I was stung by a bee once, yes, £10 for a jar of honey…owwww!

Here’s a great race repo from round 2 of the Gravity Project Honey Series with a quick intro video from the Honey Monster himself.

Gravity Project Honey Series Round 2 2013

A return to the Quarry.

Words: A. Focker
Photos: BigMacPhotography
Additional images: Joe Killner

If you read the first round report you should have a basic idea of the track. But to keep things fresh the GP boys have been hard at work offering a different mid and bottom section. This was a much faster and fun line I felt than before, with it continuing straight on from the old right hander that used to take you down the side of the quarry, you held a lot more speed and were greeted with some doubles that spat you up and into a new steep sharp right hand turn. Once round this you could let it go and shoot down the side of the quarry and off the new drop off. Following this you had a set of doubles that would take you into the bottom section. A new hip and finish jump were the main highlights here with you carving up and down the quarry walls in between.

So how was the track running? Once the ground had woken up and shed its morning freshness it was a day for dry tyres and fast racing. Eighty nine racers had ventured to the Quarry this time round so numbers are increasing as the series goes on. It was the same format as last time with 3 timed runs and your best making your final placement. This time round the Gravity Project were doing their own timing with some fresh (expensive) new Tag Heuer timing gear. This and the whole event ran like clockwork…(Ed. digital clock?) Well done GP.

On with the racing, and on any course averaging around the one minute mark times are going to be tight. The quickest time of the day went to Senior Darren Evans with an impressive 51.03 seconds. He had to work for this as super fast Junior Finn Tennant was hot on his heels in second and just 0.61 behind. The next 6 riders after these two were hovering around a second slower, so very tight on the overall rankings and fair play to these guys.

Hard tail was won by Paul Burford who was well under the minute with a 56.20, great work for a non bounce bike. 2nd place went to Dan Bottomley 1.01.42. 3rd Jed Stanton 1.02.31.

Ripper men: A great category and big respect to the little guys. Ripper Aaron Bennett took the win with a healthy 1.12.22 followed by Cameron Ross with a 1.22.38.

Juvenile men: Oliver Crosdil took a clear win with 56.78. 2nd Ollie Hamilton-Fox 1.00.02. 3rd James Culley 1.07.21
Youth men: Another clear winner in first place and forth overall, Alistair Warrell with a fast time of 52.50 followed by 2nd place Owen Gronow 57.30 and 3rd Will Minton 59.53.

Junior men: Finn Tennant… Wow! One to watch for the future that’s for sure. 2nd overall and a storming first in his own category with a 51.64. 2nd Macaulay Friend 54.38. 3rd Matt Cooper 54.67.

Senior men: The fast boys… Shaking it up, Darren Evans grabbed first in seniors and fastest time of the day and is so good to watch. We salute you! Equally respected in 2nd and 4th overall Glenroy Martin with 51.69. 3rd place was Daniel Sibbick 52.56. Last rounds winner Barry Dunstan claimed a fourth split with Brett Wheeler both on 52.69.

Master men: With a good field of 22 riders and the top 3 all on the same second the battle was on, but it was to be Andrew Gardiners day who walked away with the win with a 55.17. 2nd was Ady Chaplin 55.22. 3rd Sam Vine 55.84.

Expert men: Winning his own category being the only expert rider. Sam Wakefield put in a time of 53.44, this placed him 9th in the overall rankings.

Veteran men: The old dudes… Round one winner (Mud Focker) Dave Lane was leading the first two runs with a good first run time of 55.76. But it wasn’t to be as Gravity Project ‘s Paul Evans was on a mission on his last run and smashed it with a 54.60. Lane couldn’t pull this back settling for a 55.70 putting him in second. 3rd place and hot on the top two’s tails was another Mud Focker Graham Goodyear who put in an impressive ride with a 56.05.

So to round it off, another brilliant day of relaxed, friendly fun racing in the spring sunshine. Good to see the influx of green jerseys from the Aston hill crew, they didn’t disappoint in repping themselves either with some top notch racing. The Mud Fockers also put in a good performance be it banter or racing… But hats off mainly to the Gravity Project for putting on a great event and booking the sunshine. Other thanks go out to the lovely food ladies at Bowtells catering, Mr bike shop man Whisper Bikes and Series sponsors Schwalbi. Also last but not least BigMacPhotography for supplying these lovely images which you can purchase at very reasonable rates, go check them out.

For all results hit up RootsandRain

Come and join the fun at the next round on the new track at Avery Farm on the 5th of May. Keep in touch with the Gravity Project on Facebook..