The Cornforth brothers were on the podium again at round 2 of the Winter Series in Cloon Co. wicklow.

Cameron was on board his new Solid Mission 9 and finished in 2nd place in the U16 behind Tomacs Dan Sheridan who was the 4th fastest rider overall!

Luke Cornforth squeezed every second out of his Solid Harlem hardtail, but was just pipped into 2nd spot by Jake Dickson on his full suspension Iron Horse! Rumours say that Luke is going to be piloting a Solid Mission 7 very soon!

021racing was well represented in all categories by Denis Corkery, Kevin Ryan, the other Kev, Bobby St Ledger, Wesley O Connor and  Damien Daly on his new Trek Session. I however could not race after having had one too many cheeseburgers over the winter. Needless to say Im currently at weight watchers and will be back on the bike soon.

Well done to all!

Round # 4 of the Irish Downhill NPS returned to the same venue as Round 1, Scarragh woods, Cahir, Co. Tipperary.

Again for the third time in four races, 021racing were the organisers at this popular venue.

Riders were treated to a new course designed by Greg O’ Keeffe and they weren’t dissapointed.  At over two minutes long, it was fast and technical with very little pedalling.  The course started at the top of the mountain above the tree line with some amazing views across the Galtee mountains.

A big field of over 160 racers signed on, wanting to experience what the new track had to offer.  The weather couldn’t have been better and riders enjoyed a great deal of sun and dusty conditions, which isn’t your typical Irish weather.

Irish races are looking more professional as each race passes, with more campers, motorhomes and technical support than ever before.  Red Bull were on hand to make sure all the riders had plenty of energy.

So on to race day and with the sun shining, good tunes and Dave Barrett on doing the commentary, everything was set for a great days racing.

Starting as ever with the young guns, the U14s.  Series Leader Cameron Cornforth from 021racing suffered a nasty fall on his 1st run and this left his younger brother Luke into the hot seat.  Cam got patched up and just pipped his brother by .2 of a second to take the win.  Angus Fyfee took 3rd.

The U16s saw another upset.  Favourite for the series Dan Sheridan crashed and this let 021racings Stephan graef take a well deserved victory.

The junior category was dominated by 2stage bikes Greg Callaghan, who beat his Irish team mate Davey Graham by nearly 5 seconds, finishing with a great time of 2.12.

Sean Herlihy from Epic got onto his first podium of the season with a fine 3rd place, European Master Silver medalist Micheal Cowan finished in 2nd and Chain Reactions Dale McMullan took a fine win.

Carl Young took the win in the Vets category with a fine time of 2.31.

Flow Racings Tom Sheridan was the only Super Vet to go under the 3 minute mark, taking the win with a time of 2.57.

The Ladies was won by the new European Masters Champion Maeve Baxter, Epics Natalie Jedda was 2nd and Chain Reactions Michelle McMullan in 3rd.

Seniors was won by Epics Sketchy Ed Smith.

The Elite race was probably the closest in recent history with the top 3 riders only separated by .4 of a second, with all three riders finishing with a time of 2.09!  KTMs Colin Ross finished in third, followed by Jamie McCullogh in 2nd and 2stage Bikes Gareth McKee took his first win of the season.

So a great weekends racing was enjoyed by all and next stop for the Irish Series is Kilgarvan, Co. Kerry, see you all there.

Round 3 of the Irish Downhill NPS took place in very popular venue that is Rostrevor in Northern Ireland, the event was oraganised by the CRC crew.

The course was the same as the one used for the 2007 National Championships, when the Athertons turned up.  Onlly difference was how much rockier it was!  It’s a great track that broke a lot of bikes and bodies!  021racings Damien Daly was a victim from practice.

15 021 riders made the trip up North, everyone happy to be riding there bikes instead of organising!

Saturday was a wet and wild day, with plenty of spills and mechanicals, mainly rear mechs and punctures were the order of the day.  James from OC Tuning was kept very busy.

The  Sun came out on race day, this was 3rd sunny NPS in a row, hopefully it will continue for Cahir next month!

The U14s was once again dominated by 021racings Cameron Cornforth, winning by a massive 18 seconds!  His brother Luke had one of the rides of the day, taking 3rd spot on his single speed hardtail!

The U16s was won by Kyle Rimmer in the absence of Dan Sheridan.

Ladies was won by Revolutions Maeve Baxter.

Super Vets was won by Flow racings Tom Sheridan.

The Vets category was won by CRCs Stevie Davidson with a great time of 2.42, 021racings Antony Cornforth slid into 11th spot.

Sports was won by Rob Lane, with the sandbagger Gareth O Reilly in 2nd!

The Seniors was won by PS Cycles Will Jones who made the trip from Wales, Epics Adam Tynan took 2nd just ahead of Colin O Leary from Athlone.  021racings new man Bobby St Ledger took a creditable 9th place, Kev Ryan suffered with mechanicals all weekend took 26th, followed by Bigman in 27th spot.

Masters was once again dominated by CRCs Mick Cowan,  021racings Johnny T, another man plagued by mechanicals finished well in in 9th place,  Ian Kennedy kept it between the tape to finish 16th.

Juniors was won by the ever improving Davy Graham from Bike Tart, its good to see Davy in form ahead of next months European Championships.

The fastest man of the weekend was KTMs Colin Ross, who set a blistering time of 2.19, Jamie Turkey Mc Cullogh finished in 2nd with a great run time of 2.20, 2stage bikes Gareth McKee rounded off the podium in 3rd.  021racing didn’t fair to well, Darren Quille was best of the 021 lads in 12th place, Tom power had a few big crashes, 14th, Dave Egan continued with the crashing theme in 18th, 19th spot was filled by Rory O’ Keeffe and Rob Davis punctured on both runs to finish 21st.

So lots of room for improvement needed for NPS 4 in Cahir.

Despite the results everyone enjoyed a great weekends racing.

Round 2 of the Irish National Downhill Points Series, took place at Irelands most southern venue, Clashnacrona Woods, Dunmanway in Co. Cork. The race was organised by 021racing.

After much speculation on what course was going to be used, the organisers opted for the older NPS track with a few nice new additions, to keep everyone on their toes.

With this being the start of summer and a long weekend, riders travelled from all over the country and from Wales to take part in what promised to be a great event, it was great to see the lads making the trip across the Irish Sea!

The weather did its best to make sure no one got to dirty and for the second race in a row stayed sunny and dry for practice and race day, which makes racing so much more enjoyable and creates a great atmosphere.

Talking of creating an atmosphere, 021racing’s Rob Davis took on the responsibility of being commentator for the race, after a slow start and six cans of Carling later, Rob was giving it loads and did a great job keeping the spectators and riders entertained!

The U14s got the racing started and it was the Cornforth brothers riding for 021racing who took the top two spots, Cameron taking 1st, closely followed by luke on his hardtail! Angus Fyffe rounded off the podium in 3rd.

The U16s was won by Christopher Mc Glinchey from CRC, 2nd place went to Trailriders.ie’s Eoin Grant, and 3rd to Paul Smith

The Juniors was won by Davy Graham from Biketart, followed by Greg Callaghan, both lads will be representing Ireland at the European Championships in Slovenia next month. 3rd place went to the ever improving Gavin Carroll.

The ladies was won by Natalie Jedda with CRCs Michelle McMullan in 2nd.

In the Vets Steven Graham took the win with Carl Young very close behind and Joe Jackman taking 3rd spot.

The Super Vets was won by Flow Racings Tom Sheridan with CRCs Derek Cowan in 2nd.

The Masters was dominated by CRCs Micheal Cowan, with Mark Tiernan and Dale McMullan taking 2nd & 3rd respectively.

The Senior Category was won by Ed Smith, Conor Duffy taking 2nd and 021racings Sean Murphy rounded off the podium in 3rd.

Fastest man on the day was Flow Racings Ger Wolfe taking the Elite win ahead of OC Tunings Ewan Doherty and Dan Wolfe did well in 3rd after snapping his chain on the start line.

Once the racing was over the after party kicked off in Skibbereen and went on well into Monday morning and a few stragglers in Audi estates were spotted only leaving West Cork at 3pm on the Monday, no doubt with a few sore heads!

Results are available from NACC’s results archive HERE

Thanks to Ebor for the photos.

Next up is Round 3 in the very popular Rostrevor in Northern Ireland on the 23 & 24th of May, see you all there.

Denis Corkery is havng his 2nd uplift day on Sunday, Feb 1st in Clashnacrona, Dunmanway. It is no longer being held Kilgarvin.

Sign on starts at 10.00 with the  first uplift at 10.30 till everyone drops or it gets too dark to ride, whichever comes first.

Cost will be €25 (€20 with an 021 discount)

This was a cracking day last time and will get the lungs ready for Cloon next week.

Hope to see you there,

Kev.

We are raffling a solid acer xc frame, Ticket’s will be 10euro, Also on show will be the new Solid mission 9 dh frame.So everyone to the meeting see you all saturday.

The AGM is confirmed for next Saturday the 22nd of November. The meeting should only take an hour and will consist of membership for 2009, discussing the organisation of the two NPS rounds in Cahir and Dunmanway, future uplift days and training days and anything else you would like to discuss.

Venue, The Overdraft bar, next to Tracton Woods, Co. Cork.

Time, 12.30, thats the earliest they open!

Toasted sandwiches will be available.

The plan is to go for a spin in Tracton Woods after the meeting so bring your bike

Oc tuning : James O Carrol is Now a distirbibuter for Solid bikes http://www.solidbikes.de/eng/bikes.html Also for Imperial and Reverse Componements So if your stuck at any Race this year for Bar’s Grip’s Stems Oc tuning will have them For you

Best of Luck James

Well its almost christmas and time for the new mountain bike dvd’s to make way into our homes to keep us entertained for the new season ahead for us, and us pumped up.

Victory:

filmed and edited by Stu Thomson and John Lawlor The MTB Cut team who bring us all the world cup’s this looks like it will be a great Movie, Follow all the top riders including Greg Minnaar, Sam Hill, Gee Atherton and many more as they battle it out for honours in the World Cup and World Championship. From the rain soaked mountains of Bromont in Canada to the sun baked Slovenian hillside, 2008 was the most exciting years World Cup racing ever and its all documented in the DVD.

The Uprising:

Uprising from Callum Swift, who now lives in Ireland Has brought out a very good Dvd of all The world’s Top young rider’s such as Irelands own Ben Reid and Seanan, Also included are Josh brycland, Sam blenko, Gee and dan and good auld Rach. Check out the Trailer at www.theuprising.com

Foot Out Flat Out:

A dvd from across the pond FOFO documents the British race scene and includes riders such as Rowan Sorrell, Nikki Whiles, Ashley Mullane, Matt Simmonds, Neil Donoghue, Sion Whitecross, Tom Wheeler. Races include a Welsh Dragon at Rheola , NPS Rounds 1, 2, 4, 5, Fort William WC. Plus the Red Bull Empire of Dirt, Decoy Trails BMX and the Weston Beach Race MX.

Well it has happend, Peter Van Den Abele the uci co-ordinator for cyclecross and mountain biking has stated that the Uci will be banning skin suits from next year onwards the decision for this was made 2weeks ago by the Uci.