed on, confirming that DHs popularity is increasing, no doubt due to the atmosphere, the spectacle that is DH and the undoubted improvement in the now expected levels of organisation. Did I hear someone ask why it is not an Olympic event?

U14

Dan Sheridan (Flow Racing) continues to dominate the U14 cat along with Christopher McGlinchey (CRC) and Cameron Cornforth (021 Racing) and these three filled the top 3 places.

U16

Gavin Carroll (Flow Racing) is the “man” to beat in the U16s and as expected he took an emphatic win from Gavin Kelly and Robert Duggan (Killarney DH), with Kyle Rimmer (CRC) finishing just off the podium in fourth.

SUPER VETS

Event organiser Peter Popham (Flow Racing) took the victory by an impressive 15 seconds from Tom Sheridan (Epic MTB), Derek Cowan (CRC) and the irrepressible Tom Clogher (TC Racing) making a welcome return to the DH race scene.

VETS

The always stylish Stevie Davidson (CRC) took the honours in the Vets with the ever improving Colin Finlay taking second from Carl “Bananaman” Young and Joe Jackman who were separated by less than a second.

LADIES/GIRLS

Maeve Baxter (Revolution Cycles) is fast becoming a fixture on the top of the podium and she was clear winner from Aoife O’Donoghue and Natalie Jedda (Epic MTB) with Michelle McCartney (CRC) making her comeback after a lengthy injury and Joanne McCallum also making welcome appearance.

SPORTS

James O’Reilly, Paul McGarry, Michal Domaradzki and Tomak Kvjaz were the main protagonists and they finished in that order with Michal and Tomak separated by just over a tenth of a second.

SENIORS

This was as usual one of the biggest categories and the 3 stand out riders, Dave Egan (Sunn Bikes), Rory Beirne (UCD) and Chris Mullen (Banbridge CC) took the podium places in that order, with Chris being one of the few riders to clear the jump onto the last fire road cleanly.

MASTERS

Eighteen riders battled it out in this cat and it was Michael Cowan (CRC) on his new Intense M6 who came out on top with his second run time of 3.04.085. CRC team mate and mechanic extraordinaire Dale McMullan just pipped expectant father Joe Ward (Potato Bred) to second place.

JUNIORS

In what was probably the strongest junior entry this year so far, Seanan O’Riordan (Flow Racing) took the first run lead from his team mate Dave Keenan (Flow Racing) with Ewan Doherty (Wheelbase/Wiki Wheels) coming home in third. The second run times were in general quicker as the track dried out and it was the “in form” Ewan who took the win with his second run time of 2.51.228 from Seanan on 2.55.926 and David on 2.58.375. All 3 riders would have finished comfortably in the Elite top 10.

ELITES

As expected this was a tight cat with Dan Wolfe (Flow Racing), Stevo Beattie (Real Cycles/Big Tree Joinery), Glyn O’Brien (Kona/Sombrio), Colin Ross and Gareth McKee (Banbridge CC) all showing form so far this season and looking very quick in practice. Dan Wolfe managed the fastest time in both runs to hold off a very determined Stevo. Glyn’s much improved second run time was good enough to claim third spot with Colin and Gareth relegated to fourth and fifth respectively.

A great event and some good results for the Flow Racing Team in their home event. A big thank you to Coilte for allowing the race to go ahead and also to the local residents who hopefully enjoyed the race and were not inconvenienced. Thanks also to Orla and Fran for sign on, Sarah, Lisa and Marie - Clair for the finish,

Paul and Liam for the start, Dave Carroll for providing the jeep and trailer, and Jamie for travelling marshal and for entertaining us after the race with a full race run on his KTM. It would be a remiss if the efforts of Peter Popham and Damian Duggan were not also recognised as well as all the track builders and designers…..who ever you were….! Congrats and everyone is looking forward to next years event already.

Next round…this weekend in Dunmanway, Co. Cork, with the 021 Racing Team as hosts. See you all there!