“It is pretty apparent that the Fort William World Cup this year was a pretty wild one. Troublesome weather, a re-scheduled race weekend, and one very soggy wood section meant a more challenging race than usual for the Orange Dirt World Team.

A weekend of ups and downs started as Jacob (Dickson) qualified in 2nd position, only 0.1 behind Martin Maes and 1.3 seconds up on Laurie Greenland. Hope was high with a podium in sight. This was only to be dashed by a crash mid race run in those infamous woods. Check the word from Jacob:

“It wasn’t the best weekend, with the weather and a crash. I’m really happy with my qualifying result however, it feels great to be up there near the top. In my race run I slipped up mid woods on the roots, and then slipped up again just after, before the drop. At that point I knew it was over so I just let off the gas and just got down safely. Shame really, but I’m working on it.”

Phil (Atwill) had something of a better weekend, with another solid result under his belt:

“So I’m sat on the toilet as we speak, in one of the blue portaloo’s at Fort William reflecting on my weekend. Overall I think it was a fairly good, I spent a lot of time trying to get the woods right, and had a decent race run, but as soon as I hit the motorway section, the headwind was terrible and I think that’s what held me back the most. I think I’m sitting in 5th or 6th at the moment, I’ve just come off the hotseat.”

Isak (Leivsson) was determined to get redemption on the Fort William track after the miserable washout that the BDS was last month. Luck didn’t come his way this time around however, with a slip up in qualifying. Here’s the word from him:

“So my weekend wasn’t the best. In practice I had the woods good once, and then bad once. I really needed to have more runs in the woods to get used to them. This obviously couldn’t happen with the re-arranged schedule so, I just had to go for it. I slipped up in qualifying and lost a lot of time, putting me 120th, which I was pretty annoyed about.. but it is what it is. I’ll see you in Leogang!”

A tough weekend for all in high winds, huge ruts and crashes aplenty. It’s straight onto Leogang, Austria for the next round of the World Cup. Here’s to better luck… and a better climate!

Jacob – 8th Junior
Phil – 38th Elite
Isak – 120th Elite

Photo: Isak Leivsson: Alex Gann
Others: Orange Bikes