BMX National Series, Rounds 1 & 2

 

April 30 to May 1st - Cheddar / Burnham

 

BCBMX National Series 2006 Rounds 1&2 - Burnham/Cheddar

- Report: Rich Eames

- Pics Richard Robotham (Gallery above)
2006; A big year for sport. The World Cup is almost upon us, Chelsea won the Premiership and England and Sri Lanka are to do battle in yet another test series. You know what? I don't give a stuff cos' we're back racing BMX in what promises to be a storming season of thrills and spills on the track. Forget fat blokes dressed in white and overpaid fairies chasing a bag of wind round a field, the real action starts here. Bring it on!!

6 and under saw Gideon Arena chalk up two wins despite the close attentions of W8 Lewis Hipkins and Jaden Rice. The 7's saw the 'Lahndon' crew chalk up some more points courtesy of Kye White, don't count out Eddie Moore and Luca Premoli either as the season rolls on.

The 8's belonged to Reece Brownson, no one else came close, Joshua Moore and Thomas Novis swapped seconds and thirds over the weekend and will keep the pressure on Reece for the rest of 06, you can be sure of that.

The 9's saw more points going to Brixton with Jimmy Orena, Jack Clarke of Mid Lancs took second place. Jay Schippers of Holland took the 10's both days throwing a spanner in the works for the UK guys, Zach Stevens looked quick in second and Anthony Trower was going well till a major stack in Monday's main saw him get run over by the guy behind him and 'Trousers' had to settle for eighth.

The 11/12 year old age group is huge!! We saw quarter finals in this class both days, Bradley Minns had the consistency with a first and a second but Tom Hall scored a win and a sixth to keep him in the title hunt early on.

13/14 saw the Dutch invasion continue with Tristan Lentink winning Sunday but Mathew Masterson did it for Old Blighty on Monday. We also saw the return of Deane 'The Machine' Ashcroft from his broken leg and he chalked up a third on Monday, his gates are still horrible though!! There were over 40 riders in this class both days, if that doesn't give us hope that racing is on the up, nothing will!!

15/16's will be the class to watch in 2006, talking to Bloomy on Saturday he tipped Dan Price to cause some upsets whereas I went for Callum Strickland for the title and on Sunday he did the Mid Lancs Massive proud with a gate to line win. On Monday he had to settle for second with Alix Deakin adding a win to his seventh on Sunday. The competition in this class is immense with Messrs Curry, Brazil, Cheetham, Sewell and Tamblyn in the mix, anything could happen and no doubt it will. Prepare for fireworks at Tredegar!!

Junior Men is chock full of action from beginning to end, moves were being thrown and this was illustrated right in front of me in Monday's semi when Michael Macquarrie entered the first turn and ended up on the deck thanks to a well placed elbow from Daniel Whyte. Jonathan Roberts took the win in this stacked class on Sunday but had to settle for a sixth on Monday. The 'Mr Consistency' award belonged to Lee Bromfield who just missed a win on Sunday and stormed to his first national win on Monday. Mike from Dialled Bikes will be pleased no doubt!!

19 plus?.Oh.My.God. I knew it was going to be good, I just never realised how good! You could take the top 16 riders, throw them in the air and see where they land and it's about as good a prediction of a result as you can get. Guys like Marco 'Pretty in Pink' Dell'Isola and Michael Brown were making the main on one day and not the next; it's stacked to say the least. However, the performance of the weekend came from the winner of the class; step up Miss Shanaze Reade who absolutely killed it and smoked the entire class both days. Not once, but twice! Unbelieveable! I'm not going to mention the 'O' word in case of the 'commentator's curse' follows me into print? all I can say is the 19 plus guys need to up their game if they want to be on top of the podium in 06.

The crash fest that is Masters saw the return of the Warlock from his wrist surgery but he managed to stay upright the entire weekend, no doubt helped by his centre of gravity being lowered by eating Hoppy's mum's home made apple crumble on Sunday night!! Chief crashers in the class were Jason Lewis and the legend that is Miles Kirby. I think he set some kind of record by falling off both twenty inch and cruiser over the weekend and looked thoroughly gutted at doing so. Thing is, Miles started last season in much the same fashion and went on to have his best season ever so let's hope history repeats itself because watching Miles is brilliant no matter what happens. Shaun Andrews took the win both days but Lee Alexander nearly gave me a heart attack in Monday's main with his accidental trails style transfer down the second straight, how the hell did he stay upright? Does anyone know? Like I said at the time he's a scary, scary man?.

A quick run down of the girls racing saw Lauren Stack and Chloe Taylor take the 7-9's, Charlotte Green take the 10-12's both days, with Ellie Morris doing the same in 13-15 Girls. Junior Female was Joey Gough's on Sunday and Elke Van Hoof's on Monday. Elke Van Who? Yep, Belgium's finest was in the house on Sunday and she's well quick, and she can jump too.

Crowsers next? 16-29 isn't big on numbers but its big on speed, Daniel Thorne took two wins from two and Roy 'Sutty' Sutton brought 'Regional Roy' out on Monday to secure a well deserved second place despite some second straight sketchiness on the pink cruiser, you gotta love it!

40 plus had its share of casualties including Shaun Calvert whose damaged wrist prevented him from really battling with double winner Ady Warden. 'Awesome' Antony Parry had it worst though when a bobble over the triple took him down resulting in a broken arm that required surgery the day after. Getting hurt sucks, and the on site ambulance resembled a walk in NHS centre at one point; the medics were well busy to say the least.

30-39 saw its biggest entry for a long time, 35 riders lined up to do battle and it's fantastic to get up on the gate with no idea who you are up against. We saw the return of Darren O'Neil (two classes and Silk Cuts?are you nuts Darren?) and that bloke from 'My name is Earl' (aka Dave Godfrey) The three heavy hitters in the class were Hoppy, Ian Sharp and Jeff Dovey. Hoppy took a win and a second whilst Ian took a win and a dive in Sunday's main. Jeff took a second and a fourth for some solid points, this could make for some fun racing before Hoppy moves Stateside to be an extra in Will and Grace...watch this space.

Elite Men was set to be a stormer; The return of Flemdog, Dale Holmes.com back from Murietta and all the new blood entering the class. The standard was set to rise at least a couple of notches. Luke Gamble had stated pre season that Kelvin would be 'watching his arse in 06'. I guess Kelvin must have been staking out the burger bar in that case because he was out front all weekend whilst Luke had a stinker. You could see the frustration in Luke's riding on Monday as he slammed his bike down over jumps in the B main. It's called 'paying your dues' and I reckon it'll happen a few times before Luke makes the breakthrough. You can't fault his enthusiasm and desire though.

I think the first national of 06 saw a changing of the guard in Elite, whereas Kelvin was the student and Dale was the master it seems that Kelvin is making his mark in his own right continually pulling holeshots and making moves when he is behind. It was going to happen eventually as Kelvin is just starting his career and Dale is nearing the end of his (in relative terms) Dale has been there, done that and sold the T shirt from the back of his car and with Kelvin and the likes of Liam Phillips coming through, the future of Elite BMX in the UK is bright. Long may it continue!!

Other Elites looking quick were Marcus Bloomfield, Laurence Mapp and Alex Dick doing it rebel style on flat pedals and no race kit. Kevin Sprengers also got in the mix for the Dutch connection despite dumping it at the end of the third straight on Monday. It didn't stop him taking a fourth overall though. There were twenty plus Elites on the gate both days which is another sign things are looking up and with the inclusion if the Athertons and Scotty Beaumont from 4X things could get interesting this year.

So there you have it, rounds one and two are in the bag. We'll be back at Cheddar in June for another national and the Euros so you'll have plenty of other chances to get the track wired and make up for any slip ups this time round. See you there.

Results

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