4X Finale - National Series Round 6

National 4-Cross Series Round 6

Chicksands, Beds, 3 September 2006

Images: Jamie Watts, Report Joey Gough

The last round of the NPS 4X took riders to a new venue to decide the year's titles. Set in the woods at Rowney Warren, just South of Bedford, Daren Williams track builder & the rest of bedsfattrax team have sculpted a super fast chute out of the strange golden dust that is Chicksandsand. Twin berms and the 25ft triple were the stand out features of the course, which most riders concentrated on getting dialled during practice.

The girls novice category kicked off the racing for the day. They were giving it their all on the course, some no doubt encouraged by the coaching efforts of Fat Face's Kim Bent earlier in the year. Suzanne Lacey took the win with Laura Thomas 2nd and Rachel Price 3rd. It was great to see more girls out there and hopefully they will be back for more next season.

12 - 17yr Novices had the biggest turnout of the day making it a very competitive class! At the end of the day Nick Heron rode his way to the win ahead of Ross Hammond and Matthew Singleton.

18+ Novice was another big class, Jon Smith taking top honours this time with Paul Branton chasing him home for 2nd and Ben Cressey 3rd. There are some talented riders in this class so we might see some of these guys banging elbows in seniors next year.

Juvenile was the first class of the day with a series title up for grabs. It was a showdown between Joshua West and Tom Knight for the number 1 title, but with Oli Wakeman and BMX girl Abbie Taylor also lining up for the final the win on the day could have been anyone's. Josh and Tom shot out in front both determined to take the title, but as they battled it out over the roller/tabletop they clashed together and National Champ Tom came crashing down and had to settle for runner up overall, Abbie Taylor crashed into the back of him. Josh took it home to claim the title with Oli taking 2nd on the day and 3rd overall.

Identiti's Tom Dowie has been ruling the Youth category all year and on his home turf here at Chicksands he was unstoppable. He took the win and the title with Alex Gobold 2nd and Sam Reynolds in 3rd. Overall Bernerd Kerr took the number 2 and Sam Reynolds again in 3rd. Tom will be Junior next and therefore will be giving the World Cup circuit a shot. He certainly has talent so it will be great to see him gaining experience at World level.

Junior had a small turnout with Identiti's Pat Campbell sitting this one out having already won the series title. Digger Wetheralt of Dirt Bike Supply found himself on a winning streak, smoothing his way to another victory and 2nd in the series. James Goodwin took 2nd on the day and finished up 4th in the series in only his first year of 4X.

Senior was quick as always, but it was the Masters rider showing the kids the way as Jason Jessop powered his way to a well deserved win and secured 3rd place in the series. Mick Ridgeway had a great ride to finish 2nd - his best result to date and the smile on the podium showed it. Leisure Lakes' Dave Richardson is always a top finisher and took 3rd. Dialled Bikes' Jim Norton has been impressive all year, he took the win in the B final to take 2nd in the overall standings while Revell Bikes' Ryan Poolman could afford to miss this one as he already had the title in the bag.

In Masters Steve Williams threw a spanner in the works early on bringing his BMX and trails skills to the 4X tracks and blowing them away in the motos. Come final time though it was the consistency of Kona's Darren Howarth that shone through as he shot out the gate to yet another win and the series title to go with his National Champs Jersey. It was a close race for 2nd and 3rd but Dom Bent took it with Keith Wilson in 3rd.

That left the Elites on the gate. Identiti's Oggy already had his hands on the Number 1, but he still wanted 1st on the day. He stormed from the gate leaving the others chasing. DMR's Duncan Ferris was in 2nd but Dialled Bikes' Steve Taylor pulled a sweet manual through the inside line of the triple while Duncan was flying above his head to move into second which he held to the line. Jordan Gould took 4th on the day. MBUK's National Champ Will Longden, was really flying early on, but took a nasty fall during the motos and it sounds like he has broken his collarbone badly and possibly broken his arm too. Get well soon Will.

The series might be over but keep your eye on the Chicksands website http://www.bedsfattrax.org for news of events coming up soon.

See you next season!