The fourth round of the popular and exciting British Indoor Grand Prix Series held at Castleford saw a commanding win for Amanda Alldridge in the Ladies race while Robert Trebilcock went one better than he had done in the previous round to take the win in the Mens race. ... Millie Jackson and Kirsten Walton joined Alldridge on the Ladies podium while Olly Farr and Sam Carson made the Mens podium in a very competitive race.
With a challenging first run set by Toby Fischel, many of the racers were left frustrated by the course. A good clean run was imperative to be fast yet from inspection it could be seen that a high and rounded approach to the second gate gave the racers a smoother run through the offset section at the top of the course. Those that skied smooth and high as well as rounded were rewarded with good times and those that tried to go too direct suffered the ignominy of having to slam on the breaks and lost valuable time.
Trebilcock was fastest on both runs, using both his experience and skill to post good times. It would have been interesting to see how the winner of the first two rounds, Georgie Hunt, would have coped with the interesting first run course but you can only beat who is in the race and Trebilcock certainly gave the rest of the field a demonstration of how to ski fast. Round three winner, Dan Poth, was in the mix but left himself too much to do after a disappointing, in his mind, first run. With Hemel and PPS dominating the top six places in the mens race, just over a second separated places 2 through to 6. Dan Poth took fourth overall with Finlay Davies and Joshua Keane taking places four through to six.
While the series may not attract some of the best talent in the UK, it does attract those that have not yet taken the plunge and gone off to European Glaciers for the summer camps. It is also allowing this level of racer to show their talent and keep the competitive instinct alive and well. With a great atmosphere and superb support from Salomon, C-Tec and Snozone, the series is the longest existing indoor series in the UK and getting stronger.
In the mens race, there were age group wins for Scott Wylie (U14); Sam Carson (U16); Joshua Genther (U18); Olly Farr (U21); Robert Trebilcock (Sen) and Alex Molliex in the Masters.
Amanda Alldridge was the class act in the ladies race as she won convincingly both runs. With Emma Peters not racing in the second race of the weekend, Alldridge was over a second ahead of Millie Jackson, eight years her younger, on both runs with Kirsten Walton just over a third of a second further back. Shannon Potter and Lois Jackson rounded out the top five in the ladies race.
The race for third overall was pretty nailbiting for the racers involved as just seven hundredths separated Walton, Potter and Jackson after the first run. Try as they might, the order stayed the same after the second run as well with Walton extending her advantage over Potter and Potter in turn extending her lead over Lois Jackson. The course may be shorter than an alpine course but the need for a good clean fast run was just as important. While the podium places were tightly fought over, for Alldridge her competition came in the form of seeing how many of the Men she could beat. From having a time that would have placed her seventh in the Mens race, Alldridge moved up to sixth after the second run!
The age group wins in the ladies race went to Shannon Potter (U14); Millie Jackson (U16); Alicia Crocker (U18); Keri Anderson (U21); Amanda Alldridge (Sen) and Judy Reid in the Masters.
In the Mini's races, there were age group wins for Catrin Ferguson in the Under 10's and Matilda O'Brien in the Under 12's with Kayne Stanway in the boys Under 10 and Harry Cosham in the Boys Under 12 taking the wins. Great racing all round through the stubbies course for the young racers!
Pictures from the racing are available on www.racer-ready.ifp3.com under the RECENT EVENTS drop down.
Mens results -Â Race4MenResults
Ladies results -Â Race4LadiesResults
Mini results -Â Race4Minisresults
Picture of Amanda Alldridge on her way to winning the 4th race of the BIGP Series at Castleford. Credit RACER READY