Two second places for GT Factory Racing in the Highlands

On: 14 May 2012 @ 3:26 pm
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Marc Beaumont and Rachel Atherton of GT Factory Racing both narrowly missed out on winning at Round Two of the British Downhill Series up at the brutal Fort William track.

Adverse weather conditions again came into play, a forecast of high winds and torrential rain led the organisers to bring forward Sunday’s race to Saturday evening . This time however it didn’t play in favour of the team who had only ridden the official practice allotted by the organisers. Many others, including both winners of the events,  had ridden earlier in the week to gain extra time on the long and testing track.

With only one day to get to grips with and then race the course both Marc and Rachel crammed in more runs than usual in a bid to get up to speed.

Rachel was first up, she was chasing down Round 1 winner Manon Carpenter who set a very strong time of 5.31.180. Rachel rode strong and fast, she was happy with her run which ended up shy of Carpenter’s time by 1.3 seconds. “It was hard up there today, I got as much done as I could,  but I really could have done with a few more runs to get my confidence up –  I guess theres nothing you can do about the weather!” mentioned Rachel.

Marc was in a similar situation to Rachel.  Having only one run on the Friday meant that he had to ride nonstop on Saturday to get to grips with the track, six practice runs is not the norm before a race run but in this situation it was all that could be done. The early time of Matt Simmonds seemed to be the one to beat and when Marc hit the final few jumps it was clear he was quicker, his time of 4.52.632 bettered Simmonds’ time by nearly 3 seconds with just one rider to go. But that rider was the current World Champion – Danny Hart. Hart had no issues with practice, he had been at the venue since Wednesday and this showed as he put in an amazing run to take the win by half a second over Marc. “it was a hard day for us today, we did what we could to claw back lost ground to the riders who had been here earlier this week.  I’m happy with the run and the bike was running really well so I can’t ask for much more” said Marc.

The team now rest up for a weekend before the next batch of races. Gee aims to be back on the bike for the IXS Cup in Leogang which precedes the second round of the World Cup in Italy.

Photo Credit: Jacob Gibbons

Rachel Atherton win iXS Season Opener

On: 02 May 2012 @ 11:55 am
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The first race of the iXS European Downhill Cup is now history, dominated by bad weather on race day it took a unusual twist of fate for Miss Atherton

As usual the year for the iXS races starts at Monte Tamaro in the Swiss Rivera. This year’s course was changed only slightly from last years being 2.5 k in length with a vertical drop of 640, which makes it one of the longest courses in the series. It wasn’t only the topography that made this track tough the course was littered with roots and rocks that put the riders all on edge as they tackled the tough track. The field of starters included some big names with a number of favourites for the podium.

After the weather conditions had been perfect for the official training on Friday and the seeding run on Saturday, things changed on Sunday as thick fog and rain made it impossible to secure the course. As a consequence the race had to be cancelled, as any attempts to rescue riders with the help of a helicopter would have been impossible. Therefore the results of the seeding run were declared as final results.

This played into GT Factory Racings hands as Rachel Atherton had taken the win in seeding giving her the title in the women’s elite class, finishing almost 12 seconds in front of the current world champion Emmeline Ragot . The course seemed to suit her well and although reluctant to push 100% she still managed to shine above the strong field.


Photo: Thomas Dietze

Rachel’s next event sees her up in Fort William, Scotland for the 2nd round of the British Downhill Series where she will be looking to continue this momentum on on another brutal track.

Beaumont stamps his Marc on the British National Series

On: 16 Apr 2012 @ 4:06 pm
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Marc Beaumont of GT Factory Racing took the opening round of the Halo British Downhill Series yesterday in drying conditions on the Coombe Sydenham racetrack.

The Somerset venue hadn’t seen a National round since 2004 but this weekend marked the Series’ return to the tricky course with riders facing varying conditions as showers passed over the event throughout its duration.

Saturday’s practice saw the most of the rain with a good downpour transforming the track to a wet slippery surface, however this improved steadily throughout the evening and Sunday.

Seeding saw the first glimpse of what Marc had in store for the weekend as he took the fastest time by a clear 3 seconds over Joe Smith and Josh Bryceland.

Seeding first meant Marc started the race as the last person on track and with times improving on the drying track he had a tough task ahead. Local South West rider Rich Thomas took the early pace but it wasn’t until Santa Cruz’s Josh Bryceland clocked a time of 2 minutes and 28 seconds that Beaumont’s seeding time of 2 minutes and 27 seconds looked to be in jeopady. Smith was next to come but a mistake up top cost him the chance of bumping Bryceland off the top, leaving only Marc.

A strong top section put him 1.6 seconds up on Josh at the interval time, a smooth second half of the run wowed the crowds as they watched on to see Beaumont take the win by a comfortable 2.9 seconds.
Beaumont, made up with the result, commented “it was a good run, I held back on entry speed on a few corners just to make sure I got around and out of them with the right speed, it’s great to take the first round and I’m excited about the rest of the season”. Marc races a local race next weekend before heading North for Round 2 of the British series.

Teammate of Marc and youngest Atherton sibling Rachel came close to a dream comeback after missing the first World Cup season in favour of recovering her troubled shoulder. Feeling strong but far from 100%, Rachel took to the track chasing young gun Mannon Carpenter who took an amazing 2nd spot out in South Africa.

A red flag during the race meant Rachel had to restart after a blistering top half – she didn’t get fazed and got stuck in once again on her re-start, unfortunately it wasn’t quite enough as she missed out to Carpenter by just 0.6 seconds.

However she was happy as it was good for her just to be back on her bike – ‘I’ve only ridden my new bike for 5 days including yesterday’s practice so I’m made up. I’m actually this close to Mannon, there’s time to knuckle down now though before the next race and that’s exactly what I’m going to do” commented Atherton.

Rachel’s brother Gee watched on from the sidelines having to sit this one out with a broken tibia. He’s hoping for a return before the next World Cup in Val di Sole, Italy, while eldest sibling Dan marks his start to the season in Italy at the Super Enduro event at the start of May.

Elite Men:

1. Marc Beaumont 2:25.976
2. Josh Bryceland 2:28.902
3. Brendan Fairclough 2:30.035

Elite Women:

1. Manon Carpenter 2:51.960
2. Rachel Atherton 2:52.594
3. Jess Stone 3:03.585

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