Report: BMX National Series Rounds 5 & 6
Series Rankings: Rider | Club | Team
Photographer Richard Robotham was at Peterborough to capture the action from rounds 5 & 6 of the National Series. There's a selection of the great images that Richard captured below and many more in the Galleries linked above.BCBMX National Race Series 2009 - Rounds 5 and 6 - Peterborough.
Things weren't looking good heading into Peterborough for rounds five and six, a trip to the Met Office website predicted doom and gloom and good sprinkling of rain threatening to make it more Peter-bog-horror. Would the weather gods let us race in nice conditions? We were about to find out.
6 and under; Little Brooksy lead from Little Wilson and Little Chidley, both days. The prize for ‘Best Diva Strop' goes to Matthew Gilston for leaving his bike on the side of the track in utter disgust and walking off after crashing on Sunday, that made me chuckle....
7's; We have a battle going on between Matthew Hutt and Ryan O'Loughlin that could rival the Holmes/Staff battles of the early 90's. Hutt took day one and Ryan took day two with Ben Warcup and ‘Slightly Bigger Brooksy' taking thirds. Big shout to Keiron Bolton for making his first A final too.
8's; Finn Hall continued to dominate this class from Ross Cullen and Josh Coppin and that was the finishing order on both days.
9's; It seemed to be going a bit Pete Tong for Gideon Orena as he had to settle for a third behind Euan Hunt and Ethan Vernon on Saturday. Sunday was business as usual with a win for the SE guy with Ethan second and Jamie Norris Still third.
10's; Harley Taylor and Aaron Dalleywater were battling all weekend with Harley getting the better of the exchanges with Ben Warcup and Louis Gray Blest splitting this third spots.
11/12's; This class is huge! 38 riders on Saturday and 40 on Sunday....jeez!! Jimmy Orena was looking to carry on from where he left off at Burnham but it wasn't to be as Kye Whyte took Saturday's win before taking a nasty slam on Sunday. Reece Brownson followed up on a third with a win on Sunday where as Paddy Sharrock seemed out of sorts on a flat gate and power track and didn't have the opportunities to use his skills to the max to get him through the pack. Gotta feel sorry for Jordan Hatcher who was looking good for a win till he binned it in the last turn.
13/14's; Probably my favourite class to watch after Junior Men, this was edge of the seat stuff for sure with Dan Pullen killing it with his power but unclipping in Saturday's final. Michael Hawker rode a flawless lap to take that one, but Dan made up for it on Sunday with a narrow win from Jacob Roberts who kept it consistent with two seconds, Cam Howard was third on Sunday. I think this one will go to the wire again this year....
15/16's; Could Rob Hawker's luck get any worse? Three crashes with the worst being as he was qualifying for the main on Sunday and the rider in front fell in the last turn with Rob having nowhere to go and running straight into him. Denied again!! Saturday's main saw Adam Smith making moves but not gaining places with a 7th as North East rival Jack Hall took the win from Jordan Smith and Grant Hill. Sunday was all Adam as he stormed to the win from Jack and Grant in two and three.
Girls; Has someone plugged Trinity Camm into the mains supply and not told us? She didn't lose a lap all weekend, it looks like Darcie Taylor has some serious competition now in 7 and under girls. Kim Baptista continued her winnig ways in 8-9 Girls with Lasharn Whyte and Olivia Howard in close proximity. 10-12 Girls saw Jenny Noble win on Saturday but shock of shocks meant it was a third on Sunday from Lauren Stack and local flyer Katie Plumb with her home track knowledge. 13-15 Girls was a three way battle with McClelland, Silvestre and Izzy Ferrada having an on track battle on Saturday. Sunday saw Ayesha win again but but Amelia was right there on her tail the whole way round. Cruiser ladies gets a bit samey, so I reckon we should tie Nikki Spiers shoelaces together, make Abi Hill ride a unicycle and put Bev, Paula and Renee on a tractor, that should liven things up a bit!!!
Junior Female; Charlotte Green dominated on Saturday with 4 laps and four wins. Sunday was slightly different with Ria Goodman taking the win from Lauren Smith. Julie Cary was flat out flying too till a third straight crash left her winded and bruised with a good reason to crack open the wine for medicinal purposes, right JC?
Cruisers; 'Little Bruv' Baxter took 12 and under, with Cam Howard and Ben Clarkson splitting wins in 13-15. 16-29 Cruiser saw Matty Glynn not crash and the return of Wan from 'The Rock' and he was killing it in the motos, enough to remark that 'today was the day' Come the final and he cheeses it, riding like my 85 year old nan on her zimmer frame... I'll be interested to read the next blog post on that one!! 30-39 saw TJ Baldwin finally get bitten by the nosedive as he overcleared the triple into turn one leaving him on the deck, not that will stop him though, right TJ? Hang on... the result of the race? Hilly, Reidy and TJ in that order, both days!! Gotta shout out Allan Johnson and Neil Harbour for making their first A finals of the year too. Note to Clive Hawkins, you scared the you-know-what out of me in the semi! Even worse than TJ does! 40-44 saw Lee Alexander take his first cruiser win on Sunday after Anthony Fisher did everything right except the last straight, Jon Moore won it on Saturday. 45+ was as normal with Ady winning again, not that its a bad thing but some variation would be nice. Come on Parry, pretend its closing time at the chippy, that should get you faster!!!
19 plus - There's no let up in this class, especially with the return of Car Boot Sale King Dale Holmes who took two wins for the weekend from the consistent riding of Lee Baker with two seconds. Billy Luckhurst continues to impress with a third on Saturday after riding through the pack in the semi, he even found time to chuck in the odd X-up every now and again. Alix Deakin pulled a fifth on Saturday after getting in the way of a hard charging Mike Pinnock whilst getting up from a crash, the resulting impact put him flat on his back for the second time in ten seconds. Zoltan Buday made mains both days too. Gaz Bates took a third on Sunday.
Masters; All rise for the return of 'The Warlock'!!! Yes, Neil Stewart returned to the track on Saturday and promptly left the bike at home on Sunday cos' it was raining too hard!! We'll let him off seeing as it was his birthday... Meanwhile Matt Barnard continued his winning ways on Saturday but Sunday was all about the brutus as Jason Jessop took the win. Mind you, had Paul Cope stayed upright and raced both days it could have been a very different story!! Shout out to Stu Dixon for A final appearances as well.
Junior Men - Could Adam Brazil carry on with his dominance of the class or would the guest appearance of Nick ‘Tractor Gearing' Britt throw a major spanner in the works? Saturday saw Tre Whyte take the win by inches (literally) from Kyle Evans with Brazil in fourth behind Straker. Kyle has a win in him this year, that I am sure of, and I'd really like to see Dan McBride get one as well. Sunday was business as usual for Adam, but Nick Britt was on him like swine flu for second with EA/Pure's Arran Shrosbree in third.
Elite - We were a little thin on the ground in Elite with Bloomy and Liam Phillips both missing in action. This left Kelvin as the clear favourite and he did the job to take the win on both days. However, a storming performance came from Cal Strickland who took his flat pedals to two second places and earned him a chunk of change. I can't believe Cal does not have a sponsor and someone needs to pick him up quick as he's now off Team Telesales and free and available. Can I make it any clearer? Cal needs a ride!! Other good shows came from Luke Gamble (nice to see you back Luke) Tom Palmer and Luke Tamblyn with a fourth on Saturday. The handbags were flying late on Sunday afternoon but cool heads prevailed and a handshake ended it despite what you might read on t'interweb. Gotta feel sorry for Laurence Mapp who went down hard on Saturday and may have broken his hand Robbie Goodman and Scott Waterhouse took a harsh one on Sunday and ended up slight battered as well. Elite is improving week on week, Manchester should rock for sure.
ROUND 5 IMAGES
ROUND 6 IMAGES
