Kye Whyte secured back-to-back wins at the National BMX Series in Gosport as Beth Shriever and Freia Challis took the women’s victories in rounds five and six.
Round 5
In the men's superclass category, it was Kye Whyte who got off to a flying start. A crash in the first berm involving Eddie Moore meant that Whyte had a big gap over the chasing pack, and was able to showboat his way to his first win of the weekend.
Whyte said: “Gosport was a good weekend for me. It’s my first time racing in nine weeks since injury and I wanted to test the waters to see if I am able to defend my European title next week. I think it went really well so that’s given me good confidence for the upcoming Euro and World Championships.”
The Championship Women class saw Team GB riders Beth Shriever (Crucial BMX) and Emily Hutt (Radio Box) return to National racing for the first time this season and it was Shriever that went on to take the glory after winning all of her moto’s. Hutt raced really well all day and had some hard-fought battles with Freia Challis, coming out of the four moto’s in second place ahead of Challis in third.
Shriever said “Racing on Saturday went great! It was good to see the British BMX community again. It was pretty windy so I just wanted to stay rubber side down and be safe. It’s good to see a solid bunch of young girls coming through and I feel that great things are going to come for the girls in BMX now.”
In the Junior Men class it was Casey Markley (Concept Meybo) that took a well-deserved win ahead of Ben Cornish (Absolute) with Taylor Hunt (Crucial BMX) finishing in third place.
Superclass
1st Kye Whyte
2nd Jos Marnham
3rd Paddy Sharrock
4th Ross Cullen
5th Joel Clarke
6th Matthew Hutt
7th Kyle Evans
8th Eddie Moore
Championship Women (17+)
1st Bethany Shriever
2nd Emily Hutt
3rd Freia Challis
4th Sienna Harvey
5th Elsa Rendall-Todd
6th Betsy Bax
7th Theia Gaynor
8th Evie Webster
Junior Men
1st Casey Markley
2nd Ben Cornish
3rd Taylor Hunt
4th Ned Penny
5th Harry Tanner
6th Charlie Roy
6th Harrison Bell
8th Kurtis Sveikutis
Round 6
The Superclass final on Sunday saw Whyte and Moore battling it out up front. Despite pressure from Moore, Whyte went onto to secure a very impressive double victory for the weekend ahead of Matthew Hutt in second with Moore finishing just behind in third place.
In the Championship Women class, Challis was in dominant form and would go on to win all four moto's, with Elsa Rendall-Todd (DC Cycles) finishing in a very impressive second place and Betsy Bax (Staystrong) rounding of the podium in third place.
Challis said: "I couldn’t wait for this National Series round in Gosport, I was excited to race against riders I have looked up to since starting BMX, such as Beth. I had an amazing first day getting seconds and thirds all day and on Sunday I was over the moon to take the win overall. Going into the European Championships next weekend I’m excited to put some good laps in and see what results come out of it.”
The Junior Men final on Sunday saw Cornish lead it out from the start, before a big crash on the pro straight between Markley and Harrison Collis. That left Hunt just behind Cornish to finish second, and Harry Tanner (GT Factory BMX) rounded off the podium in third.
The series will resume in September, with the National Cycling Centre in Manchester playing host to rounds seven and eight.
Superclass
1st Kye Whyte
2nd Matthew Hutt
3rd Eddie Moore
4th Joel Clarke
5th Jos Marnham
6th Dean Reeves
7th Mark Fletcher
8th Kyle Evans
Championship Women (17+)
1st Freia Challis
2nd Elsa Rendall-Todd
3rd Betsy Bax
4th Evie Webster
5th Sienna Harvey
6th Theia Gaynor
Junior Men
1st Ben Cornish
2nd Taylor Hunt
3rd Harry Tanner
4th Harrison Bell
5th Ned Penny
6th Charlie Roy
7th Casey Markley
8th Harrison Collis
