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Great weather greets over 600 BMX competitors

British BMX Series Rounds 5 & 6
Event: 2nd - 3rd July 2011
Source: Royston BMX Club
Round 5 Event Details | Round 6 Event Details

The British Cycling BMX National Series moved to the Braintree BMX track and with over 600 competitors waiting their turn to try out the track that was hosting its second year of national racing, the weather duly obliged with dry sunny conditions made for great conditions for the riders on the demanding, exciting track that the club had prepared for the event.

National races cover all ages and the Royston Rockets had 17 riders registered over the weekend and straight in the deep end having only just moved into the ‘expert' classes was Joshua Abbott in the under six year class where he took seventh in Saturday's B final and then improved to fourth for the Sunday round whilst in the seven year class the more experienced Elliott Bowyer made the main A final on both days starting with a great second and then a fifth place on Sunday.

The nine year class saw Alfie Salmon, who was only riding one day, miss out on a semi final place by just a few points from the qualifying rounds on Saturday whilst in the 10 year class James King took another series of tumbles but was still able to make the semi-finals but was able to make the top four so had to settle for fourth and then second in the class B final with Ted Dalleywater in the same class also making the B finals with third in Saturday's event and sixth on Sunday.

Royston third rider in the 10 year class, Marmaduke Birt, had a frustrating weekend as he just failed to qualify for the semi-finals by the narrowest of margins on both days.

In the 11 year class, where the club had another three riders trying to out do each other, the results were all good with Ethan Vernon taking second place in both his A finals and Myles Fisher taking second and then the win in the B final with Daniel Blanche taking the B final win on Saturday and then a great semi ride on Sunday left him battling in the pack of the A final to take sixth place on the line.

Maintaining Royston's run of good results the 12 year class saw Aaron Dalleywater take second on Saturday and then the class win on the Sunday. The 15 year class saw James Handleigh just failing to qualify for the semi finals through the ‘run off' process on both days - a situation where more than one rider has tied for points from the qualifying round for the last few places in the semis and the run off is the decider!

In the 16 year class, Shane Mills had a variable weekend and made his way into Saturday's main final where he took eighth but on Sunday it all went wrong in the qualifying rounds and he was unable to make it into the semis.

In the Masters category (30+) Richard Townsend, who was only able to compete on the Saturday, made it through to the A final where he finished in third and in the Veteran class the clubs newly qualified coach, Lee Alexander, showed he is still one of the UK's top rider with two second place finishes.

The final classes of the day were the riders on the 24" wheeled ‘Cruisers' and the ladies' 17-29 class saw fifth place go to Helen Nicholl on both days whilst in the 45+ class, Carl Birt took eighth in the main final on Saturday and then third in the B final on the Sunday to round off another fine weekends racing for the Rockets.

The next event on the BMX race calendar is the seventh round of the East Anglia Series which is being hosted by the Royston club on 10th July at their track in Burns Road with rider registration closing at 11.00am and racing due to start at 12.30pm

Royston's own club's nights are in full swing, alternating between coaching one week and racing the next with the gates opening at 6.00pm. See more about the club and BMX racing in the region at www.roystonrockets.co.uk and the BMX East Regional site on www.bmxeast.com or ring 01763 260959 for more information on BMX racing.