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Club Report: Braintree Bullets BMX
Pride of Essex Round 1, Dagenham

Words: Julian Allen Photography: Spencer Moret
Posted February 8 2011

The fourth annual Pride of Essex Cup is underway and Round 1 was hosted by BAD BMX Club at their Dagenham track on February 6. Braintree Bullets turned up in force with 51 of the 132 entries ready to stake their claim on the cup they have won for the last three years. The Dagenham raceway was blasted all day by gale-force winds but the riders whipped up a storm of their own when the gate dropped.

The racing kicked off with the micro minis of the 7 and unders and the top spot went to Lucas Faraone-Horton of BAD with club mate Teddy Parker settling for second after a big crash in race one spoiled his otherwise unbeaten day. Adam Gilbert for the Bullets was third with some consistent race finishes and Stanley Allen was fifth after making some moves on the corners in his final race of the day.

Onto formula 3 for the 8-10 year olds and Charlie O'Grady was on fire all day going unbeaten in every race. Charlie was kept honest in the final though by Dagenhams' Nick Oaten who lead the race until the last straight but was forced to settle for second. Braintrees Olly Rowe took a well deserved third with club mate Sydney Allen also in the final finishing seventh. Tyler Carter and Luke Shriever rode in the B final finishing second and third respectively. Thomas Knight and Harrison Boulter made the C final and Ben Sutton won the D final with Betty Porter close behind.

The formula 2 class was awash with top South riders and The Bullets struggled to get a foothold in this 11-14 year old class. Ethan Vernon stepped in to help out and took a well deserved third with George Moret in seventh. Myles Fisher was second in the B final and Evan Tulloch was seventh. In the C final, Bethany Shriever put it to the boys with a fantastic third, followed by club mates Brandan Boulter, Cameron Short, Daragh Ward and Charlie Giles after a crash put him out of the running. Noah Shriever, Dan Gilbert and Lana Redgewell rode in the D final.

The A final for the Formula 1 class was a proper national level affair. Junior Men British Champion Grant Hill was on his game and did the business from start to finish for the Bullets taking the top spot of the podium. Dagenham riders flooded the rest of the positions but Micheal Pinnock stopped the rot for the Bullets in eighth. Olly Cutmore and Chris Potter rode a brilliant lap in the B final finishing second and third respectively. Amelia Silvestre and Micheal Ledlie represented the Bullets in the C final.

36 riders entered the Senior class for the 25+ meaning the riders had motos, quarter finals and semis finals before they could be in the final eight for the main event. Keith Bryceland showed that he deserves his new sponsor and took the win for BAD BMX. Matt Barnard rode for Braintree and put up a good fight for second, BADs Billy Stupple took an impressive 3rd just in front of Braintrees Julian Allen in fourth. Dave Godfrey also for the Bullets was eighth. Micheal Ledlie and Andy Carter took podium places in the C final, with Ian Porter and Lee Firmin not far behind. Paul Woolcott and James Neville rode in the D final.

Sidehack racing returned for the event with all of the units being loaned out for the day by Jon-Paul Woodward from Phoenix BMX. After some practice at their home track, father and son team of Julian Allen and Sydney Allen were unstoppable for Braintree and won every race of the day. Braintrees second pair of Steve and Dan Gilbert rode to a superb second place with the Dagenham pair in third.

The points will be close between the two clubs when they go to battle in the second leg of the cup at Braintree's Panfield Road track on the February 20. Registration closes at 11.30am and newcomers are welcome. Check out www.braintreebmx.co.uk for details.