Venue: Innerleithen
Report by: Aidan Bishop

NPS RD 5 Innerleithen, Scotland
20th & 21st September 2008

The final round of the 2008 NPS series was supposed to be held at a new venue at Carlton Bank in the north of England, but what with copious amounts of rain of late many parts of the UK were hit with flooding or very wet grounds. Two weeks before the event at Carlton Bank, the field that was to hold the arena and parking was flooded and so the decision was made to move the race to Innerleithen, the second time it would hold a round of the national series.
Myself and Gummy travelled up Friday night to find the field normally used for camping and parking was also very wet and so couldn’t be used for parking…typical! Fortunately the event was a success due to the weather being pretty nice all weekend and the venue being a good course no matter what the weather does.

Gummy wasn’t racing due to his knee still healing up and racing may have put his repair back some time. I was representing the team in the master’s category and was keen to see if I could still hold my own at national level.
Saturday and practice was delayed a little due to marshals not turning up when they said they would, luckily Gummy decided to help out with the others so the riding could get underway…what a hero!! The course used was apparently established and took the form of what is labelled the gold course. It used what I would call the old top section, taking you through the quarry jump into a dark tunnel of trees, reminiscent of racing ten years ago…just on better bikes! It then was a tight and twisty affair to the bottom really, which I thought would suit me and so was quite looking forward to riding.

Practice went pretty well, building my speed and confidence with each run, it’s just a shame you have to ride 2 miles along undulating road to get to the uplift!
Saturday afternoon and it was time for seeding runs that would place everyone for Sundays race. The run went pretty well, no big mistakes, I kept it steady not wanting to crash or push myself too hard. Crossing the line and I took the hot seat by 4 seconds, I was happy with that! I ended up 3rd after everyone had come down, 4 seconds off 1st and 2 seconds off of 2nd with a time that would have put me in the top 20 in elite and just out the top ten in experts!! I was chuffed with that, it showed I hadn’t lost too much speed because of the time off my Socom this year.
Saturday night and I got started on the Budweiser early and it tasted good! I was up for a few beers and fish and chips then chilling out…Gummy however didn’t seem to want go back and kept saying ‘just one more’, I know I should have been responsible and gone back but as it turned out neither of us remember too much from the rest of the evening, Gummy was seen walking to Peebles! And I woke up at 6am in a church car park!!
The Sunday was a mission to get up the hill to practice. I managed two runs, the first was dizzy, the second and improvement but tiredness was taking its toll on me.

Race runs came around and I was feeling more human, we all got to the top and found racing hadn’t started yet, we faced an hour wait until action time….great!
It was finally time to line up for the race. I watched the field set off; I was second from last to go due to seeding results, so I tried to get psyched up for it. My time came and I set off, it started well the run was good in places but average in others then near the bottom I hit a tree which nearly took me off but I managed to ride it out with not too much time lost and crossed the line. My time was a over a second quicker then my seeding run so that was positive, however everyone was taking lots of time off of their seeding times and so I eventually finished 7th…not happy!
The race was won by Mark Milllward followed by Sion Jones the Andrew Buddin. Good race fellas, Millward especially appears to be the name to watch for next year, winning lots this his first year!! I believe he has switched from motocross, and successfully so, definitely the man to beat next season.
Overall I enjoyed riding and racing again on my Socom, the weather held good and I saw some faces I hadn’t seen in a while. With hindsight I should of got more sleep, I then may have ridden better, but I am content with my result, I know there were places I could have put more effort in but didn’t, a second run would have been great but nationals are a one run deal so no excuses.

We’ll have to see who’s racing what next year and report back with better news next time..see you then!!