Wideopen team rider Wayne trucked out to Portugal for Rd2 of the Maxxis Cup…
He reckons it was the best track he’s ever ridden and is already saving the pennies for a trip out for Rd3.
Here’s his repo and some snaps…
April 23 – 25th Saw round 2 of the Maxxis Cup International at Fafe. Leading upto the race it was on and off whether it would be happening for some Brits, with Iceland trying to mess things up again by chucking volcanic ash all over the place. Luckily after a mad dash to the airport, we made it through and it was go time! The volcanic ash actually worked in our favour at the airport as Ryanair weren’t charging for overweight baggage so they could do fast turnarounds. Result!
Sign On on Friday morning wasn’t straight foward as the organisers were demanding letters from British Cycling for each rider to say that they were insured to race in Portugal. Some had letters and some didnt, but a quick round up of names and a phone call to BC got sorted easily enough. Shout out to Monet Adams for getting on the Dog and Bone to sort it, nice one! So if any of you readers are thinking about going out to any of the remaining rounds then get one of these for your trip!
The Maxxis cup is spread over 3 days. You get Friday and Saturday practice with racing Sunday and a small bit of practice in the morning. With the uplift only taking 5 minutes and the transport being flatbed vans it was easy to put in 10 – 15 runs in with an hour and a half siesta at lunchtime!
Friday practice was quiet and the majority of riders seemed to be Brits. The ground was firm and everything was holding up on the track. The track was a mix of loose corners, drifty berms, rock drops nd big step downs. A real tough bit was the first big step down/gap up in the top section. You really don’t want to mess this one up as Propain Bikes rider Harriet Latchem found out, she only suffered a few cuts and bruises though! Unfortunately, on the Saturday practice Joe Horton also did the same and broke his ankle.
Race day came around and the Brits were pinning it in qualifying runs. I saw the top 10 and at one point there were 8 Brits in there! Come race runs the track was really blown out in a few corners but was still brilliant to ride. Watching the riders coming down there seemed to be a lot of guys getting flats on the second race runs, Scotty Mears came through the bottom rock garden with 2 punctures but still made the rims work to the bottom, Adam Morgan also came through with a front flat which made him crash in the rock garden!
The top 10 men’s results were:
1 Bernat Guardia Pascual (Spa) 0:02:11.39
2 Emanuel Pombo (Por) 0:00:03.03
3 Antonio Ferreiro Pajuelo (Spa) 0:00:04.11
4 Sam Dale (GBr) 0:00:04.73
5 Harry Heath (GBr) 0:00:06.13
6 Claudio Loureiro (Por) 0:00:06.24
7 Alex Bond (GBr) 0:00:06.94
8 Adam Brayton (GBr) 0:00:07.29
9 Pasqual Canals Flix (Spa) 0:00:07.32
10 Luis Paulo Vicente Ferreira (Por) 0:00:07.77
and women’s:
1 Myriam Nicole (Fra) 0:02:43.98
2 Manon Carpenter (GBr) 0:00:00.87
3 Aimee Dix (GBr) 0:00:03.80
4 Harriet Latchem (GBr) 0:00:11.07
5 Carmen Martinez (Spa) 0:00:26.22
6 Monet Adams (GBr) 0:00:33.38
7 Ana Martins (Por) 0:01:01.97
8 Ajnoha Fontan Omil (Spa) 0:01:05.33
9 Diana Rodrigues (Por) 0:01:31.03
Everyone seemed to have a brilliant weekend, the Brits did well, the spectators were the best I’ve heard and the track was awesome! Of course, the weather was also spot on!
Next rounds are:
Port Aine on 26/27th June
Andorra on 03/04 July
The Wideopen 2010 team are supported by the following awesome companies:
BIG thanks to Joe Edge for the images from this one – Any shots of the rider in grey kit on a Lappierre are of him!
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We’re yet to confirm why Joe is sewing… stay tuned.
Why is that person doing cross stitch, isn’t that an old women’s hobby?
Cross stitch? Is that what it was?
Hmmm, takes one to know one eh?
I can answer the question about joe’s sewing.
Reason for this is that it was for monet adams (the female riders for transition) it was her textiles A level project and this small bit of cloth went around the pits having each person embroidering something on it like their name or what they are thinking.