Adrenaline Alley was initially scheduled in to be the first round of the Spank Ind. Dirt Wars series, all the way back in May but when the nice weather of March and April turned into weeks & weeks of rain in May things didn’t turn out as we had hoped for. There was no way that the jumps at Adrenaline Alley would run so a postponement was the only option but this suited the venue as it gave them chance to add in a drainage system that they vitally needed to help against the great British weather. Four months later we finally had sunshine and the trails were dry as a bone, so it was time to get the Adrenaline Alley round underway.
Pro Results
1st – Danny Pace (Identiti/Ison/Society)
2nd – Marcel Hunt (Dartmoor UK)
3rd – Daryl Brown (Identiti/Ison/Manitou)
4th – Ryan Nangle (Dartmoor UK/Smuggling Duds/Fox)
5th – Matt Jones (Identiti/Ison/Society)
6th – Alfie Stephens (Slam69/Dartmoor UK)
7th – Adam Williams (Rose Bikes/ODI/Alpinestars)
8th – Charlie Watts (Void Bike Shop/Static clothing)
Open Results
1st – Wig Lewington Booth
2nd – Freddy Pulman
3rd – Daniel Stewart
4th – Dylan Grell Pelsol
5th – Ben Nolan
6th – Jamie Nelson
7th – Tom Cardy
8th – Jamie Woodford
9th – Richard Hemingray
10th – Darren Eastall
11th – Carl Johnstone
12th – Toby Ancill
After some packing, watering and brushing dust up over the lips, the trails were ready to roll. The joint practice got underway as soon as the venue’s doors opened, with a lot of riders keen to do well, and from the start they went at it hammer n tongs!
Corby has two comp lines – a larger Pro line with a drop to start followed by 3 doubles and a slightly smaller line with a roll in, a 27-foot tabletop followed by two doubles. The larger line hadn’t been ridden much since it had been finished and as a result was running slow, with riders from both categories struggling to make it through consistently. The decision was made to allow both Open & Pro to use either line but most riders stuck to the faster running, smaller line. However this didn’t stop some serious mid-air shapes from being thrown!
After almost two hours of all riders warming up and getting used to the trails it was time to start the Open qualification. With 12 riders on the start ramp being reduced to 6 for the final they all looked ready for battle to fight for their spot in the final. Again the line up in Open consisted of some familiar faces and some new ones to the series. With Wig Lewington Booth and Freddy Pullcock both drawing for 1st place in the series it was clear that both riders really wanted the win to get themselves a lead coming into the final rounds and more of a chance of winning the Spank full build bike plus a years deal on the Spank team.
All the usual riders in the open class had really stepped up their game since the last round and a few had some real nice new big banger tricks; Danny Stewart was throwing down the sickest running mans, Ben Nolan was locking his feet on his seat whilst taking both hands off (a variation on the shoebox, an old skool BMX trick) and also throwing some cliffhanger attempts although the air time wasn’t quite enough for him to extend them. Jamie Nelson had also thrown in a few variations on what he had been sending at the last round, flip one handers, even more extended Nothings & No-Footed Cans showed he had been working hard to keep up with the other Open riders. Tom Cardy was also back after a good ride at the Holdshott round; again relaxed 360s & sweet tuck no-handers demonstrated good style & ability.
Amongst the new faces in Open were Jamie Woodford, travelling up from Cornwall with DMR’s rider Clinton Johns. Jamie hade some nice flips with a burly style and even went for some 360 tailwhips on the last. Richard ‘Tabletop’ Hemingray made the trip down from the North, sending some sweet tabletops & after a couple of attempts nailing a flip on the second, whilst a few new faces from Essex also joined us. Toby Ancill had some bad luck in his runs, not quite making it through the line whilst Darren Eastall sent some nice downside tables & flips. Another one to suffer from bad luck was Carl Johnstone who sent some good No-Footed Cans but took 2 runs in the Qualifiers before he looked comfortable getting through the set. 4x racer Dylan Grell Pelsol turned up for his first Dirt Wars event of 2012 and meant business with a varied bag of tricks including nice 360s & superman’s, showing that he could not only race a bike well but throw it down with some of the best open dirt jump riders too.