East Anglia Regional Round 1

East Anglia Summer Regional BMX Series Round 1

Royston Rockets, 20 April 2008

Royston Club Report: Last Sunday saw the opening round of the East Anglia BMX Summer Series and at last the weather was generally dry and by recent standards warm which gave good conditions in which to race and with almost 100 riders from around the region taking part during the afternoon the spectators were promised with some very competitive racing in all the classes. A change to this year's series structure means that riders register in their own age group but for the racing the classes are combined to give more competitive races without adversely the riders ranking which is part of their qualification to the British Championships in August.

The Royston Rockets BMX Racing Club had over 20 riders competing in many of the classes with the club's newest member, Kelly Newall, competing in the Under 6 yr class where he was rewarded with an excellent third place after a meeting long battle with team member Louis Foreman who finished in 5th.

In the 7/8yr class A final Royston's Ethan Vernon took the win with Daniel Blanche in 3rd and Oliver Snelling taking 5thjust ahead of James King who was 6th and the first 7yr old rider across the line and Josh Peters took 8th after a mid race incident saw him drop back form a podium position whilst in the class B final, Marmaduke Birt took the win.

In the 9yr/10yr class Aaron Dalleywater took first place in the A final and was the first 9yr old home with Bradan Blanche taking 5th just ahead of Ethan Lewis in 6th and and Zak Foreman in 8th and in the B final Matthew Harris took 2nd. In the Female 7-9yr class Jasia Blanche took 2nd and in the 11-12 yr class Louis Burton finish in third. The 13y-14yr class saw Ben Gutteridge take 3rd with James Handleigh taking 5th and the first 13yr old home.

Wayne Gutteridge fought hard in the A final of the 15-16yr class where he took 5th ahead of Katie Roberts trying her skills against the boys and took 6th and a Rider of the Day Award and in the class B final, Jak Bracewell took 2nd and Zac Pegram finished in 7th. The final two classes saw Royston riders taking 2nd places with Darren Forman in the 30+ Masters category and Richard Townsend in the Superclass.

The next event on the race calendar is the third round of the National Summer Series at Cheddar on April 27th where the Rockets will again be out in force to chase points for their ranking positions. Unfortunately this event clashes with the Royston & District Sports Fayre at the Royston Leisure Centre but the club hope to have a static display and information leaflets available.

The clubs own Summer Series has started with their regular Tuesday night sessions at the clubs track in Burns Road, Royston. Full details of 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.

Braintree BMX Club Report: Sunday saw the first meeting of the East Anglian BMX series and an excellent turnout of thirty two Braintree riders made the journey to Royston for this summer, despite feeling more like winter, meeting.

The youngest age group that of expert six and under saw a stunning win for Tom Stokes after two firsts and two seconds in his motos. Close behind was Sydney Allen who finished consistently fourth all day.

The male 7 class was combined with the 8 and 7 year old Charlie O Grady had his work cut out but managed to get into the A final where he finished seventh. The 9 and 10 classes were also combined but unperturbed Shane Redgewell went easily into the A final where he finished an excellent second. On his tail was Shane Pavitt who finished fourth and Joshua Legrove in seventh. Missing out on the A final but winning the B was Jonathan Boreham.

The 11/12 grand prix class saw Max Waghorn finish fifth over all. The 13/14 class was completely dominated by riders from Braintree and taking the win was relative newcomer Toby Bearne who had been unbeaten all day and won himself the coveted rider of the day award. Christopher Potter, also a close contender for the above award finished a close second, with Josh Alford in fourth, Taylor Andrews in sixth, Connah Wilson in seventh and Dexter Addington in eighth. Ryan East missed out on the A final but finished second in the B final.

The 15/16 class saw Will Elsey have a fantastic day taking the win with Richard Whiting on his tail in second. Riess Harper came in third with Sam Aves in fourth. Further down the pack were Nicola Reed in seventh and Tom Elvin in eighth. In the B final were Oliver Cutmore in fourth and Leon /Dixon in fifth.

The new 'superclass' was combined with 17+ and the new 'masterclass' (30+) with Jools Allen taking fourth place over all. Gavin Stokes in the older age group finished fourth in the B final.

The cruiser classes saw Tom Elvin and Oliver Cutmore doubling up on their entries with Tom taking the win overall. Jason Clarke and Lee East followed him across the line in second and third with Oliver in fourth. Newcomer to summer regional racing Steve Hurst finished seventh in the 40+ cruiser class.

Doing it for the girls in the female class of 10 - 12 aged riders was Kelsey Dixon who finished second all day. Finally, Braintree took along three novice riders in the shape of Jake and Sam Britton who finished first and second and Jed Hurst who finished third.

The next regional round is an inter regional at Mansfield in the Midlands on 10th May and Braintree BMX club commence summer club racing on Wednesday 3rd May at 0630. For more information visit www.braintreebmx.co.uk