4X ProTour 2022 Round 1 – Fort William
Scott Beaumont
Seeding – 7th
Result – 5th
After 3 years away from Fort William due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Scott Beaumont arrived in Fort William feeling excited and ready to start the 2022 4X ProTour in front of his home crowd.After signing on, Scott picked up his number plate and all systems were go. Scott was seeded as World number 3 at this race on the recent UCI World rankings and would therefore qualify with the number 67 plate.
The first practice session was held on Thursday under the best conditions of the weekend. The sun was shining and Scott was able to tame the track quickly, looking fast and hitting all the technical lines with ease. He was clearly in the mood for a great result to kick start his 2022 campaign.
On Friday the weather went downhill as the rain arrived and settled in for the weekend. It was time to qualify. Scott had worked on the fastest line down the hill during practice and he was all set to set a qualifying time.
Qualifying is very simple. One lap, no crap. There is just one chance to qualify in the top 32 riders. A mistake, crash or mechanical and its time to go home.
In the gate, Scott looked calm and focused. The gate dropped and Scott fired down the long first straight. Hitting all his lines and putting together a good run, Scott crossed the finish line with a time that would give him 7th position for the session – 0.8 seconds behind the fastest time.
“Yes I’m happy with that. I had a good run and hit all my marks. The real day is tomorrow and we will be ready to race” said Scott in the finish area.
Race day arrived and the rain continued to fall.. The track, thankfully was fantastic. The sandy nature of this track means it actually gets better with rain as the riders are able to push their tyres harder in the corners.
During the day Scott did interviews with BBC as well as in front of the huge Fort William crowd ahead of the finals. After a short practice session, the scene was set and it was time to race.
Round 1. Scott chose the inside gate, made a great start and took a commanding lead to win the race, leading from start to finish.
Quarter Final. In the quarter final, Scott had second pick. The current 4X World Champion, Tomas Slavik had first pick. He went for gate 2. Scott decided on gate 3 as the run to turn 1 from gate 1 gets tight when racing bar to bar. Making a trademark explosive gate, Scott took the fight to Slavik and into turn 1 just lost the race. He settled into 2nd and qualified through to the semi final.
In the Semi Final, Scott would face his biggest rival again, fastest qualifier, Czech Republic rider Tomas Slavik. Slavik chose gate 2. Feeling good with his gate, Scott decided on gate 3 again to try and drag race him on the first straight. The gate dropped and Scott made a flier. The two riders went bar to bar on the first straight both trading the lead at different parts of the first straight. Entering the first turn level, Slavik took the advantage from being inside. Scott settled into second and looked comfortable.
Then the drama came. Hannes Slavik (no relation to Tomas) railed turn 2 and carried huge amounts of speed and he block passed Scott in turn 3. Scott battled all the way to the finish line but couldn’t re pass. Finishing 3rd, Scott was furious with himself.
He had to regroup and head back up the hill for the small final to determine 5th – 8th places and the final step on the podium.
Small Final time. Scott had made such great starts from gate 3, he decided to go with it again. Giving himself space to get a good drive and fast wide line in turn one.
The commentator had the crowd going wild. All chanting the riders names, blowing air horns, revving chainsaws and blowing whistles. It was an electric atmosphere.
As the beeps went Scott made his best gate of the day and took the lead into turn 1. From here, he rode a faultless lap and took the win to give himself 5th place for the day and another Fort William podium.
In the finish area, Scott said:
“I am absolutely gutted. I have had the speed to win all day, and it just all unravelled in that semi final. Hannes made a great pass and it is what it is. 5th place gets points on the board and thankfully we head straight to Winterberg in Germany for round 2 next week.”
Our next race will be 4X ProTour Round 2 which will be held in Winterberg, Germany on Saturday 28th May.
We are excited to see what Scott can do.
Thank you to all our team partners. We couldn’t do this without your support.