Last Sunday saw the Milton Keynes BMX Club hosting the fifth round of the East Anglia BMX Summer Race Series which was also the first part of the challenge event between the East Anglia and South Regions. The weather was dry and very warm and the fast but dusty track attracted almost 340 riders from across the two regions.
The Royston Rockets BMX Racing Club had 24 riders competing with the club's novice members getting good experience of a large event with Myles Fisher taking an excellent second place in the Novice 8-10 year category whilst in the 15+ Novice class Brett Richardson took a hard earned fifth while Andrew Brooker was less fortunate as pulling out after a crash in the qualifying rounds. Moving into the Expert classes and the six years and under category saw Charlie Todd take second in the B final and Brendon Salmon fourth in his first full regional race.
In the seven year class the three Rockets ended up in different finals with Jack Todd taking eighth in the A final, Alfie Salmon in third in the B final and Louis Foreman in second in the C final. In the eight year class Ted Dalleywater finished in fifth in the A final and the clubs representatives in the nine year class had good results with Ethan Vernon taking second and Daniel Blanche fifth in the class A final.
The ten year class saw Aaron Dalleywater taking a fine win while Bradan Blanche took first place in the B final. In the elevens Matthew Harris was forced to pull out as hay fever ruined his chances. In the fourteen year category Aston Blanche made the class A final but a clash of bikes left him in eighth on the line as Nathan Shipp, also in his first full regional race, took third in the B final.
Lee Alexander and another new club rider, Lee Swash were riding in the Masters class but both had to leave before the end of the event so did not score but Darren Foreman who stayed to the end took third in the B final.
The largest class of the day was the 19+ which had 36 riders. Ben Godfrey returned to racing to take the win in the B final with team mate Billy Irwin having to pull out early to avoid aggravating an injury. The Cruiser classes saw Danny Theedham take fifth in the 13-15 class whilst in the 30-39 class Matt Salmon took the win in the C final and in the final class of the day, the 40-44 Cruisers Danny Ancell finished fifth in the B final.
After the team points had been calculated the South Region came out with a small lead which the East Anglia team will be trying to reverse at the return leg in Hayes in early July.
The next event on the race calendar is the sixth round of the Regional Series at Codham Park next weekend where the Rockets will again be out in force to chase points for their ranking positions.
The clubs own Summer Race Series is going well as part of their regular Tuesday night sessions at the clubs track in Burns Road, Royston. Full details of forthcoming club and regional events are published on the club web site at www.roystonrockets.co.uk, or ring 01763 260959 for more information on BMX racing.
