Hotlines: SDA Round 1 Win for Alastair

Nukeproof rider Alastair Maclennan took part in the SDA Round 1 at Ae Forest this weekend. Here's his round up of the event:

"Ae Forest is always a fun track, and with sun forcast all weekend it was sure to be a scorcher of an event. The track was a mixture of old familiar bits such as the rocky chute at the start followed by the fast rocky off camber as well as fresh new sections with roots, off cambers and berms mid section and finishing off with the daunting step down towards the finish. Practice went well and was fun on Saturday with most lines being well dialled by the end of the day. On walking the track Saturday evening I spotted a few new lines to try for race day to save those vital seconds. We awoke to bright sunlight on race day and the vibe was good all around the pits. Being the first round of the series there was slightly more nerves to contend with as it was going to be a hard fought for race with riders wanting to leave with maximum points."

Pic by Ian Linton

"Main challenger for me was always going to be my rootsandrain.co.uk "Nemesis" Neil Wilson who was looking fast and calculated in practice. Being an SDA Race we got 2 race runs with the best one counting. My first run felt fast and smooth and I only really made one mistake in a moment of confusion when I took the wrong turning into the rock garden and lost a couple of seconds to finish on 2mins 22secs with Neil Wilson coming home on 2mins 28secs.

Second runs came around and I was sure I could push under the 2.20 barrier. Again I was fast and smooth and hit all my lines well feeling confident I had gone a lot faster than my previous run to come in with a time of 2min 21sec, not as fast as I had hoped but still good enough to take the win with Wilson closing the gap to come second in 2min 23 sec and Pete Hoggan taking a well deserved third place to complete the podium.

The Scalp created quite a bit of interest for some people that hadn't seen one yet and it had a couple of "car park tests" . It was also good to meet a couple of folk who had one on order and were eagerly awaiting delivery. All in all a classic sunny Scottish race with good banter and friends.