Joe McCall 2007/2008 MTB Race Diary: K Capital Cup # 4, Castlewellen, Co. Down

Another K Cap, another incredible race. An amazing lap designed by XMTB legend Robbi Lamont, Savage singletrack climbs, deadly single track descents, off cambers, drops, rock garden, quick fireraod, everything. The icing on the cake was the conditions, dust dust dust…..and we are still in april!
I was gridded on the second row for this race, but the usual mix of international riders was down on previous races, with some of them attending the World Cup opener in Houffilize. Not too worry, there was still a couple of foreign riders to focus on. Off we went and I felt good at the start, staying with the lead group until the first singletrack. I backed off here, as I knew the race would be long and I did not want to blow up aka K Cap # 2.

The leaders on the first climb

I made a push before the long singletrack descent to get ahead of a polish rider who seemed to be struggling technically, and this paid off as I had a 20 sec gap on him and the chasing group by the time we were shoot out on the fireroad. I remained comfortable in 6th position for the whole race, loving the singletrack and taking it a bit easy on the hills.
Niall took the win from Gareth Montgomery and Robin in 3rd. Conor came in 4th with Ryan in 5th.
I got 5th overall in the series which was my main goal for the year so I am happy with that. Big thanks to all the race organizers and to Robin and Geoff Seymour for their vision. Also a big thanks to series sponsor and our team sponsor Mark of K Capital Source.
The NPS races start next week in Ballinstoe, I must keep the head down from that and stay off the Pringles!