Sulli Berry of Rotor Race Team tells us below that this season has been tough for him. Well, you wouldn’t know it from his results. Not only did he win our U23 Male category, he also topped the combined standings for Junior, Senior and V40 Men. He was first or second in all but one of the races he rode. Joe Homer was second and Ben Southgate third of the U23 Men.
“This season has been pretty tough. My prep wasn’t great going in having spent 6 weeks off the bike at the end of April due to a crash at the MTB XC nationals and then crashing twice in training at the end of the summer. Despite this, I got off to a relatively good start at the first few rounds of the year but starting at Uni at the end of September has taken a lot out of me. October was plagued by the dreaded freshers’ flu which prevented me from achieving any good results at the first 2 rounds of the nationals and made the league races even harder than they already are.
Living in Loughborough for university means travelling to home and back every weekend which I have realised certainly takes its toll. I have still managed to achieve my best result in a senior national (5th U23 and 14th Elite) however the WMCCL always feels like home. Having raced against Tom and Rob for 5 years now I always know to expect some good competition especially towards the end of the season where they both seem to come on strong. Additionally, this year I have been pushed by Sam Brownsword so it’s good to know the junior league is going well and has some good riders in.
My highlights of the season are winning Shrewsbury and Redditch. Shrewsbury is always a good course and the weather this year made it incredibly slippy which is great. Having Redditch in November was brilliant. The wet weather made the course incredibly slippy and technical. Being my home race, the support is always brilliant and makes winning all the more special. It was also great to have a league race pretty much in my back garden on a course I have helped build and develop over the past 8 years.
The hardest race this year was definitely the race at Sandwell. The course was brutal, and this was not helped by the fact I was ill going into it however I had to do that round to ensure I got enough results in to win the league.
Overall, this season has been hard but rewarding which makes winning the league mean even more. I’d like to thank all the clubs and volunteers that make running the league possible and a special thankyou to my dad for supporting me and being the best pit crew.”
