Dragon Round 2 - Rhondda Heritage Park, Wales

It has been 2 years since the Dragon Series visited the Rhondda Heritage Park, then it was for the Welsh National Championships, this time the 2nd round of the 2009 Welsh Dragon XC Series visited the legendary South Wales course. In the words of many who rode it, the Heritage Park offers 'Proper mountain biking' with hard climbs, tough singletrack and even tougher descending. Some people even found it too much and after pre-riding the course decided against racing. A shame, but this is mountain biking and it should be more than a test of physical fitness, the riders technical ability should also be tested.

Two Orange Monkeys decided to race this round with Ben continuing his recovery from illness and Chris in preparation for the 2nd round of the British Mountain Bike series next week.

The Junior category was small but with a good standard of competition, the winner from the 1st round Lewis Burke and top 5 finisher from the 1st round of the British National series Ross Brinson on hand it was sure to provide a tough challenge. From the gun Ross Brinson took the lead and Lewis Burke, Matthew Jones and Ben settled on his rear wheel for the long opening climb. Ben made a jump near the top to ensure he got into the singletrack first and just held his position as the track headed down a tight technical descent. Ben created a gap on the first descent and continued to build on his lead until on the fireroad descent into the start finish area he had created a 45 second gap to Lewis in second and Ross in 3rd. By the end of the second lap the gap had increased to 2 minutes and Ben maintained this gap to the end to take his first win of the season.

It was a welcome relief to ben after a tough start to the season, plagued by illness and he can now concentrate on the second round of the National Series.

Chris went into this race looking for more experience as he approaches next weeks test in Dalby Forest. After a good start, an early crash meant he was chasing from lap 1 but after recovering well he dug in deep to finish in a good 4th spot and he too can now head up north next weekend knowing that he is in great shape for the undoubted tough National race.