After the huge success of the 2023 Championships, the Dual Slalom National Championships were back! Held at The Malverns Classic Festival once again, this head to head format of Mountain Biking would wow crowds on Friday.
With National Champion Jerseys up for grabs in the Championship categories, this MTB festival that is normally about good times, fun and music would turn very serious for about 25 seconds per run!
The Track:
The great thing with Dual Slalom is that you can do it anywhere! The Malverns Classic literally proved this! A grass field became a race track with a few carefully placed flag poles! A 2 rider pro gate start gate would set riders off into 12 corners for both the red and blue lanes. Riders would get a run in each lane, times added together and the winner would move on to the next round until the winners were crowned.
A week earlier, Scott had been asked by the Malverns Classic organisers to create the Dual Slalom track. He had made it fast and flowing, utilising the whole hillside and hopefully making racing close.
Practice:
Scott looked fast right from his first practice run. He initially opted for Schwalbe Magic Mary dry tyres, but then changed to Dirty Dan Spike tyres – normally reserved for mud races, but on this occasion would bite into the dry grass hillside.
Qualifying:
Qualifying started at 12.30. A single run down the red lane to determine the qualifying order and calculate the brackets for racing later.
Scott got into the gate and ready to go. He made a customary great start and powered along the start straight. He rode a perfect lap and would cross the finish line with the fastest time of the day.
Kockout stages:
Scott rode well in his first couple of rounds , moving through to the quarter finals. In the quarter finals, things started to get a lot tighter. Up against global superstar Matt Jones, In round 1 of the quarter final, Scott was able to win by 2 seconds in the blue lane. On the red lane he was able to control the race and again won by 1.3 seconds moving into the semi final.
In the semi final, Scott again put the hammer down in the blue lane, but a small slide in the final turn meant he cross the lone 0.1 seconds behind. He was confident with a clean run he could get through. The gate dropped and Scott rode a great lap, taking the win, but not by enough, missing out on the final by 0.06 seconds!
Onto the small final.
In the first race, Scott was in the red lane to start. The gate dropped and Scott was able to race a clean lap, taking a strong advantage into the second run.
In the second round, Scott showed his vast experience and simply sat on the wheel of Will Evans all the way, keeping it smooth and actually giving it a little burst across the finish to take the win and a bronze medal for the day.
“That was such an amazing day of racing. I am gutted to have not taken the win, but I rode great all day and we will take the bronze medal. Huge thank you to Schwalbe for their help today. We continued to switch tyres through the day seeking the perfect grip. This result is owed to them as I was able to push so hard in the last few races there. 4X National Championships on Sunday to focus on now!” Said Beaumont in the finish area.
A huge thanks to The Malverns Classic and British Cycling for organising this incredible event.
Thank you to all the riders, medics, commentators, officials, commissaires, marshals, family and friends who attended this race. You made it a great day in a grass field!