Scott Beaumont World Cup Round 5 Val Di Sole, Italy
Qualifying 9th / Race 9th
Val di Sole by Jon E Beckett @ Descent-world.co.uk
Just back from the World Cup in Italy. We were racing at Val Di Sole, the venue which held the 2008 World Championships. A 4X track that holds good memories for me as I finished 2nd in the small final here at Worlds behind Brian Lopes to give me 6th position overall in the race.
For 2010 the track looked in great shape. There were no changes since we last raced here but the soil had settled well and it looked like it was going to be a great race track with big berm corners, a great rock section and fun pro line doubles.
Practice got underway on Thursday and for me it was great to be back in the World Cup after missing Leogang through injury. After it had rained all day for the downhill riders, the sun broke through and gave us a perfect practice session. The track was awesome, and I was feeling pretty quick.
Onto Friday and qualifying. The sun was shining all day, and combined with the rain on Thursday, practice on Thursday night then sunshine all day Friday, the track was perfect. Again my practice went really well and I felt confident stepping onto the gate for my qualifying run. I made a great start and put together a run with no mistakes to cross the finish line with the 9th fastest time of the evening. I was really happy with it as I have been away from racing for 6 weeks and a single digit qualifying result was my aim for the weekend.
So the race day arrived on Saturday, and I was feeling confident. Again the rain stayed away and the sun baked the track once more. My draw looked pretty good. The aim for me again was to finish in the top 10 and add to my overall World Cup score with some good points.
I won the first 2 rounds of racing with no problem to land me in the Quarter finals. I made a pretty good start but I was in the pack going into turn one. Making a snap decision I decided to dive inside and take a tight line in turn one to try and pass the other riders. It simply did not work and I exited the first turn in 4th. Going down the track I set up a nice pass and moved into 3rd position, but just couldnt get close enough to the rider in 2nd to move onto the semi final. After beating him in the 2nd round of racing, I really feel that a better decision in the 1st turn could have given me a good chance to move onto the semi finals but ultimately I bowed out with 9th position for the evenings racing.
I am really happy with the result as my goal was always to come back and score a top 10 finish.
Here is a great picture of me in racing from Saturday night on the home page of Dirty-pages.nl, a Dutch website that specialises in featuring 4X racing.
WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS 2010 MONT ST ANNE
Great news just in. I have been selected to race at the World Championships in September and represent team GB again in 4X. It looks like I am going to be the only rider to represent GB in Elite Men 4X.
Obviously I am really happy to be selected, especially as I have missed part of the season due to injury. I will be looking for a great result at a race track where I have finished in 2nd place, 2 times before during the World Cup races there.
I will have more news on this race and my plans over the next couple of weeks.
Well thats all for now.
My next race is in 2 weeks time August 15th, at South West Extreme here in the UK, when I will be looking to defend my title in the National 4X Championships.
See you soon,
Boom Boom
Scott Beaumont
Team Manager - Rocky Mountain UK
www.beaumontracing.com
Sponsored by:
Rocky Mountain, RDH Motorhomes, Fox, Trixter, Oakley, Fox Suspension, Hayes, Sun Ringle, Schwalbe, Fenwicks, RapidRacerProducts, USE, Mojo, The PPC, Shimano, Park Tools, SIS, Race Face, E-Thirteen, SDG, Sunnto, Dakine, ODI Grips, Rich Art Concepts.
