L a t e s t  n e w s ..... Rachel Adcock and Gerard Flahive win both races at Scottish Dry Slope Championships ...

'The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams' (Eleanor Roosevelt).

After a week of hot weather, the clouds came in and the drizzle tried to stay away but it still could not make its mind up.  With two courses set by Welsh Team Coach, Robin Kellen, the racing was tight and exciting.  With Baggio and Hunt continuing their domination of this series, the race for the other places on the podium was the main interest.  Abby Clifford and Lauren Cadman took second and third in the girls race while Mike Hatcher and Dan Wyatt trailed in behind Hunt.

The race saw a number of the leading faces from the series in the men's race choosing not to race yet this did not detract from the fight for the podium places.  Despite Hatcher and Wyatt taking the places after the second run, Brian Byrne from Ireland took the fight to Hunt yet skied out on the second run.

In the age groups, Children 1 in the girls was won by Alessia Thomas Jackson, who finished a creditable 6th overall.  Jeni Thomas and Shannon Taylor took second and third in the age group.  Jake Williams took the spoils in the boys race comfortably ahead of Simon Lyons and Oliver Manley.

Children 2 saw a win for Baggio with Hannah Knowles and Kirsty Hatcher trailing in behind her.  Making a rare plastic outing this season saw Sam Wrench take victory in the boys race ahead of Piers Cadman and Christopher Markus.

Junior 1 saw a win for Abby Clifford just ahead of Lauren Cadman with Niamh Lyons taking third.  Benn Hall won the boys age group in taking 6th overall.  Alex Jeal took second with 9th and James Knock took third just outside the top 10 in 11th.

Such is the strength of the younger girls, none of the overall podium came from the Junior 2 category.  Rachel Adcock won the group ahead of Alice Thelwell with Rowan Vernon in 3rd, the three of them finishing 4th, 5th and 6th respectively.  Dan Wyatt took the age group win as well as taking third overall ahead of Andrew Crawford and Hugh Wilson.

Lucy Newman won the senior category and Janet Earnshaw Hamilton to the spoils in the Masters group.  The number of seniors continuing to take park shows the strength of male racing on the plastic series's.  With Hunt winning the age group, four of the first five overall were seniors: Hunt (1st), Mike Hatcher (2nd), Ben Clarke (4th) and Paul Telling (5th).  In the Masters age group, numbers are also rising. Paul Bunton won ahead of Rob Hales and Denis Cadman with Jim Gibb taking fourth on his first visit to Pontypool!

In the mini's race there were wins for Alex Bullock in the girls race ahead of Stephanie Davies and Sam Maurice.  In the boys race, Max Moss held off James Gibb and Ashley Breese with main rival, Max Baggio, missing a gate on the first run.  Mikey Knowles took fourth and Joshua Streeton fifth.

For full results click here

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