A delighted David Roberts profited from a crash on the first corner of the elite final to take victory in the second round of the HSBC UK | National 4X Series at Harthill.
Although confident before racing, Roberts had only managed to reach the finals through a run off after some poor gates in the motos, though another coming together of Duncan Ferris and Ben Jones in the semi-final gave him an easy pass to the Final.
With dark clouds closing in and rain starting to fall, Roberts stuck to his game plan in the final - knowing both Grant Hill and Scott Beaumont were quicker out of the gates, he planned to race his lines and take his chance when it presented itself.
Fortunately for Roberts both Hill and Beaumont collided in the air off the first jump causing them to crash out allowing him to pass into the first bend and take the initiative.
He didn’t have it that easy and was pushed all the way by Will Evans eventually finishing a bike length ahead.
Afterwards Roberts praised the track saying it was one of the best to race on, giving credit to work that had been done this week to improve the layout.
Merry Wherry hits perfection
The women's race was won by 18-year-old Megan Wherry, with what she described as a “perfect run”.
Wherry had struggled in practice to find the right gear out of the gates but managed to sort it for the final and was confident on the start she could take the win. Waiting on the gates Wherry just stayed focused on the first corner and her only thought was “pedal, pedal, pedal, pedal”.
When the gates dropped she did just that, leading into the first bend with Josie McFall very close on her rear wheel. Megan kept pedalling and won the race by a good distance at the end, although she had no idea of the margin of victory.
Three riders competed in the Junior category with Tom Bell taking victory from Callum Knight in 2nd and Tyde D’Souza in 3rd.
Results
Elite men
1. David Roberts
2. Will Evans
3. Grant Hill
4. Scott Beaumont
Elite women
1. Megan Wherry
2. Josie McFall
3. Heather Kay
4. Courtney Abbiss
Junior
1. Tom Bell
2. Callum Knight
3. Tyde D’Souza
Gallery
