Fort Bill pics and info

From our man in the bar, sorry I mean pit lane.... Albie S.

"Hi All,

Apologies for the delay in getting this to you - internet in Scotland is rarer than hen's teeth!

Well, that was the spectacle that is Fort Bill. For those of you absent you missed a cracker. Not only was the racing action packed, the weather was awesome (I'm nursing a proper 'redneck' as I type this) and the Commencal Superteam delivered again; big time!

Sam Who???
It may be just me but I reckon Gee could have knocked Sam Hill's confidence for six with his performance in Andorra last weekend. The big man was on the pace for qualifying but still seemed a little less than happy with his time when he disappeared up a fireroad afterwards to "have a word with himself" (not my words).

DH Qualifiers:
Rachel unfortunately had an off in her qualifying run meaning she dropped valuable qualification points. The good news though is that she was an astonishing 5 seconds up on Sabrina Jonnier at the split before her crash. Here’s hoping for better luck in her final run. Rach is fine as is the bike, the prototype new Saint brake levers on the other hand... J

The boys followed on from their recent strong form. Gee qualified 2nd behind Greg Minaar with Sam Hill and Steve Peat filling 3rd and 4th respectively. Dan was right up there in the thick of it too with a 7th place spot, again proving he may well be the most talented multi-discipline rider in the world (on the back of his 3rd place 4X finish on Fri).

CG had a strong run to qulaify 15th and looked comfortable with the demanding course.

DH Finals:
One word to sum it up - tense! In the Men's Finals it typically came down to last rider on the hill to decide the outcome.

Cedric 'The Entertainer' Gracia lived up to his reputation with a no-hander over the hip jump that brings the rider into sight of the the crowds at the finishing line. A couple of 90 degree whips over the final jumps really got the crowd stoked. All this showboating and still a 15th place finish - the man's a living legend and true ambassador for the sport.

Dan 'Ladies Man' Atherton (see pic) put in an awesome perfomance to finsih 6th proving just how good an all-rounder he is. Gee was the penultimate rider on the hill and came down to a great ruckus when he set the fastest time and swipped the hotseat from Peaty. However all was not to be and an on-form Greg Minaar put in an awesome ride to find an extra 3 seconds over Gee.

There were reprts that Rach caught a pedal in the start gate that maybe cost her a bit of time but she still put in a great performance to finish 3rd behind Tracey and Sabrina. If you want to see just how much the 5min Fort Bill course takes out of you physically and mentally take a look at the pic of Rach following her Fianls run. Tough doesn't come close to describing this course.

Well done to Tracey, Peaty, Greg Minaar and all the Brits doing a sterling effort of representing both the sport and country this weekend!

Signing off
Albert"

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