Plymouth NPS Race

Three club members made the long journey south for the final round of the 2010 NPS series. We left on Thursday evening and split the journey on the way down. Practice day was on the Friday with race day on the Saturday. It was an interesting course with a lot of grass and two interesting river crossings, a pipeline and some bomb holes to contend with. One of the water crossings was about 20 seconds from the start line – so the feet didn't stay dry for long!

Jenna, Ross and Ryan all started racing at 10am – Jenna had to complete 2 laps and the boys 3 laps. Jenna rode steadily, smiling as she crossed the water and without any problems finished in 3rd position. This gave her enough points to finish 3rd overall in the series for 2010.

The boys both had a tough race. Ross got a bad start but quickly worked through the field, making place up all the time and looking strong. He was heading for a top 12 finish but was very unlucky on the last lap with 3km to go to the finish, his chain snapped. He made the decision to run to the finish rather than waste time fixing it and crossed the line in 18th position. These points meant that Ross finished the series in 14th place overall.

In contrast, Ryan had a very strong start but lost many places on the first lap, coming round to start his 2nd lap behind Ross, in about 14th place looking very uncomfortable. However, his 2nd and 3rd laps were much faster and he crossed the line in 7th place. Ryan had secured enough points to win the British series overall for 2010 which was some consolation, as he has experienced a mixed season.

Next year, Jenna will step up to Youth category and both Ryan and Ross will step up to the Junior category.