Braintree Bullets BMX Winter Series Round 4
Event: 8 January 2011
Report: Braintree BMX Club
The Braintree Bullets BMX Club 2012 season kicked off with round 4 of the club's Winter Race Series. With the festive period out of the way, the club played host to 64 riders from as far afield as the Midlands with ages ranged from five years old to 45 years young. Gorgeous winter skies treated the spectators over the day and there was some fantastic on track action.
The Formula 5 class for the 7 and unders kicked off the racing and saw a great mix of experience and new riders competing for the first time. The class was won by Josh Abbott with a clean sheet of race wins and he was followed home by Barney Devereux from the Midlands. Eddie Cannons competed for Braintree in only his second race meeting to a fine third place with club mates Harry Lonton, William Hale, Kai Judd, Ted Reeves and Ben Oates in tow.
The biggest and most evenly competitive class of the day was the Formula 4 for 8-10 year olds. There were 15 riders who battled it out for the top spot with Thomas Knight going unbeaten all day to be the victor. Harry Collins had shone in his heat races but slipped to second in the final and Seb Pantlin took his knew steed to third. Jamie Edwardes battled his way up to fourth after a run off for the final place in the final.
Onto the Formula 3 for 11-12 year olds which saw another unbeaten rider in the form of Christian White taking the win. Joe Read-Millard, Tom Stokes and Sydney Allen all compete in the 10 year olds at national level and rode up in this class for the competition, finishing second, third and fourth respectively. Tyler Carter stepped up from the 9 year olds to battle his way to fifth with fellow Bullets; Alfie Giles, Max Giles, Jake Coombs and Adam Whiteley fighting out the rest of the placings.
Yet another unbeaten class win went to George Moret in the Formula 2 for 13-14 year olds. Second place went to Charlie O’Grady who rode up from the 11s and Royston’s Dan Blanche rode up from the 12s to third place in the final. In fourth was Cameron Short who looked on form from Ipswich’s Alex Pike and Kyle Gladwell securing fifth and sixth. The Bullets brought up the tail end of the field with Evan Tulloch in seventh and Charlie Giles in eighth.
The senior class for the 25+ was a hotly contested affair. Matt Hillyard took the win for Ipswich on his fourcross mountain bike with a clean sheet of wins and Andy Carter rode smoothly to second place. The 35-39 East Anglian champ Mark Spenner returned to racing after an autumn lay off to finish third with Lee Firmin hot on his wheels in fourth.
Ipswich also took the win in the super fast Formula 1 class. John Lillingstone got to the front in every race and is looking sharp for the forthcoming nationals. Elite fourcross mountain biker Tom Dowie from Bedfordshire came along to test out his new BMX bike and showed he can swap over to the smaller wheels with a burly jumping style in second place. Braintree coach Julian Allen jumped his way into third place from club mate Jake Britton in fourcross.
Sidehack racing finished off the day. The pairs put on a demonstration event for fun, but had some hard fought races. It was an all Braintree line up and the final was a great race with two father and son pairings taking the top spots. Steve and Adam Gilbert led from the start with Julian and Sydney Allen tucked in close as they went into the first corner. When they came into the second straight the Gilberts still had the lead but the Allens had closed the gap with the inside line into the second berm. As they went into the turn, it was the Allens who held the dominate line, leaving the Gilberts with a slower run into the third straight. The race closed up again down the last straight, but on the line it was the Allens who took the win.
The Bullets Winter Series continues on 5 February at the Panfield Road track. This will be the fifth round of the series and will also form part of the annual Pride of Essex Cup between the home club and Dagenham. Registration for the event closes at 11.30am on the day and is open to all. For more information on Braintree BMX Club events, visit braintreebmx.blog.com.
