With the first race of the season, team Propain Dirt Zelvy brings new bikes, new kit and new team mates to the table. Ae forest however decided to bring mud to the table. So much in-fact that the legs on the table completely collapsed. It was apparent it’d be a tough weekend, but with high spirits the team soldiered on into what is effectively normal UK riding conditions for a good chunk of the year.

Our new Elite, Innes Graham, was confident and ready to give the saturated ground a good pasting. He was looking comfortable on the bike from the word go, lapping out runs with Phil Atwill on practice day and getting buck wild on one of the top turns in the woods (that one that everyone hated). His race run was a blinder, going straight into the hotseat, only to be nudged off by the animal that is Gee Atherton. A 2^nd place for him at what is only the 2^nd race of the year for him. Pretty good going if you ask me, nice one Innes. Check out what he had to say below –

“Yeah baby I like it raw! As Phil would say. But yeah I’m so pumped right now, first national podium and I’m stoked to do it this year on the Propain. Ben has completely outdone himself and I’m so happy with the team. Team mates are sick and I’m yet to do that, so I’m looking forward to meeting him in Lourdes. What a way to start the year – that run was pretty much perfect.”

Phil, being the loose unit he is, had a wild time on practice day in the soggy boulder fields. He’s become so comfortable on the Rage it’s worrying. He put down a solid run on race day to land himself a position on the box. He finished up in 4^th place, 2 seconds behind Innes in 2^nd place, and proudly filled the podium with the blue and yellow team colours. He was then drenched in just about everyone’s champagne and proceeded to pull his top up to reveal drawn on abs and a stomach advertising his instagram. @phil_atwill if you didn’t see.

“Innes the big boy, smoked me by 2 seconds! But yeah we got to the top, took an hour and a half to get up there, so none of us had a warm up and I ended up having the black lung half way down the run, just gasping for air. I stayed smooth, but not as smooth as Innes here. Benjamin is gonna’ be well happy. Big Irish orgy back in the truck, milkshakes going everywhere. To celebrate Innes is gonna run and slide through this massive puddle face first.”

James Purvis, our new junior had a good weekend too. He pushed on through the foot deep mud to seed well, but unfortunately took a few tumbles on his race run after a storming top section. He’ll take from Innes and Phil at Lourdes and look for some pointers from the team coming into the world cups.

“I had a pretty dissapointing run to be honest, but Innes and Phil absolutely smashed it. I had the top section lit, and then at the stump gap I got a bit wild and then struggled to get back into it after that.I slipped at the bottom too, got a nice hold in my hand from where a rock was stuck in. Prepped for Lourdes next week and I’m pretty stoked so we’ll see you there!”