Turner Takes Another Win

Isle of Man DH Round 1 Ballaugh Plantation 11/04/2010

Good weather,a good turnout & good racing meant a good start to the 2010 downhill mountain bike series.

The track 'monster T' is a big favourite with the Manx riders as its tight,fast & technical through the trees,with very fast decents over the roots & rocks & plenty of off camber sections,berms & drops to test their nerves,stamina & skill.

Mark Turner continued where he finished the 2009 series taking another win in the juniors with a stunning time that placed him 9th overall on the day. Cai Illingworth took 2nd with a great time just beating Matthew Clague into 3rd place followed by Matthew Kermeen & Callum Purved in 4th & 5th place respectively.

The masters is a new catagory for 2010 with several riders now 30 & over. Russell Sansom took the win & 4th overall. Gareth Fargher took the runners up place & 6th overall,with Lee Marshall taking 3rd spot on the podium & 8th place on the day. Rich Cryer had a good debut after making the sensible switch to the dark side & taking 4th in the masrters,followed by Slavek Marchewka also riding well to take 5th place.

In the seniors,first place held no suprises with Tom Skillicorn again taking another win. Brian Ravenshear had a great days racing showing he is going to be a force this year & wasnt to far behind in 2nd place just pipping Lee Corlett,who also showed he will be a rider to watch this year into the 3rd spot on the podium. Pete Kermeen also impressed in 4th place,along with Ben Hardy in 5th. The following 9 riders were only seperated by 18 seconds,so as the year progresses & riders get upto speed it should prove to be one of the closest series yet with any of the riders ready to capitalise on mistakes made by others & get on the podium.

The club would like to thank all the marshals,the first aid,uplift drivers,Bikestyle for the prizes,Pheonix Communications for the 2way radios,the commisaire,DAFF,Pete Faragher for starting the riders off & Manx timing solutions for the digital timing.

Round 2 is on 2nd May at Arrasey plantation,visit www.iomdh.co.uk also Manx Uplift are running monthly uplifts at various plantations,visit www.manxuplift.com for further details.!

Pictures are available below:

~Mike's Photographs

Sarah's Photographs

Ean Proctor's Photographs

Russ Sansom