BMX National Series Round 5

 

Peterborough, July 23 2006
Report: Rich Eames| Images: Steve Bodey

 

Results

Round 5 Rider Results >>>>

Series Rankings - Riders >>>>

Series Rankings - Clubs >>>>

Series Rankings - Teams >>>>

Peterborough; home of Peterborough United football club, Peterborough Phantoms ice hockey team, and Max Power magazine (oh well?can't win em' all eh?) But we were only interested in one thing; Peterborough BMX track. Not keen on pedalling? This wasn't the track for you with its long first straight and flat out sprint to the first turn, some doubles kept you busy in the second straight and straights three and four gave you jelly legs to the line, trail bosses or the chronically unfit (read: Masters) were gonna be in a whole world of pain by the second turn for sure.

Anyway, straight to the action; 6 and under saw the pocket rockets hit the track and Gideon Orena take another win followed by Ethan Vernon and Aaron Threader. This class also saw another monumental event as the next generation of Warlock hit the track; Lauren Stewart (daughter of Neil) rode her first national and had a blast. She might not have won but the big beaming smile she had on her face coming down the last straight suggests she'll be back for more very soon.

The 7's saw a three way battle between Harley Taylor, Kye White and Luca Premola with Kye coming away victorious but Harley has a win to get before the end of the season I'm sure. The 8's saw the continuing dogfight between Reece Brownson and Paddy Sharrock with Paddy being unable to overhaul his nemesis once again. Thing is, Paddy probably won't care and will want to head off down the trails. If he was anymore laid back he'd be horizontal. Josh Moore took third on the day.

Jack Clarke has been trying to get close enough to pass Jimmy Orena all year and still it won't happen. This week it came down to the final straight but Jack couldn't quite pull it out of the bag. Fred Devereux was third and Alex Pullen fourth. I can't wait for Zach Stevens and Oliver Fay to turn pro. why? Because if the racing between them is as close as it was this weekend it'll be some of the best racing you'll ever see. Zach punched the air with delight as he crossed the line closely followed by Oliver and Anthony Trower, James Handleigh took fourth place. If Ben Clarkson ain't busting out the style over the jumps, he's winning races closely followed by Riess Harper and Adam Smith. Even the run off's were closely contested in this class as 'Flip' and Jake Cornforth demonstrated earlier in the day. Nice job guys!!

Matty Masterson continued his dominance of 13/14 expert but not without a serious challenge from Ben Blake. Is my memory playing tricks or did he unclip on the first straight? (or was it on cruiser?) Either way, Matty took the points and its up to everyone else to chase him down. Anyone can win 15/16 at any given time, no sure things in this class at all. Cal Strickland gave me a heart attack with a third in the semi. No such worries in the final as he took the win followed by Alix Deakin, Dan Price and Aaron Curry. The racing in this class is top drawer so don't miss it at Decoy?.ok?

7-9 year old girls saw a new winner in Jenny Noble (daughter of Masters rider Steve) who was also riding her first national this weekend. This relegated Lauren Stack and Katie Yeates to second and third. I guess we'll be seeing Jenny on the gate again before the season is out. 10-12 Girls went to Charlotte Green looking very factory in her pink Fox race kit, Emma Coles took second and Isabelle Ferrada third. Nicola Reed continued to take the spoils in 13-15 girls with a sprint for the line ending up with Elise Dick on the floor but she got up and walked away, no harm done thankfully. Junior Female had Lauren Smith racing her home track and she knows it well enough to make no mistakes and keep the vocal Peterborough crew shouting. Lucy Hale was catching her down the last straight and you could see the disappointment as she crossed the line for second.

12 and under cruiser was going Ben Clarkson's way with Bradley Minns in hot pursuit. Bradley bided his time and made his move to grab first place with Ben in second, Cameron Howard third and Lewis Ferguson fourth. Matty Masterson made it two wins for the day in 13-15 cruiser followed by Messrs Cheetham and Vinyard. 16-29 Cruiser saw Alan Hill moved over from Elite Cruiser but the points went to Dave Ives followed by Daniel Thorne and Dave Richardson. Roy Sutton moved over to the dark side with pointy shoes and clicky pedals. Still, it could be worse, he could be drinking skinny lattes as well - right Roy?

30-39 cruiser was all Ian Sharp followed in by Peter Power and a very consistent James Christie taking joint 2nd. Wayne Orrah could have been a serious threat but a first Moto over the bars moment hindered him in the later rounds. Gotta give a shout to Mark Leach cos' he was hauling all day. It was like 1987 all over again!! All we needed was Duran Duran on the PA and Tim Print in the final as well. One out of two isn't bad and I'll download some DD for the next national?.thank god for iTunes eh?

One question regarding 40 plus cruiser; Where on earth was Shaun Calvert? He was supposed to be there to avenge his Cheddar defeat but Mike Pardon had it all to himself again with Ade in two and Tony Slater in three. Who needs old skool racing? They're all racing cruiser!!

25 and over ladies went to Vanessa Real from Abi Hill and Rebecca Vaughan. Was Nicki Spiers injured? I'm sure I saw her hobbling round the pits and finishing an uncharacteristic 5th overall makes me think she was.

Junior Men will go right to the wire with only half a point in it at this stage. It didn't bother Lee Bromfield as he turned on the turbo chargers to take the points from a hard charging Daniel Whyte and Johnny Roberts with Shaun Issitt fourth.

Masters; Nigel Whyte got a good gate but couldn't hold on past the step up. This gave Shaun Andrews the chance to tie up yet another win. If he hasn't won the title then he's pretty darn close. Lee Alexander was flying but a last turn crash put paid to his chances along with those of Miles Kirby who crashed into Lee's bike and went OTB.

19 and over was a real mish mash of fortunes for some riders. Michael Brown was flying in the Motos but having problems with his pedals/cleats, which left him floundering come the semis. Ditto Matt Barnard with two Moto wins but a sixth in the final. Russ Kirk also binned it in the final but Wayne Richardson put together the lap of a lifetime to take the ?50 holeshot money and the points with local hero Matt Allen in two and honorary Peterborough member Dan Clifford in three.

Elite Men; No Kelvin, No Bloomy, no idea who was gonna take the win!! Our GB team guys were in Brazil looking for Worlds glory so someone was gonna take a first win. Laurence Mapp dragged himself away from bingo (yes, bingo!) long enough to snag a fourth. Liam Batey got third but the top two were outstanding. Ben Forwood seems to have confidence on tap after his Euro win and he was killing it. It wasn't enough though cos' Wazza Bancroft had it going on big time to take it on the day. Wazza is one of the most talented riders we have, imagine what he could do if he gets serious and starts training!! I won't mention the 'O' word?but just imagine?
This win proves he can do it, the question is, does he want to?

So that was Peterborough, done and dusted. See you at Decoy!!

We'll have galleries from the event later in the week - more images below

 

Results

Round 5 Rider Results >>>>

Series Rankings - Riders >>>>

Series Rankings - Clubs >>>>

Series Rankings - Teams >>>>

Braintree Club Report: This weekend saw round 5 of the National BMX Series held within our region at Peterborough. Fourteen riders from Braintree took part and with two rounds to go, fought for the extra points needed to push them up the current rankings. The youngest rider of the day was seven year old George Shwedt-Moret who rode well in his motos, getting a fourth and two fifths taking him into the B final where he came in fourth.

In the expert ten class Braintree had two riders racing for places in a semi-final. Taylor Andrews had brilliant moto results, including a win, but a seventh in his semi-final meant he went into the B final where he came in third. Close behind him was Thomas Hall who also managed a coveted spot in the semi, where he finished eighth and so went into the B final where he finished sixth.

The large, combined 11/12 class saw stunning results from Riess Harper who took two out of three wins in his motos, won his semi and came in a very close second in the A final. The equally large 13/14 class again saw fantastic moto results for Matt Kirk, who went into his semi-final with ease, where he finished fourth just getting himself into the A final. The A final proved tough but Matt managed to finish in third.

 

The very competitive 15/16 group saw three riders from Braintree working extremely hard for that coveted place in the semi-final. Steven Sewell, sporting his new European ranking of E6, showed the way with a win in each moto, followed by a second in his semi-final, taking him into the A final with ease where he finished sixth. Bradley Watts also rode in this group and with good moto results, made it into the semi-final where he finished seventh, missing out on the A final but coming through in the B final to take second. Further down the pack was Ashley Hall who rode well in his motos but missed out on the semi-final.

 

In the Junior Men, Jason Clarke had his work cut out and with consecutive sevenths in his motos he went into the B final, where he finished sixth. Returning to National racing after a study break, Ryan Everitt had a good day in the 19 and over group, where he went through to the semi easily. A fight to the line placed him in the unfortunate fifth position and from there he went into the B, which he won with style as if he had never been away.

Braintree's only female rider, Nicola Reed, was on a new bike today and it obviously paid off as she remained unbeaten all day, taking the win with ease. In the cruiser classes, Jamie Clarke, rode in the Grand Prix class of 13 - 15 year olds where he had consecutive sixths all day. In the 16 - 29 cruiser class, Lee East had good moto results taking him automatically into the A final where he finished eighth.

Leon Dixon was Braintree's only novice rider of the day and he took part in the 10 - 13 age group where he had a fantastic start winning his first moto and together with his other moto results his final position was third. The next National round is in Decoy in Devon in three weeks time but in the meantime, Braintree BMX Club hold racing every Wednesday night, starting at 7pm, everyone welcome. For more information please phone the Watts family on 01376 346523.

 

Royston Rockets Club Report: BMX racers from the Royston Rockets BMX Racing Club were competing in the fifth round of the National BMX Summer Series at Peterborough last weekend. To complement previous rounds which had either been run in full sunshine or in flood conditions this event had both extremes of British Weather with Saturdays practice session starting in bright sunshine and too hot for the riders only to be abandoned less than three hours later with much of the track under water following a torrential thunderstorm. Sunday was slightly overcast which made conditions for racing a little easier for the competitors and some very tight and exciting racing from the 320 riders from around the country made a great atmosphere for the spectators.

The racing started with the youngest riders competing in the 6 and Under class where the Rockets rider, Daniel Blanche, finished in 6th, whilst in the 7 year class "B" Final Bradan Blanche finished in 3rd for the second round in succession. Ethan Lewis took 6th place in the 8 yr class and Royston's three riders in the 10 yr class had a varied day with all of them making their way through to the semi finals and both Zach Stevens and James Handleigh made the "A" final where Zach took a fine win with James just missing a podium opposition as he was given 4th on the line, whilst in the "B" Final team mate, Louis Burton in 4th. Moving up to the male 11-12 year class both the Rockets found the going tough and Aston Blanche was unable to qualify for the semi finals although Ben Gutteridge did qualify and eventually came home 8th in the "B" final after a fall. In the 13-14 class Wayne Gutteridge and Antony Taylor were other unfortunate riders to just miss qualification to the semi finals.

 

Jonathan Roberts continued his excellent start to this years racing with 3rd in the Junior Male class and in the Masters (30+) class Lee Alexander looked set for a top 3 finish until his front wheel lost grip coming out of the last corner. In the Cruiser classes Danny Bateman took 2nd in the 16-29 "B" Final and Leroy Seaton, who was returning after a long break, took 7th in the 40+ final. The two Elite Class riders had a good day on the track with Richard Townsend taking 4th in the "B" final and Laurence Mapp finished in 4th in the class "A" final.

The clubs regular Tuesday night sessions at the clubs track in Burns Road, Royston are now in full swing with the gates opening at 6pm where anyone with a BMX or MTB bike is welcome to come along to find out more about the sport. Full details of this and other forthcoming club and regional events are published on the club web site at www.roystonrockets.co.uk, or ring 01763 260959 for more information on BMX racing.

 

More Pictures - Galleries to come later.....