The first carpark urban dual that the UK has ever seen took place at Dumfries Place, Cardiff last night in the multistory carpark above the Evans Cycles shop.
90 riders signed on to the start sheet for a chance of winning a big fat £1000 cheque in the Sunday night race. The format was side by side dual racing, 4x start gate, and a 40+ second track descending 4 levels of concrete and tarmac. The fastest 16 qualified for the finals, then had two runs, one in each lane.
4x riders lined up against downhill riders, enduro riders, dirt jump riders and even one bloke on a Brompton folding bike (he didn’t qualify by the way).
Times were tight and only 0.7 seconds separated the top 16 riders. Nathon Parsons put down the fastest quali time with a 40.472 from Scott Beaumont and Max Robinson. When the racing started, nobody quite knew what to expect. Cornering grip was patchy and a few riders slid out and hit the deck. The stair drop caused a fair few punctures too. Martin Ogden and Alex Metcalf clashed in the B final and Oggy went down. Lewis Lacey got the better of Nate Parsons in the main final and walked away with a big grin and the quid cheque!
Katy Curd was in a league of her own in the women’s race and took the winner by a carpark mile.
Big thanks to Evans Cycles for all their help. I think this style of all weather, urban descending has a future for city centre racing. Stay tuned for news about the next race!
We’ll have a DirtTV video out soon with all the race action, so keep them peeled.
King of the CarPark Lewis Lacey and his big fat cheque.
Lacey on the steps.
Lacey, Parsons and Metcalf on the box.
Katy Curd took the win from Jess Greaves and Rachel Burridge.
All sorts of riders turned up, from dirt jumpers to downhillers…
…and even this guy on a folding Brompton!
