Penshurst Off Road Cycling, otherwise known as PORC, in Kent has to be one of the longest standing dirt jump venues in the UK. As a favourite training spot for riders in the South East, it was amazing to arrive and see how much had changed since last year’s event there! With a pretty big new Pro line and a couple of other smaller lines, from the start I knew it was going to be a good event.
The weather in normal Dirt Wars fashion had been fairly dodgy in the few days leading up to the event but in the usual style we lucked out with sunny spells and dusty dry trails, although a gusty breeze was making the Pro line a little tricky at times. The new lines ended up giving the riders almost too much choice with some Open riders wanting to stick to the old line, whilst a few were happy to send bigger tricks on the new line. The Pro’s were all stoked to be using the new line so in the end it was decided that Open riders could use whichever line they wanted with the same scoring on both lines, but higher amplitude scores given to those sending it on the big line.
The turn out for Pro category was always likely to be a bit smaller at this round because of international comps & the Goodwood festival of speed being on at the same time but the Open category was stacked! 22 riders all wanting a shot at a podium finish. With talk of many people riding the previous day to get some practice in, as well as rumours of Matt Scott landing a double flip, practice got underway with everyone sending it!
Open qualifying saw most of the riders sticking to the old line, a 6-pack with a mulch landing on the last, leaving only Colin Smith, Liam Tuite, Tim Peckham & Jack Ambler sending it on the pro line. Massive shouts out go to Liam who managed to get away lightly from a horrific crash when he spilt his head tube in two pieces casing the second. Hope you are healing up ok chap. Both Tim & Jack really had the big line down, both sending huge superman’s and flip combos. It was clear they’d both be in the final. The guys riding the other line really had to pick up points in the flow and execution areas as they were missing out on large big-trick & amplitude scores. The riders who could get through perfectly, tricking everything with a fluid style would end up in the final, and there were several. Respect to Jamie Nelson who went down on a mid set flip, ejecting from the highest point whilst completely upside down. Hope you’re okay. With a barrage of flip x-ups, tailwhips, truckdrivers, tuck no-handers and some funky combination tricks the riders making it to the final were:-
1 – Tim Peckham
2 – Jack Ambler
3 – Sam Lewington-Booth
4 – Harry Campbell
5 – Andy Crawford
6 – Joe Aldridge
7 – Darren Eastall
8 – Liam Tuite
9 – Kerry Pert
10 – Jack Cardy
With Liam unable to ride, then next highest qualifier was Jamie Nelson, who again couldn’t compete so Jamie Woodford made up the 10th person.