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Report: Pride of Essex Round 1
Event: 3rd January 2010 | Source: Julian Allen, Braintree BMX Club | Images: Shane Chittock
Round 1 of The Pride of Essex BMX Trophy was held in the glorious Essex sunshine on a fast and smooth Braintree track where 70 riders from Braintree set out to retain the trophy home for the third year running. The loyal following of race fans weren't disappointed!!
The Formula 4 "pocket rockets" started off the day. Braintree's youngest rider Lewis Cooper was in the B final. The A final for the top eight was awash with Braintree riders. Luke Shriever was unbeaten all day and was followed home by Elliot bowyer in second, Owen Vaughan in third, Alex Leach in fifth, Richie Cooper in sixth and Morgan Spenner rounded off the field.
The 8 to 10 year old Formula 3 class was to be another hotly contested battle. Noah Shriever won the D final with sisters Chloe and Kayliegh Harknett also in the race. Sydney Allen had an unfortunate day where he found himself in the C final finishing third, followed home by club mate Jake Newton in fifth. The B final was a fast affair and Charlie O'Grady took the win, Luke Mayes was second, Jo Bowyer was fourth, Tom Stokes was fifth and Joe Read-Millard was seventh. The A final was won with style by Josh Peters, Josh Coppin rounded off his 500 mile trip from Somerset in second, Olly Rowe was fourth, Myles Fisher was fifth, and Dan Blanche was sixth.
The action stepped up a notch in the Formula 2 class. This class is a real proving ground for the next batch of top racers. 18 of the 26 riders in this class were representing the home side and The Bullets took the honours. In the A final Izzy Ferrada showed the boys how to do it by remaining unbeaten all day. She was followed home by George Moret in second, Bethany Campbell in third, Shane Pavitt in fourth, Daragh Ward in fifth and Shane Redgewell in seventh. The B final was won convincingly by Josh Legrove with Fergus Barker in second, Evan Tulloch in third, Alex Campbell in fourth, Tom Drinkwater in fifth, Sam Britton in seventh and Leroy Moran was eighth in his first race meeting. Doing it for the girls again Bethany Shriever was second in the B final, closely followed by Kelsey Dixon. Max Arnold was fifth and Dan Gilbert sixth. The D final saw the lone figure of Luke Butcher take the win.
Some of Braintree's brightest stars race in the Formula 1 class for the fifteen and over's. The class had a taste of what's to come at the clubs National race in June as riders from as far afield as Somerset and Rotherham had travelled to support the home side. Chris Potter won the D final with Natalie Miller in third. Ryan Leach finished fourth in the C final with Jake Britton just behind in fifth. In the B final the older riders showed the kids how to ride BMX with 35 year old Julian Allen winning from start to finish, pushed all the way by 38 year old Stu Dixon in second. Carl Dixon making the trip from Rotherham was fourth, Dexter Addington was fifth, Taylor Andrews was sixth, and Tom "Moose" Elvin was seventh. The A final was on fire with some of the country's top riders going to battle. At the sharp end Grant Hill made his 300 mile round trip worth it by taking the win from Curtis Manaton in second and John Lillingstone in third. Olly Cutmore had had his Ready Brek and shone all day finishing fifth, with club mate Toby Bearne in seventh.
The senior race category for the 25 years and over racers was the biggest field of the day with 32 riders, which meant the finalists would have to battle through semi finals to reach the Main event. John Stockwell went unbeaten all day and won convincingly from Gavin Stokes in fourth. Mark Leach won the B final for the home club with Lee Firmin in third. Jason Bridge returned to racing after 21 years away and finished fourth in the C final followed home by club mates Steve Gilbert in fifth, Mark
Read-Millard in seventh and Paul Shriever who took a crash and settled for eighth. James Banham came fourth in the D final with Mark Spenner also in the race.
Once the ice had thawed and the points were tallied, it was revealed that Braintree had won the day with 873.5 points to Dagenham's 684.
The away leg takes place at Dagenham's track on February 14th and the Braintree side will be going all out to hang onto their lead in the series.
The next Braintree Bullets BMX club race is on February 6th, registration closes at 11am. New riders are always welcome, contact and information are available at www.braintreebmx.co.uk.
