Let’s get to the racing. In case you didn’t know, rather unusually conditions had been great all week long; and this continued, with a dry track and pretty consistent conditions for all. The Junior men’s race was once thought to be a bit a of a sideshow to the main event, but it has really grown into a beast in its own right. There is a really interesting dynamic going on here… without sounding too cheesy, it is really boys becoming men. It pretty much went as expected. Finn Iles is the current favourite but the raft of fast Brits were out to knock him off the top step.

Second place qualifier Charlie Hatton punctured between split one and two, his flapping tyre eventually having to be cut off in order for him to get down the hill. DNF. The current series leader Matt Walker was doing well on the first two splits until he hit the berm after the road gap. His front wheel washed out a little, high-siding him a bit. When his rear wheel hit the berm again the tyre burped and he lost pressure. From there it was an uphill struggle.

Jackson Frew put in a solid run for third, and Commencal rider Gaetan Vige was looking almost unbeatable… that is until Iles came down. With a heavily strapped left wrist the young Canadian did it for Chainsaw. With Walker scoring zero pints his three and a half second victory bumped him up into first in the overall rankings.

By this point in proceedings the assembled crowd of roughly 10,000 (many still streaming down the hill) had been whipped up into a frenzy by the talented and enthusiastic commentating skills of Dan Jarvis and Toby Parodi. These two characters had almost shouted themselves hoarse… and we had only really just got going!

And on to the men. Whoa… the race. Things really started getting going when Propain Dirt Zelvy rider Phil Atwill hit the hot seat. But before we could really get into the thick of it we had to comprehend the fact that this was Steve Peat’s last ever World Cup race in Fort William. The giant of the sport is hanging up his racing shoes at the end of this season, so this was to be his last appearance in racing colours in Scotland. Twenty-ninth place was no bad way to end it… but the party was only just starting.

He was there for a while but he was eventually booted off. Brook MacDonald, then Remi Thirion both went fastest. Connor Fearon was looking good, but he bobbled in the woods and lost time. And then, with 19 riders to go, came Greg Minnaar.

He knows this place well, he won here last year and the course suits him. He has been off-form this year so far (an 18th and a 19th is not usual for him). As we mentioned in the build up to the race, you should never count him out, but no one really saw this coming. It put just under eight seconds into Thirion’s time, which felt like a lifetime.

Greenland came down and put in a solid performance that would leave him in eighth. Then something took place that anyone who was there in Fort William will never forget. In a charged and emotional tribute to the late Stevie Smith he was given ‘one last run’ slotted in between Florent Payet and George Gannicott.

The thousands in the crowd fell silent as the TV cameras followed Smith’s ‘ghost run’ down the course. It was so bizarre to be stood in and amongst what was seconds earlier a raging mob that was now silenced. It was both sombre and tranquil at the same time. A moment of reflection and celebration. It was the greatest show of love and affection for one person that I have ever witnessed first hand. The Fort William crowd knows its stuff when it comes to downhill racing, and they knew what the score was here. As the cameras zoomed into the final drop into the arena the crowd went wild. It was such a creative and fitting tribute to a legend of the sport.

I’m not one for emotion, and I only really knew Stevie from a distance, but even I was welling up. It was such a powerful atmosphere, a moment that won’t ever be forgotten. The spirit of chainsaw really does live on.

Minnaar still sat there. He’s been in this position many times before, especially here in Scotland. This was full blooded action. George Brannigan absolutely nailed himself off the jump through the Scotland arch (earlier on Martin Maes had done the same). Greg Williamson put in stormer to finish seventh. The young Luca Shaw was next and he too nailed his run. It is great to see another USA rider sniffing around the podium… sixth.

Then we were into the top four: two old hands and two riders not really used to starting with the big dogs. Gwin and Atherton have been here before, but for Adam Brayton and Eddie Masters this was new territory. It has happened before, that riders in this new position have blown-up, wrecking their chances. First up was Brayton, the non-drinking lunatic from the Lakes, the self styled ‘Keswick Kestrel’. He could have thrown it away, he could have ballsed it up… but he didn’t. He kept it steady and kept the power down and momentum going. The crowd was obviously going ballistic by this point. He sat on the hot seat podium in third, just behind Danny Hart and four seconds back from Minnaar. Troy Brosnan was next, but he couldn’t knock him out off.

Aaron Gwin was always going to be a worry to Minnaar, but it didn’t click for the series leader. He was down in tenth at split 1, but slowly clawed his way back. It looked at one point as if he might be only just making the top five podium, but as it was he slotted into second, and that is where he would stay.