Carling pips Mapley in descent-season opener

JIMMY CARLING edged an excellent battle with John Mapley to take senior honours in the first round of the mountain bike downhill season. Talbot Valley was the venue for the Holeshot and Animal-sponsored event, which also included the opening 'duel' competition of the year.

Part of the downhill course was used in the previous week's cross-country race, which left it muddy and slow, not ideal conditions for the normally much higher speeds of the downhill competitors.

A few of the riders worked hard through the week to drain water from the bottom of the course to try to make it faster.

The downhill event was held in the morning, with competitors allowed a two-hour practice session.

The hardtail category was the first to go and it quickly became obvious that the lighter bikes with no rear suspension were going to benefit through the tight corners in the woods. Jason Le Page won the category in 42.56sec. setting the pace for the rest of the riders to follow.

The junior class was won by Pierre Lowe with Jack Sunderland in second place and Tom Lalor of Sark third.

John Mapley and Jimmy Carling were locked in a battle for first place in the seniors.

On his second run, Carling was able to beat Mapley's impressive sub-40 second first-run time allowing him to claim first place and the fastest time of the day.

In the afternoon duel event, competitors names were drawn out of a hat to see who they would be facing in the first race and winners would go through to the next round.

The 34 competitors were gradually whittled down, after some very exciting head-to-head racing, to Jack Sunderland and Andy Colver to compete for top spot.

Sunderland managed to hold on to his good start out of the gate to claim first place.