Puppets has always been known as a great track but had been dormant for a few years whilst we worked hard to get BBMS, Spoons and 143 up to standard, so you can imagine the excitement of the first ever TickerTape on Puppets!
With no times to compare against there was plenty of guessing what would be respectable on this deceptively long track... would it to favour those who can ride the steep or the flatter corners at the bottom? would anyone take on some of the straight line options on judy? do we really have to push all the way back up?
Stace and Jim were involved in their usual ding dong but were so focussed on beating the other that they completely missed Charles's blistering pace on board his loaned TRANSITION BLINDSIDE - beating both by a clean 2 seconds!
Ben Irons was busy putting in his usual fast runs, teasing those of us on full sus bikes and making his hardtail grimace. poor thing.
Will Hardy was stupidly fast through the steep tech section leaving us silent as he doubled up the steps and hit the berm faster than everyone else. He also put in 17 runs which is ridiculous and shouldn't be encouraged!
As is becoming a bit of a theme Chris Smith earned yet another TickerTape Sticker with the smooth and consistently fast style that is begining to haunt the rest of us. Chris said it was his favourite track but stressed that he'd never even sessioned it before, he also said he owed his victory to his Lucozade Sport and a pretty awesome sandwich that Cally made him [pro riders ey, always banging on about their sponsors].
Stuart won the Beans award for riding his hardtail with no fear whilst wearing a 'wife beater' top, we're hoping that he'll wear his new Dakine jersey from now on as I'm not sure we're ready for another display of those guns. Special thanks to MAX BIKES PR for the awesome prizes.
So, 45.31 I wonder how long that will stand? With Ben Batt, Neil Cousins, Rob Lewis, Redd How, Jack Howe and many others yet to set a time it'll be interesting to see especially as the track matures, roots come to the surface and new lines open up.
And now for Ben Irons with the stats....
cheers guys was a good day and the track was great fun!
Love the photo of Chris, What track is the next tickertape going to be on?