BikeRadar Live: Ward wins open dual slalom for second year

Jake Ward proved that last year’s win in the open dual slalom at BikeRadar Live was no fluke with a repeat performance where he once again posted the fastest time in qualifying (22.27sec) and then saw off all comers in the knockout rounds.

In the final he faced Pete Warner, who had narrowly made it through after a crash in his first 1/2 final run against Nigel Smith left him with a lot of time to make up.

Ward, now riding for 44Racing, put the hammer down to win both big-final runs and take the senior crown. The battle for third place was between Nigel Smith and Russ Parsons, with the latter managing to win both small-final runs by several bike lengths.

“It was a pretty good race,” said Ward. “The track was better than last year, a bit more challenging. I’ll definitely be back next year – we should have more dual slalom races in the UK because they’re good fun.”

Jake Ward topped the senior men’s podium ahead of Pete Warner and Russ Parsons

In the junior race, top woman Katy Curd lost out to Isaac Mundy in the 1/2 final, and he went on to face Matthew Jones in the final. Mundy won the first run but a crash in the second relegated him to the middle step of the podium.

Isaac Mundy was heading for victory in the junior category until a crash in his final run

In the small final, Jordan Lunn ended Curd’s hopes of getting onto the overall podium – but she was chuffed to have got that far. “It was wicked,” said the Rose Bikes rider. “I didn’t expect to do that well. I’ve never raced against boys, so I was happy.”

Suzanne Lacey, Katy Curd and Claire Pollard topped the women’s podium

Senior results

Big final

Qualifying

Not classified

Junior results

Big final

Qualifying