Apr 23, 2026
Gravity School Racing Kicks Off 2026 with Wins and Momentum
Gravity School Racing returns in 2026 with an 11-rider squad ready to tackle the international racing scene. With riders from 5 different countries: UK, Portugal, Denmark, Switzerland and Australia, and with riders in every racing category, it promises to be another exciting year between the tape and behind the lens. Continuing to represent our core sponsors, RAAW, SR Suntour, Schwalbe, ONeal, and also collaborating with Renthal, 5Dev, Evolution Power Tools, TY Bike Products, Works Components, Shack Wrap, Trail Tools, Hayes, Reynolds, OChain, Checkered Design and Shimano. We are so thankful to our supporting brands for making it all possible for the team and the riders!
After a very productive off season, the crew kicked off the race season in Portugal for the first two rounds of the Portugal Cup. Round one was held at Porto De Mos, which would be a new venue for the whole team except our Portuguese rider Nui, and round 2 was held at Padela, which is a venue that the team has been visiting since 2022.
The track at Porto De Mos was a track of two halves. At the top it was very simple and fast, with no braking at all, with a focus on carrying speed and being precise with lines. The lower half was very steep and technical with some very tight corners and challenging rock gardens. The weather on Saturday was extremely wet and windy, which was a challenge on track and also in the pits! Despite this challenge, the riders had a productive day and headed into race day feeling positive.
Sunday provided much nicer weather and the track was bound to dry out by race runs. However, the morning practice session was particularly challenging. Now that the rain had stopped, the mud was being dragged onto all of the rocks making them extremely slippery, and the track was running very slowly in the flatter sections making it difficult to carry speed. Jack reassured the riders that during the break between practice and qualifying the track would dry out a lot and be running much better, but there would be no way of knowing how each section would ride until they were into it, so looking ahead and being disciplined with braking points would be critical.
Following his own advice Jack had a smooth qualifying run and set the fastest time, with Marius close behind in 2ndand Tom Westgate in 4th. Our juvenile rider Ed “Badger” Jones also smashed it and qualified 1st by quite the margin. The rest of the team had mixed results and were hoping to improve going into finals. By racing the track was totally dry apart from one slippery section just before the finish, and Ed backed up his seeding to take the win in juvenile, and Marius smashed it out of the park in elite, securing the fastest time of the day and his first race win for the team on his RAAW Yalla!! V2. Jack was on a flier, but crashed in the lower section, still managing to finish 2nd just behind Marius making it a team 1 – 2, with Tom Westgate in 5th and Oscar Hakes in 7th. All in all, a great first race weekend for the team in 2026, and congratulations to Marius and Ed on their race wins!
Without any rest, the team went straight into another race week for round 2. The weather forecast this time was much better, and the crew at Padela had worked hard to reroute the track to avoid the infamous “bog” that riders had contended with in previous years. Some other new features had been constructed to improve the overall flow and quality of the track, so it promised to be a fun weekend of practice and racing.
Saturday was a really fun day for the crew, with dry fast practice laps in the sun, and BBQs for lunch and dinner. Our riders that had raced Padela before, were up to speed quickly and shared their knowledge with the other team riders to help everyone get their lined dialled and up to speed. Our guys also share GoPro footage in the evening so that everyone is in the best possible position going into racing on Sunday.
Race day was set to be another sunny dry day, with perfect track conditions. After morning practice, seeding kicked off and Ed once again dominated his category with 1st place in juvenile, and Marius really impressing everyone with his ability to adapt quickly to a new track, qualifying ahead of Jack, the guys in 4th and 6th respectively. Another stand out seeding result was Rueben in 9th, who had really struggled to find his flow on the track at round 1 the week before, so it was great to see him get back up to speed.
Racing started promisingly with Ed securing back to back wins and making it the perfect 2 weeks in Portugal finishing P1 across all 4 timed sessions. In junior we had 3 top 10 results with Noah 9th, Leo in 8th and Nui just missing the podium in 4th. Elite saw us get 3 more top 10 results, with Marius “beating the boss” in 4th, Jack (the boss) 0.3 behind in 5th and Rueben only 1 second adrift with an impressive 7th. Another great weekend of racing for the team! Tune into the team videos filmed by Diogo to see the action and follow the progress of the team as we move through the season.
With 2 weeks off, the team has some reset time before heading back to Portugal for the start of the European Cup season!
Text: Jack Reading