Euan Hird, Final round of Scottish Winter Series

Round 3 – Scottish Winter Series – Innerleithen

Saturday Practice

I’d walked the track by torch light on arrival on Friday evening and went to bed really looking forward to what looked like a fast track. The strong winds were getting right in to the trees and for my first time a dry track at Innerleithen looked like it may happen. Saturday morning however changed all that. Heavy rain overnight had turned the ground back to porridge. My practice runs were OK but I never felt like I was managing to get the better of the mud and even my Muddy Mary tyres were just filling up especially in Innerleithen’s infamous bottom section. This left the crucial final turns to a bit of pot luck. With the track changing all the time I cut the day short mid-afternoon and decided to focus on Sunday morning practice to really get a feel for my race runs.

Sunday Race Day

I woke to find blue skies and a good breeze. A quick look at the bottom section of track confirmed the ground had dried out quite a bit overnight and would continue to improve as long as the rain didn’t return. I only did one practice run just to check the track and grip levels before going back up for my first race run. My first run was pretty clean and felt quick enough for a decent time. I crossed the line to hear “that’s Euan Hird of Rose Bikes in the hot seat for now” I proudly took up my position but only stayed there for long enough to open a free Red Bull before being bumped off by Niall Morrison who beat me by less than a second. By the time clear favourite George Gannicott crossed the line I had fallen back to 5^th but was still pretty chuffed.

When the time came to start my second run the track had dried even further so I set about a ‘balls out’ run for a shot at the podium. Everything was going well until I drifted wide on a very fast corner and slammed in to a rather large tree. Badly winded I set off again and tried to make up the lost time. I crossed the line breathing through gritted teeth only to find I’d lost 4 seconds on my first run making me one of few whose second run was slower than their first. This was good enough to hold on to 5^th but I really felt a podium was possible today.

I came in to the weekend wanting cement my top ten series position with an ultimate goal of retaining 5^th. Today’s result actually improves my final standing to 4^th. The 2010 Beefcake DH was flawless throughout the series for which I’d like to thank Finlay Paton of Rose Bikes UK who loaned me the bike until my 2011 bike arrives.

A two week break now before the SDA series starts with round 1 at Ae Forest. Another long drive south but I’m looking forward to it already.iHird

Photo - Paul Cram