Extra UK

News

4X Pro Tour - Fort William - Yeti Racing UK

Author: Extra UK | Fri, 13 Jun 2014

Topeak sponsored Scott Beaumont and the Yeti UK Racing team have been in touch to let us know how they got on at Fort William last weekend. Here's what they had to say.

"Just back from what we think was the best ever Fort William weekend. We were there for 4X ProTour round 3 and on Saturday afternoon it seemed like most of the UK's mountain bike fans arrived in Fort William to watch the 4X racing unfold.

It was great to see Dave back racing. After a huge crash that took him out of round 1 a few weeks ago with a wrist injury, he was back and feeling confident. Scott was here for one reason only. To land on the podium in front of his home crowd.

Scott had been asked by the organisers to make some changes to the 4X track to make it even better than previous years. In early April Scott spent a week up there, focused on making two of the jumps much bigger. When the riders arrived on Thursday for practice, the supersized jumps were getting the riders excited and nervous!

Practice went well for the team and on Friday night it was time for qualifying. With riders going in reverse order from their UCI world rankings Dave would be first. He put in a solid run, made a few small errors on the second straight but he was pretty happy with the run. It was good enough for 18th. Scott, currently world tanked number 3, had to wait a while but when he got on track he had a flyer. Crossing the line in a blistering time that was good enough for 3rd overall.

Saturday night; the crowds were huge and they were looking for a British winner! In the round of 32 Dave's night ended. Battling with eventual 5th place rider Beni Kistner, Dave just could not make his pass stick in the rock section and he bowed out. This gave Dave 20th for the night. He was not happy about this result but just 1 week ahead of the World championships, his wrist feels good and he is fired up.

Scott's evening went well. Winning all his races up to the semi final. In that race a small slip on e first straight had some consequences as he lost a lot of ground. Sitting in 3rd, he had to make his move quick and it came in the rock section. Carrying amazing speed around the outside of turn 2, and threading the needle with his Yeti DJ race bike, Scott moved into 2nd to book his place in the final and with it had a guaranteed podium visit. But which position would it be.

In the final Scott was on gate 4. The gate dropped and he was stuck on the outside on the first straight. Heading towards the rocks Scott went for the same move but got blocked. It seemed like every move he made, the rider in front predicted. Scott crossed the line in 4th. However just before the podium, it was announced that Joost Wichman had cut through a course flag and he had been disqualified. Scott was moved up to 3rd and he and the team were understandably ecstatic.

Now the team are already on their way to Leogang in Austria in the team truck ahead of the UCI 4X World Championships this Saturday. Both Dave and Scott have been selected to represent British Cycling at the World Championships which as a team we are really proud of. Thank you to all our team sponsors for their support and of course we wish both riders the best of luck this week. With practice starting on Thursday there will be regular updates on their personal and the teams social media."