Report: 2009 National BMX Championships
Results: All Riders | Top 8 Riders | Clubs | Teams | Regional
Richard Eames reports from the biggest BMX weekend of the season:
I love the Brits, there's absolutely no doubt in my mind its the best race of the year, every year. It's the FA Cup to the Premiership that is the National series and it can be won and lost on one lap, that's why its so good! 2009 saw us return to Cheddar and its fabulous facilities. The mood was good and the sun was out, what more could you want?? (Apart from more of those Cornish pasties please....thank you!)
Let's start with the cruisers for a change!! 12 and under saw Roy Jones from Burnham step and take his first 01 plate from Tom Novis and Harley Taylor. Did Owen Baxter slip a pedal? The national champ couldn't make it a double but he'll be back next year, just you watch! 13-15 Cruiser saw Ben Clarkson 'wiggle' over every jump in his path to a win from Toby Bearne and Our Bradley in his comedy glasses. 16-29 was a close run thing between Matty Kirk and Jake Cheetham but there was no Wan in the main. I asked the Isle of Man's BMX star what happened and he said 'I just wasn't fast enough'. That's that sorted then! All the real fun started in 30-39 with TJ Baldwin's bike snapping episode in the motos, talk about a catastrophic failure! Can someone put TJ on a 4130 bike please just so he can try harder to break it and still keep us entertained... The main event was a cracker with Hilly leading and Daz Reidy going for the do or die move in the last turn which didn't quite come off. Still, there's no prizes for second at the Brits is there?
40-44 cruiser was nuts with 39 riders in it, there were rumours of there being enough for eighths (64 riders) at one point, that would have really been something! Bernie Schaale led towards turn one with a set of cranks on his bike that he can't polish to death but Jon Moore eventually took over till Lee Alexander pulled the move of his life to take the 01 back to East Anglia for the next 12 months. 45+ cruiser looked set to be decided before the gate dropped as Ady Warden was head and shoulders quicker than the rest but you know what they say about a dead cert... Ady was determined to entertain and launched himself over the doubles out of turn one then promptly exploded over the set of doubles that followed. If that wasn't enough he managed to jam his helmet visor over his eyes and run round like an out of control C3P0 looking for his bike. It was, hands down, the funniest thing I've seen at a BMX race since the Coppull police race a couple of years ago. Ady is an absolute star and really should audition for Britain's Got Talent as anything at all cos' he's guaranteed to get a crowd going! Whilst all this was going on Dave Herman took the win from Phil Beer and the legend that is Billy Fieldhouse in third place.
Girls next!! 25 plus ladies had a full gate of eight and looked like it was gonna be a battle royale till Claire Morrison took a nasty slam into the upside of a jump leaving her down for a good while. Rumours abounded of numerous injuries but at the time or writing I still don't know how bad it is. All we can say is get well soon Claire!! It was nice to see that all the girls went back to check on Claire's condition straight after the race too. Meanwhile Kung Fu Cary took the win from Abi Hill and Nikki Spiers. 7 and under girls went to Imogen Hill and 7-9 Girls went to Kim Baptista from Ellie Jo Chappell, that custom paint job for the bike will have to wait a little longer Ellie!! 10-12 Girls was all Jenny Noble being valiantly chased by Valerie Zebrokova for that 01 plate. 13-15 was a close run thing between Ayesha McClelland and Izzy Ferrada but it wasn't to be for Izzy this time round. Junior Women saw the return of Abbie Taylor to take the 01 from Charlotte Green and the super hard charging Emily James in 3rd. Sheffield's poshest student has had a great season and will be 'training' over winter I'm sure.
6 and under was the first part of a Brookes double with Alex taking an his first 01 plate from Morgan Chidley and Ethan Craik then big brother Ryan (he's an inch taller!) took the 7's from Kobi Joyce and Ryan O'Loughlin. Sue Brookes needs a Kleenex co-ey for 2010 to mop up the tears! (Sorry Sue...;) In the 8's Ross Cullen was flying in the motos but come the final Finn Hall just had the edge, can you imagine how much these two will push each other on riding Preston together every week? Josh Peters took a strong third in this one too. The 9's was all Gideon Orena but Shay Casey continues to get ever closer. Ethan Vernon took a harsh crash, hope you're OK Ethan!! Kye White wasn't about to let the 10's title go but Louis Gray Blest was right there with Ben Turner and Harley Taylor. The 11's saw a return to the days of the battles between Reece Brownson and Paddy Sharrock with Paddy just edging out his long term rival with his trademark smoothness, Josh Moore took third.
12's; Jimmy Orena got this one after main rival Jordan Hatcher binned it along with Dan Butterfield on the first straight. Elliot Pateman took second and Fabian Shaw third. In the 13's Quillan Isidore blasted his way to an 01 from Bailey Ridge Davies and callum Wing in two and three. It was also really nice to see Oliver Fay back in there after being MIA for the year. Jacob Roberts really wanted the title in the 14's and after making the third straight look easy on Saturday all eyes were on the SE Flyer (geddit?) and he didn't disappoint with an awesome lap to take the win, no one else really got close with Cemil Sabri second and Michael Hawker third. Jack Hall and Adam Smith were battling all day with Adam seeming to get the better of the early exchanges but come final time Jack stepped up and took the win. Elliott Pullen took third, Jack Smalpiece 4th and 5th went to Alex Metcalfe who was back from 4x for the day.
16's is tough, with Jonathan Hastings going down early and Dom Skidmore exiting left on the second straight. Grant Hill put a mint lap in for the win with Matty Kirk second and a strong ride from Robert Hawker for third. 19 plus was set to be a cracker with the Stay Strong boys being watched by Stephen Murray's mum so it was only fitting that Gaz Bates took the title from Lee Baker and Stay Strong team mate Marco Del'Isola. Billy Luckhurst's time is definitely coming with a fourth and James Chadwick 5th.
Masters; bit of an odd one this... Paul Cope looked out of sorts all day where as Dave Godfrey looked absolutely great! Haircut, gym membership, family in tow. Dave is in danger of looking respectable and I'm not sure if I like it!! The new and improved DG took fifth with some good laps and a happy vibe about him. If he does do the work over winter he will be a real threat next year, especially if he's riding with Matt Barnard on a regular basis. Jools Allen was full of flu and still managed a main event spot but Scotland's Scott Davidson wrecked and needed some treatment from the medics.Dave Ives took a second with a quick looking Rich Green third. The 01 stays firmly on Barnard's bike for another year though.
As Junior Men lined up myself and Terry Green called our picks from the tower. I went for Kyle Evans and Tel went for Kye Whyte, I guess we should have gone for Adam Brazil cos' he won with Tre second and Kyle third. I know I keep banging on about it but that class is amazing and chock full of talented, fast guys who will make talented fast elite men when the time comes. Also making the main after some time off was Bradley Watts, I think Bradley has way more to offer BMX and could be top three if he decides to put in the work, what do you reckon Bradley...?
Finally, Elite Men. 12 riders showed up with a few faces missing. Bloomy was making mains in Chula Vista at the SX with LP there also. Mappy was on his stag do (dressed as Fred Flintstone so I've heard) so Kelvin had a golden opportunity to take his 96th British title before going under the knife for the 196th time. As the pack hit turn one people were pinging everywhere with Luke Tamblyn being bounced round in the middle of it all. This conspired to slow everyone slightly which allowed Kelvin to slip away for the 01. Tom Palmer got second and Dan Whyle third. Gamble took his abs of steel and 1950's short back and sides to 4th place. Congratulations to Kelvin on the win though, Elite Men British Champion 2009!
And so endeth another season of British BMX racing with a top drawer event to finish it off, let's hope 2010 is bigger and better and we top 727 riders. 800 anyone?
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